How to Become a Product Manager: Guide to Success in 2025

Why Become a Product Manager?

The world of product management is continuously growing. Zippia’s…

How to Become a Product Manager: Guide to Success in 2025

Why Become a Product Manager?

The world of product management is continuously growing. Zippia’s research shows that the demand for product managers is expected to grow 10% from 2018 to 2028. Product management is also among the top 10 of Glassdoor’s Best Jobs in America list. According to that same list, “Working Product Managers rank their job satisfaction around 4.2 out of 5, which is significantly higher than most occupations.”

Product managers are a crucial piece of the puzzle in virtually every industry. If you’re unsure where to direct your efforts as a beginner in the field, consider your location. If you’re in close proximity to a major city, you’ll most likely be within reach of a larger tech hub—offering more jobs per capita. If you’re in a more rural area, perhaps you’ll enjoy the remote lifestyle. According to Built In, the average base salary for a remote product manager is around $150,000 per year. That’s roughly $30,000 more than the national average. As you explore different industries, you’ll gain a better understanding of what a product manager’s salary might look like in your area.

Now that you know how in-demand product management is, you may be interested in knowing what qualities, responsibilities, and skills are at the foundation of product management. Once you’ve understood what product management is, we’ll discuss how to become a product manager, through training opportunities, and more.

What is Product Management?

If you enjoy diving into customer insights, identifying their needs, and uncovering the reasons behind their behaviors, you may already possess some of the key skills of a product manager; you’re well on your way to thriving in a product management role. Product management is the driving force behind a successful product launch. By evaluating product/market fit and aligning solutions with market needs, product managers oversee the process from ideation through development and beyond. They play a critical role in guiding the entire development lifecycle of a product.

As champions of their products, product managers expertly lead positioning strategies by collaborating with product designers and engineers, as well as product marketing and sales teams to drive development and launch efforts. While the day-to-day tasks of a product manager can vary based on the industry and company, there are core responsibilities that are essential across the board. The Product Manager outlines these core competencies:

  • Research: Product managers need to conduct and analyze market research along with user research to gain a better understanding of the end-user—or customer—and what their needs/demands are. 
  • Define Product Roadmap: Project managers define an organization’s product roadmap, documenting the workflow for when and how the product and product features will be released. This is an essential tool for project planning, and ultimately, project success.
  • Perform Tests: After product development is complete, product managers need to see how these perform with customers. This is done through iterative “beta” testing and is measured by product managers.
  • Analyze and Present Results: After the launch of a new product or feature, product managers are responsible for delivering key metrics and results to leadership. Leveraging several analytics tools and reports helps ensure the product is meeting expectations set during the research phase.

Are Product Managers in Demand?

The Product Manager notes, “Glassdoor puts a product manager position as the 4th best job in the United States for 2023.” The job portal currently has over 9,100 product manager and senior product manager listings across the country. Zippia rates the top 10 states in America for product managers. Among them are California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. 

The product manager job market suggests a growing demand for product managers across most tech industries, including IT, Healthcare, FinTech, SaaS, and AI. With ample opportunities to develop a niche skill set in a growing field, those pursuing a career in product management are setting themselves up for a long, successful career.

How to Become a Product Manager: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Learn the Fundamentals of Product Management

Step 2: Enroll in a Product Management Training Course

Now that you’ve honed the basics of product management, you’re ready to dive into a full product management course. As an aspiring product manager, you’ll want to explore different product manager certification courses that offer flexible learning, mentorship, and a certificate so you can showcase it on your resume and LinkedIn profile. 

Product manager certifications are imperative to future success. You’ll use industry-standard credentials to not only acquire jobs in the field but also negotiate a higher product manager salary and show off key product manager skills to future employers.  

In just 10 weeks, our Product Management Certificate Course, in partnership with Ziplines Education, will educate you on key skills and tools to become a product manager. Guided by industry leaders with hands-on learning projects, this course will help jumpstart your career in product management. 

Here are some product management certification schools to consider as you start your journey:

  • The Product School: They feature live, online learning experiences from Silicon Valley instructors—part-time and full-time options available.
  • Pragmatic Institute: They offer a three-part Product Management Certification course that you can complete in as little as one week.
  • Project Management Institute (PMI): For those of you coming from a project management background, PMI offers a Disciplined Agile® Scrum Master (DASM) Certification. You’ll learn how to identify and prioritize potential products and services to support your organization’s strategy.

Step 3: Build Practical Experience in Product Management

Enrolling in a product management course is a great start to building practical experience, but it’s also essential to pursue additional opportunities like internships, personal projects, or cross-functional collaborations in your current role. Reach out to your manager to see if they can introduce you to the product team, or find experienced product managers within your organization to observe and learn from. Offer to take notes during product design meetings or assist in any capacity you can. Plus, getting involved in product development where you currently work might even open the door to an entry-level product management position within your company.

Step 4: Understand Key Product Management Tools

Familiarize yourself with product management tools and software to gain a better understanding of the product management life cycle.

  • Jira: Product managers use this popular project management tool for task management and sprint planning. Jira helps break down projects into manageable tasks, providing real-time visual status updates for all team members.
  • Miro: Product managers may use Miro as a digital collaboration software, however, they may also use this tool to create customer personas, jobs-to-be-done, and user stories to refine customer opportunities.
  • Asana: Product managers use this software program to build product roadmaps. This is an especially helpful tool for resource allocation across all departments.
  • Figma & UserTesting: Traditionally used in UI/UX design, Figma is a fantastic tool for product managers to utilize during the product design phase. Product managers can take the prototype from Figma and perform user and A/B testing in UserTesting software.

Our Product Management Certificate Course, in partnership with Ziplines Education, will educate you with hands-on learning via product management software tools. Practice with Jira, Miro, Amplitude, Figma, and more to complete projects. At the end of 10 weeks, you’ll have earned certifications in Productboard and Amplitude—with the option to complete the Jira Software Essentials Certification.

Step 5: Build a Product Management Portfolio

As you seek out educational options, personal projects, and internships, you’ll need something to showcase your hard work—highlighting the skills and competencies you’re exercising. This is where a product management portfolio comes into play. Your portfolio should demonstrate your competencies, like decision-making, and your technical product management skills, like how you facilitate product strategy, product vision, and more.

We recommend treating the process of building a product management portfolio just as you would a product launch. What are your desired outcomes? Main deliverables? Key metrics you’d like to highlight? Target completion date? CareerFoundry recommends, “Try to include a broad range of elements, in the order of when you worked on them. If possible, make sure to demonstrate your range of experience.” 

Here are a few tips from Product School on what to include in your product manager portfolio:

  • Start with an MVP, consider the user journey, and establish success criteria.
  • Include data and highlight key metrics.
  • Include images and/or videos.
  • Tell a story: Your choice of products should reflect a narrative, whether it be expert knowledge on a single topic or a particular professional trajectory.
  • Don’t be afraid to get creative!

Step 6: Network with Product Leaders and Teams

There are numerous ways in which product managers can network with one another—sharing success stories and learning from other product leaders. According to ProductPlan, there are 11 communities that product managers can join, whether you’re an aspiring product manager or want to elevate your already established skillset.

These communities offer a unique set of benefits, from webinars, events, and virtual Q&A sessions to career support and job boards—all hosted by leading industry professionals and product leaders. In a world of continuous innovation and transition, it’s always a good idea to keep a network of professionals in your ring to bounce ideas off of, learn from, and stay inspired by.

Step 7: Apply for Entry-Level Product Management Jobs

So, you’ve completed training and become certified in product management; you’ve created a dazzling portfolio, demonstrating your formal education and practical experience, and connected with your product manager network to hone your interviewing skills. You’re ready to apply for an entry-level product manager job! So, what job titles should you be searching for, and what skills should you be highlighting in your interviews? Let’s take a look at the most common entry-level product manager roles, their responsibilities, and beginning product manager salaries :

  • Associate Product Manager (APM): This is an entry-level position that works under a product manager or senior product manager. APMs support the product development process by conducting user research, building user stories, creating wireframes, and testing prototypes.

Average annual salary in the U.S.: $82,000

  • Product Analyst: As an entry-level product manager, product analysts conduct research, collect data, and analyze user feedback to inform product strategy and decision-making.

Average annual salary in the U.S.: $89,000

  • Junior Product Manager: Junior product managers collaborate with the product team to define product goals, set objectives, build a strategic product roadmap, and collect customer feedback from customers.

Average annual salary in the U.S.: $89,000

Step 8: Keep Striving—Your Product Management Career Path

After the two-year mark working in an entry-level product manager role, you may start thinking about advanced roles you can pursue. Moving up the ranks to more senior product manager roles, you’ll need to be prepared for more responsibility. We recommend, as you gain more skills and experience, hone a niche specialty—becoming the “go-to” person in a specific industry. Your professional product manager career path could look as follows:

  • 2-5 Years: Progress to a product manager role. Develop a technical specialty (e.g., business analysis, product marketing, etc.) or industry knowledge in a specific field. This will strengthen your skills, preparing you to be a successful product manager.
  • 5-8 Years: Advance to a senior product manager. Here, your focus will shift to larger projects, leading cross-functional teams, and taking on mentorship roles for junior product managers.
  • 8-10+ Years: Move into a principal product manager role or a more executive role like director of product management. At this stage, your responsibilities are largely strategic, focusing on department-wide goals, long-term business strategies, and cross-departmental collaboration.

Key Takeaways: Your Path to Becoming a Product Manager

And there you have it—a step-by-step guide with actionable advice on how to become a product manager. Begin by understanding the fundamentals of product management, including product development, identifying customer needs, and the product lifecycle. Then, explore various product management courses, ensuring the one you choose offers expert instructors, a flexible schedule, and hands-on learning opportunities to help you build a strong product manager portfolio. Once you’ve completed your training, joined an online community, and secured an entry-level product manager position, you’ll be on your way to a thriving career in product management.

Kickstart your product manager journey with us today and gain practical experience through immersive projects. Learn to master sprint planning with Jira, develop product roadmaps in Asana, create prototypes in Figma, and much more. Our 10-week Product Management Certificate Course, in partnership with Ziplines Education, provides the career support you need to excel. Launch your career as an aspiring product manager with us now.

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