F that. Start developing business, market, and technical insights and piloting new solutions on the job or for a side huddle. Do; don’t study. Only certificate that might help you upgrade imho is MBA, for experiential and skills reasons, but it’s not necessary nor sufficient nor right for everyone. Good luck ✌️
A certification such as CSPO won’t hurt but product management is truly about mindsets and professional skills. There are countless great free resources (YouTube, product school) that shape this mindset.
If you want to focus on skills there are 4 domains that I’ve found helpful:
1. Industry - A B2B SaaS product manager is different than being an internal tools PM is different than social media platforms etc etc. It’s good to be diverse but my also be good to know what industries you know well.
2. Business - Knowing how to shape strategy, vision, mission and define metrics. It’s helpful to be able to decompose problems and scope into analytical and quantifiable cases. You’ll need it for measuring feature and experience success.
3. User and Design - User interviews, design basics, experience mapping, and service/product design skills go a long way. (This is one area I am personally learning).
4. Tech - IT really helps to beef up your tech skills and have basic literacy. The technology choices can absolutely impact user experience and it’s important to understand those impacts. A word of caution: If you’re *too* technical then you may focus on the wizardry at the expense of user value.
F that. Start developing business, market, and technical insights and piloting new solutions on the job or for a side huddle. Do; don’t study. Only certificate that might help you upgrade imho is MBA, for experiential and skills reasons, but it’s not necessary nor sufficient nor right for everyone. Good luck ✌️
A certification such as CSPO won’t hurt but product management is truly about mindsets and professional skills. There are countless great free resources (YouTube, product school) that shape this mindset.
If you want to focus on skills there are 4 domains that I’ve found helpful:
1. Industry - A B2B SaaS product manager is different than being an internal tools PM is different than social media platforms etc etc. It’s good to be diverse but my also be good to know what industries you know well.
2. Business - Knowing how to shape strategy, vision, mission and define metrics. It’s helpful to be able to decompose problems and scope into analytical and quantifiable cases. You’ll need it for measuring feature and experience success.
3. User and Design - User interviews, design basics, experience mapping, and service/product design skills go a long way. (This is one area I am personally learning).
4. Tech - IT really helps to beef up your tech skills and have basic literacy. The technology choices can absolutely impact user experience and it’s important to understand those impacts. A word of caution: If you’re *too* technical then you may focus on the wizardry at the expense of user value.
Software engineering program and SCRUM certification - the fastest way.