Software product management?

Howdy, I am new to the web development world (as in, literally my first day), but I have been struck with an interest. Specifically, my interest is in software product management (kinda obviously). My interest developed when I received an email about a Coursera specialization in this field:

(https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketing&utm_campaign=MkV2cFayEeefauFGDehXGg&action=enroll)

I have a few questions that I was really hoping to get help with from a community of people with knowledge of this type of career path. I come from a background in science (BS in biology, MS in physiology) and I have no prior experience with web development or anything of that nature. I completed a course on Coursera called "Programming for everybody (getting started with Python)," a very simple, introductory course to Python, and I had a really hard time with that. I also only made it 66% of the way through the Python course on Code Academy. My point is, I don't necessarily get programming, but I am a fairly intelligent person capable of learning new things if I try hard enough.

Questions: What kind of knowledge or experience is necessary to try to get into the software product management field? Should I understand coding before I take on this course or should I just go for it? Will this course give me sufficient knowledge to start applying for actual software product management jobs?

I hope I gave enough information. I'm definitely open to suggestions and conversations regarding the topic. I'll take any help/information I can get. Thanks in advance!

The best "Crash Course" in Product Management?

Hi everyone, I appreciate that this might be a bit insulting to insinuate someone can learn a career in a matter of weeks/months, but an opportunity has come up that doesn't really fit with my planned "Education Roadmap" and I'd really like to do my best to seize it. TL;DR what courses, reading, or similar, would you recommend to someone who wanted to pick up on Product Management in a limited time period?

Long story short, a Product Manager is leaving our company, and some of our other staff who've been with the company almost since launch, have encouraged me to throw my hat into the ring if the job becomes available (product intelligence, and another PM amongst them).

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I've already expressed a desire to my manager to make use of HR professional development education to transition into product, but right now my experience is pretty much limited to daily product and customer interaction, briefing some of our PM's and devs, and occasionally some stakeholder management. If we were still a startup I'd probably just go for it, but since we've been bought out I feel I need to be able to justify my application a bit more, so I was wondering if anyone could help point me to some absolute must have bits of knowledge?

Is auditing the Software Product Management Specialization Coursera course still recommended?
Could anyone cut down this recommended reading list from the CSPO course to a top 3 or so, or should I just try and cram all of it?
Could someone perhaps point me towards some interview prep or clue me in on how this works for this sort of position? My google-fu must be weak as I've come across more lean UX testing info than anything.

Any advice to get my foot in the door would be appreciated.

Thanks

This and this might help you out a bit.

Tech always comes and goes, and a lot of what matters is your experience in knowing how to code, how to find solutions to problems, knowing which code to copy and paste, et cetera. The theoretical stuff? You can find that online with a lil' bit of digging.

You'll be fine.

Is the new product management certification on Coursera from University of Alberta worth doing?

I am an Android Developer at a very early stage startup and I want to move into product management. It has been only 3 month since I completed my bachelor's and joined this startup. I don't have mind putting $324 for this certification. I just want to know whether it will be worth. Will it help me secure a job in product management in future either at my current startup or some other company?

How is Having a certification in software product management viewed?

I cannot afford business school and was wondering if getting a certification in Software Product Management from the University of Alberta on Coursera is going to help me break into product management, see https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management. Any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated.

Wow, what are the chances!

I am currently completing the following specialization from Coursera - which my employer is paying for:

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

I would HIGHLY recommend it. You will learn about the various stages of software development, how to break down a project into small tasks / user stories, use this to build release plans, estimate time, and manage the client (as well as a LOT more).

Please note that I am not providing an affiliate link here. I am in no way affiliated with this program, but I do think it is quite good; it would answer 90% of your questions, and it has certainly made me a lot more comfortable with managing products/projects myself.

I personally AM a developer, but you do not need to be one to take this course, and you wouldn't suffer because of it.

If you don't want to pay the money, you could simply make a point form list of each lesson title and/or syllabus from each of the courses that comprise the specialization, and then go off and google-learn everything yourself.

These two would be nice additions to your resume as certifications.

Product Management Foundations

• Lynda
• $30-$50 per month
• Seven day free trial which you could probably complete within that time frame

Software Product Management

• Coursera
• $50 per class for 6 months
• You can apply for financial aid if you qualify
• You can do some of them, I believe, at the same time to complete faster than 6

This one in Coursera Product management specialization.

Sure. I did this one https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

It is quite basic and easy but you get to run through the process. I've seen recently that there is another one from University of Virginia also.

This one?

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

I liked this coursera specialization https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management. You can audit the courses for free.

There is a Software Product Management specialization that is a 6-course track and super helpful, especially if you are new to product or have been working in product and looking for a refresher on common frameworks: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

My friend said good things about this course: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

link: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

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this takes you to the full six-course specialisation. The capstone is specifically what I think you want, but you might be interested in the whole specialisation.

I have recently enrolled for a Software Product management specialization course at Coursera. I have included a link below. I am finding it very informative and easy to understand. It also has a 6-week peer-reviewed project at the end. Do go through it and share your thoughts.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

These two would be nice additions to your resume as certifications.

Product Management Foundations

• Lynda
• $30-$50 per month
• Seven day free trial which you could probably complete within that time frame

Software Product Management

• Coursera
• $50 per class for 6 months
• You can apply for financial aid if you qualify
• You can do some of them, I believe, at the same time to complete faster than 6 months

Learning Product Management Theory vs. Practical? [Coursera Specialization]

TL; DR: How much does theoretical knowledge about Agile and other project management stuff help in your role as a PM, should I take courses in learning that as a beginner?

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Hey guys,

Quick background about me. From India. I will complete my IT engineering undergrad next month. Fairly skilled at programming, specialized in Data Science and Machine Learning for the last 2 years. Did an internship as a developer as well.

I've always had a flair for business- Garyvee, Freelance marketing gigs, and a failed ecom store later, I have a part-time job at an early stage startup in business development.

Do things like sales, analytics, customer success, marketing. It's a team of 7 people so I get to wear many hats, which is something that I like.

I have always subscribed to the idea of becoming a "radical generalist", someone with M-shaped skills.

I found about "Product Management" when I was talking to my startup founder about a month ago. Found it very interesting and thought it fits me as a person- at the intersection of business, tech, and design.

Not good at design yet but I know about tech thanks to my engineering degree and data science experience, and a bit business thanks to my freelance and startup work.

I've been exploring courses online in this lockdown and making the most of my time to transition into an APM role at my current startup.

I took both of u/colemercer's courses on Udemy. Found them really useful.

I recently started the 6-course Coursera specialization on Software Product Management by University of Alberta. It looks very theoretical as compared to Cole's course and the few blogs I have read.

Link: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

Do you guys think theoretical knowledge about Agile methodology, processes, project management, etc. is critical to learn as a beginner?

Would be great if someone can take a look at the courses in the specialization and let me know if I should invest my time in it, or just learn more up-to-date stuff from blogs, udemy, et. al.

Thanks for reading my story! Loving this sub so far.

Mmmm, seems like the maths haven´t been done around how much costs to build the wrong feature or have a high-performing team waiting for work.

PM is a broader discipline, there are some resources but I wouldn´t expect too much progress if they are under high pressure and are not receiving feedback on a daily basis from a more experienced peer.

• Udacity just opened their content for 30 days, check this course. This one starts from strategy, which should help them to connect the big picture with the details.
• The one that I liked the most is this.
• User stories applied
• If I worked there, I would make sure that I know very well the product quickly, what I do is to perform exploratory testing and test fixed defects.

I'd love to know how the story plays out.

With regard to certifications, I have seen some job posts mention:

- AIPMM certifications https://aipmm.com/cpm

- MBAs

And I dont know if a PMP or a CSM could help you stand out, but the knowledge gained from getting them was great for me.

For courses, aside from what u/Compunerd3 has mentioned:

- Software Product Management Specialization from Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

- LinkedIn Learning (previously Lynda.com ) has many 1 hour courses that can talk about the specific skill you are after (strategic planning, go to market planning, design thinking, business analytics ... etc).

If you want a deeper knowledge on fundamentals all books will be large. Thankfully they build up so if you start from page 1 and only go further if you understand, it should not be problematic to finish the book. One step at a time. Learning takes time, do not rush things it won't help you. Here's my suggestion in order.

• Read Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
• Read How to Design Programs then SICP

Then here is a road-map I made for my girlfriend:

MATHEMATICS

Courses | Duration | Status :-- | :--: | :--: College Algebra and Problem Solving Precalculus Mathematics for Computer Science

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE AND PROGRAMMING

JAVA

Courses | Duration | Status :-- | :--: | :--: Object-Oriented Programming with Java: Part I, Part II Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose Computer Science: Algorithms, Theory, and Machines

READINGS

Books | Status :-- | :--: Software Construction

C

Courses | Duration | Status :-- | :--: | :--: Spécialisation Introduction to Programming in C

DATA STRUCTURES & ALGORITHMS

Courses | Status :-- | :--: Data Structures & Algorithms: Part I, Part II

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Courses | Duration | Status :-- | :--: | :--: Specialisation Software Design and Architecture Specialisation Software Development Lifecycle Specialisation Software Product Management

LINUX

Courses | Duration | Status :-- | :--: | :--: Specialisation Open Source Software Development, Linux and Git

PRACTICES

Bookmarks | Status :-- | :--: Codingame, HackerRank, Exercism.io, Leetcode Google Tech Dev Guide, Google Code Jam

INTERVIEW PREPARATION

Courses/Books | Duration | Status :-- | :--: | :--: Soft Skills, Career Development: Skills for Success Cracking the Coding Interview - Gayle Laakmann McDowell Coding Interview University

Welcome to the sub, and congratulations on launching your product!

I'm a little confused as to whether you are asking about Product Management or Product Management. They are different roles and require different skills. Project Management is about taking creating an environment to deliver something unique(ish), and then ensuring you get it delivered within boundaries (traditionally time, cost and quality). Product Management is about developing a product that people want, growing/evolving it and eventually sunsetting it.

Within each discipline, there are scores of techniques and approaches that can be deployed and where to focus depends on the challenges you are currently facing - and how much time (and money) you want to spend researching and reading!

On the subject of money - it sounds like your organization has transitioned you into this role - it is not unreasonable to ask for support in terms of training.

Here are a few options for you to consider filling your weekend with:

Free Product Management training

• You can audit this course on Product Management for free on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/product-management

Useful books for Product Managers

• Sprint: Jake Knapp
• Project to Product: Mik Kersten
• Measure what Matters: John Doerr
• The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
• Product Management in practice - Matt Le May
• Strategize: Roman Pichler

Useful Product Management Blogs

• https://productcoalition.com/
• https://www.romanpichler.com/blog

Useful Product Management Podcasts:

• https://www.productschool.com/product-podcast/
• https://roadmunk.com/product-to-product-podcast
• http://rocketship.fm/episodes/
• https://www.100productmanagers.com/interviews

I hope you find these resources useful. Best of luck with your reading/learning, and I hope your product continues to evolve and grow.