Discover what a Product Specialist does, key skills, salary insights, and how this role compares to a Product Manager. The Product Lead is a pivotal figure in the product team structure who is responsible for transforming strategic goals into actionable product outcomes. Project-based classes teach you to work through a concept from start to completion, often providing experience creating mockups, wireframes and prototypes. Group activities in which you learn to accept feedback and incorporate ideas from your peers can teach you to collaborate as part of a team. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that industrial product managers—a category that excludes product managers in software—earned a median annual wage of $116,970 in 2023. According to Glassdoor, the median annual salary for a product manager is around $196,000 as of 2024.
How Customer Feature Requests Inspire Product Ideas
Yes, a Product Lead is generally considered higher than a Product Manager. Product Leads need strong leadership skills to motivate and guide cross-functional teams, fostering collaboration and ensuring everyone is aligned with the product goals. Be sure to gain experience as a product manager before transitioning into this type of role. Compliment your experience by taking a course in product management to ensure that you have the skills and knowledge to succeed in this position. Those who’ve already become principal product managers agree that the hard work done to land the job is worth it. That said, if you don’t have any direct product management experience, chances are you will be hired as a product manager.
Data-driven Mindset
- These are the essential skills of a Business Analyst that are considered to be important.
- A Product Manager is primarily responsible for the development and success of a specific product, managing its lifecycle, and working closely with cross-functional teams.
- Many bootcamps are full-time, immersive experiences lasting several months.
- Tracking key performance indicators and metrics throughout all stages of the roadmap.
- As long as you focus on learning the right skills—and transferring the skills you already have—you can make it as a product manager.
- You don’t need to have a technical background to be a great product manager, but if you want to go directly into product management it helps.
Strategic thinking helps a product lead analyze current circumstances. Leading and managing a team is important since it enables you to support the success of a product. A good leader empowers teams by promoting a sense of pride and responsibility in their work.
Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®)
Many factors can impact this amount, including your location, industry, education level, and years of experience. Product management involves coordinating and overseeing each stage of the product life cycle and ensuring a product’s success. Product managers typically lead a product team, Coding drawing on their knowledge of technology and business to be a cross-functional success. A product manager manages a specific product’s development, strategy, and success, handling day-to-day tasks and cross-functional collaboration.
Glassdoor identifies the top-paying industries for this occupation as energy, mining and utilities; agriculture; pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; financial services; and information technology. Additionally, it’s about knowing how a product fits into its space within the market, what customers demand from it, and whether it fulfills that demand. All of this is to ensure that the top-level management is on the same page as the most basic member of the development team, and that they’re all working towards a common goal. This begins with in-depth research of what customers generally demand from a similar product, and how accessible specific product features are to a wide range of users.
What is the Product Manager Career Path?
Nurture your inner tech pro with personalized guidance from not one, but two industry experts. They’ll provide feedback, support, and advice as you build your new career. Products can fail in the market, and a major corporation’s product failure will be much more public than for a startup.
PRODUCT SKILLS
You can then use these experiences in a project portfolio to share with prospective employers. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a lead product manager is $146,229 a year. It’s a high number that requires a proper career progression to achieve.