How to become a product manager: Education, certifications, career advice, and more
Last updated: February 2025
What did you want to be when you grew up? Chances are it was not a product manager. Despite the rising popularity of product management in the last decade, many of us never considered it as a career option. You might have only discovered it after starting your first job and gaining real-world business experience. But whether you learned about product management early or later in your career, you are here because the work is engaging and rewarding.
Product managers build solutions that solve customer problems and drive business results. If you are new to product management or transitioning from another role, you likely learned there is a steep learning curve. Books and online courses help, but success requires firsthand experience in building and delivering products. So how do you develop the skills needed to land your first product manager role?
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Product managers work at the intersection of engineering, sales and marketing, and customers to deliver products that create real value.
In this guide, we will walk you through the key skills, courses, and certifications to help you gain confidence and succeed in product management. Keep on reading or jump ahead to any section to learn more:
What skills do product managers need?
Product managers guide the entire product development process and help bring product plans to fruition. You lead the cross-functional product team and collaborate closely with groups across the organization, sharing your deep understanding of your customers and market.
Doing this work well demands a blend of technical, creative, and business skills spanning technology, design, and marketing fundamentals. Your exact responsibilities will vary depending on the organization and team you belong to, but here are some hard and soft skills that are useful for all product managers:
Analytics
Communication
Creativity
Leadership
Exceptional product managers have an innate sense of curiosity — you are driven by a constant desire to keep learning and growing. This helps you deepen your understanding of what customers need and come up with innovative ways to solve their problems. If this resonates with you, being a product manager might align well with your personality.
Succeeding in product management also requires resilience and persistence. You will face competing priorities, shifting timelines, and varied stakeholder opinions. Staying focused on delivering value while maintaining a positive, learning-oriented mindset is crucial.
You will also need to be comfortable using product management software and tools. These help you set product strategy, gather customer feedback, create wireframes and mockups, manage releases, collaborate with the team, and more. Because each company uses its own mix of tools, you typically learn how to use them on the job.
Keep in mind that on-the-job training makes up a large part of learning to be a product manager. As you gain new experiences within product teams at different organizations, you will learn and grow your skills over time. It can feel overwhelming at first, but every experience will help build your confidence. Product management is a journey — no one starts as an expert.
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What is a product manager's educational background?
Product managers come from a variety of backgrounds. That means there is no single path, clearly defined track, or specific qualifications you need to enter the field.
If you have not yet started your career, you might be wondering if you can study product management in school and then look for a position in product. While product management is not yet a widely available undergraduate or graduate degree, the field is becoming more formalized. Some universities now offer certificates, minors, or concentrations in product management as part of business or technology programs. These programs can give you a strong foundation in key areas (such as product development methodologies, product roadmaps, and product analytics).
There are also a variety of boot camps and free online courses that focus on product management. These can be great for building specific skills, whether you are just getting started or are looking to deepen your knowledge in a particular area.
For those transitioning into product management later in their careers, earning an MBA can be a valuable option. An MBA provides broad exposure to business, statistics, and marketing — all of which are useful when working in cross-functional product teams.
Whatever educational path you choose, curiosity and a willingness to keep learning will serve you well. As the field is constantly evolving, being open to new ideas and continuous growth is key to long-term success.
Product management certifications
If you are interested in obtaining a product management certification, there are a few reputable options. For example, the Association of International Product Marketing & Management offers a product manager certification. (The organization also provides additional certificate programs in innovation, brand management, product marketing, and digital product management.)
You can also become certified in product management or Aha! Roadmaps through Aha! Academy, which offers interactive and immersive courses taught by product experts. The curriculum covers topics such as how to set product strategy, develop customer empathy, prioritize features, create visual roadmaps, and more.
Another great option is the Aha! Product Management Professional Certificate through LinkedIn Learning. This pathway offers a structured online learning experience to help you build core product management skills and earn a professional certificate upon completion.
Explore a professional certificate through Aha! — get started with LinkedIn Learning.
Before enrolling in any course or working toward a certification, do your research. Look for courses taught by experienced product experts who have worked at different types of companies and built real products. This ensures you learn from instructors with practical, meaningful insights.
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How to start a career in product management
Product managers can come from almost any business or technical background. And the product manager role can mean different things depending on the organization, from leading technical product development to driving go-to-market strategy. There are also different types of product managers, including platform PMs, growth PMs, and technical PMs. (We have a guide that covers 15 different types of PMs, and counting!). But amidst the variability, one thing is consistent: Every product manager needs a deep understanding of their customers, products, and the business.
Most product managers do not begin their careers in a dedicated PM role. Many transition from adjacent positions where they gain relevant experience, such as software development, marketing, or business analytics. Just take a look at our Product All-Star series. You will find that product leaders come from all kinds of backgrounds — from technical roles to marketing, and even more unique fields like eco-tourism.
Common roles that transition into product management
If you are currently in a different role and want to switch to product management, you are not alone. Many people take this route. Adjacent roles that often lead to a career in product management include:
Business analyst
Consultant
Customer success
Product marketing
Product operations manager
Project or program manager
Software engineer
UX designer
For example, customer success professionals are often deeply familiar with the problems customers are facing and can offer valuable insights on how to improve the product experience. Business analysts and consultants bring expertise in analyzing data and identifying opportunities. And UX designers understand how users interact with products and can help shape a compelling user experience.
How to prepare for a role in product management
If you are interested in becoming a PM, start by gaining as much exposure as possible to product-related work in your current role. Here are a few practical steps:
Learn about your company's product strategy: Attend product team meetings (if possible), ask to shadow a product manager, and read through your company's product documentation to understand decision-making processes and the priorities guiding the team.
Get involved in cross-functional projects: Product managers work across many teams. Look for opportunities to participate in projects that require collaboration with product, engineering, marketing, and sales.
Build relationships with PMs: Express your interest in product management and ask if PMs are willing to share their experiences or offer guidance. Finding a mentor can help you learn faster and gain valuable insights.
Develop key skills: Product management requires strong communication, analytical thinking, and leadership skills. Look for ways to improve in these areas by taking on challenging projects, leading meetings, or presenting your work to stakeholders.
Strengthen your product knowledge: Stay up to date on industry trends and best practices. Read product management blogs, listen to podcasts, and take relevant courses.
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For those just starting their career
If you are recently out of school and beginning your career, remember that most product manager positions are not entry-level. Instead, you might look for roles such as associate product manager or product analyst, or start in an adjacent role like product marketing or customer support. These positions will help you gain foundational experience, learn about how product teams operate, and build the skills you need to eventually move into a product management role.
Once you are ready to apply for PM roles, focus on sharpening your interview skills. Review our job interview template to read up on some common (and some unexpected) questions product managers get during interviews — plus some key questions for you to ask as well.
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Prepare with confidence — use the job interview template in Aha! software.
5 focus areas for new product managers
Starting a new role as a product manager is exciting, but challenging. You are eager to make an impact. But it takes time to navigate a new organization and product's complexities. Your first month, for example, is crucial for building foundational knowledge: understanding the business, market, customers, and cross-functional teams you will collaborate with. Here are five areas you will want to focus your efforts on right away.
Learn the product strategy
To move the product forward, you need to understand the strategy behind it. Review any strategic plans and roadmaps you might have inherited from the previous product manager, paying close attention to the vision, product goals, and former and upcoming initiatives. Get to know the market you operate in, your ideal customer, and your existing competitors. Analyze how product objectives support the company's larger objectives. There is a lot to learn, so it helps to have some areas of focus as you dig in.
Key questions to answer:
Is the current product strategy part of the team's everyday work?
Who are the target customers, and what value do they get from the product?
What alternative solutions exist, and how is your product different?
How has the product changed and improved in the last year?
What success metrics does the product team track?
Understand the business
In addition to learning the product strategy, familiarize yourself with the company's broader business objectives. Increase your understanding by reviewing quarterly reports, long-term plans, and all-company meeting notes. Schedule time to meet with leaders from marketing, sales, support, and engineering to understand their goals. By gaining insights across the organization, you can align product goals with what the rest of the organization needs to achieve.
Key questions to answer:
What is the company's vision, mission, and strategy?
What are its goals and how is success measured?
What are the company's main points of differentiation?
What is currently happening in the company that might impact the product's direction?
Use the product
You need to understand how the product works and how it solves real customer problems. And there is no better way to become an expert than through hands-on experience. Aim to use the product as often as you can. This can be tough if you are not the target audience — a common issue enterprise software product managers face. Of course, you can still learn the product by supporting customer demos, attending tutorials, and reading support content.
Key questions to answer:
What problems does the product solve for customers?
Are its key features and benefits well articulated?
Are there ways to improve the user experience?
Where does the product fail to meet a need or perform an important outcome?
Get to know your customers
Developing empathy for customers is essential to building the best solutions for them. Start by reading through any customer personas the team has already created. Review both common and complex support tickets. Look for ways to engage directly with current and prospective customers through empathy sessions, in-app community feedback, or sales and support calls. And if your organization has a formal idea management process, make sure to review and respond to product ideas submitted by customers.
Key questions to answer:
What are the demographics (e.g., job title, age, skills, location) of your users?
For B2B organizations, what are the firmographics (e.g., company size, revenue, industry) of the organizations that purchase the product?
What additional pain points do your customers face that the product does not address?
What would make your customers happier?
Talk to the broader team
Make it a priority to build strong relationships across the organization. Meet with engineering, marketing, sales, and customer success to understand how each team contributes to product development. Asking thoughtful questions will help you foster trust, gain valuable insights, and work more effectively with cross-functional colleagues. To manage this discovery process alongside your daily work, block time each day to steadily gather and absorb information during your first month.
Key questions to answer:
What processes, tools, and methodologies do they use?
What challenges or frustrations do they face when working with the product team?
What metrics do they track to measure success?
What improvements would they like to see in collaboration or documentation?
How do they engage with prospects, customers, or users?
What critical timelines or dependencies should you be aware of?
Product management is highly competitive for a reason. But with hard work, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of your product, customers, and team, you can craft a clear plan and make a real impact. Go boldly and lead with confidence.
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FAQs about becoming a product manager
What industries do product managers work in?
Although many people associate product management with software and technology companies, you will find product managers working at companies in all types of industries — from healthcare and finance to manufacturing and consumer products. Nearly any business that builds a product or sells a service can benefit from a smart product manager.
What is a technical product manager?
A technical product manager is a product manager with deep engineering or computer science expertise. They focus on product capabilities and collaborate with the engineering team to write user stories and requirements. Some companies split product management into two roles: a technical product manager and a more business-oriented product manager. But at the majority of organizations, one product manager is responsible for adopting both a business and technical perspective.
How long does it take to become a product manager?
There is no set amount of time it takes to become a product manager. Most folks enter product management after spending years (or even decades) in other areas of an organization. After all, product managers need deep knowledge of products, customers, and the market, as well as a variety of leadership and problem-solving skills. If you are eager to grow your skills and find your first role in product management, consider taking a product management course or earning a certification.
How stressful is the job of product manager?
The level of stress you will experience as a product manager is subjective — it depends on your existing knowledge, skills, personality, and how much support you receive in your career. Even though being a product manager is certainly a big responsibility, it is also highly rewarding to lead a team and build products that customers love. If you are feeling overwhelmed due to knowledge gaps, you can always refer to educational guides on product management to bolster your understanding and gain more confidence.
