8 Free Product Management Courses to Launch Your Career
As a Product Manager, you are responsible for the end-to-end development of a product. You own the product vision, strategy, and requirements and liaise between the business and engineering teams.
The average annual Product Manager salary in the UK is £67,500, $100,000 in the US, and N6.9m in Nigeria.
Learn more about the Product Manager role and how to become a Product Manager here.
How to become a Product Manager (... and land your first job)
The Information Technology industry remains one of the top five paying industries today, with Product Managers amongst the highest paid in the technology industry. Product managers, on average, earn $100,000 in the US and N6.9m in Nigeria yearly. Although there has been massive job loss amongst many tech professionals in the past few months, thousands o…
In this article, we would focus on gaining basic skills for product management by taking courses.
Here are 8 free courses to gain product management skills:
1. Become a Product Manager by Career Foundry
Course link: Become a Product Manager
What I like about this course:
As with many online courses, it is self-paced.
It is useful to understand if you want to get into product management before investing money in other courses.
2. Understanding Product Management by Alison
Course link: Understanding Product Management
What I like about this course:
The curriculum is quite unique - the courses teach you about maintaining customer loyalty and pricing.
You have the option of purchasing a certificate.
It has a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation which has been approved and endorsed by the official Continuing Professional Development organisation. This is not compulsory, but it’s good to know the course is accredited.
3. Product Management Fundamentals by the University of Maryland on edX
Course link: Product Management Fundamentals
Note:
The free access is limited; the course ends Dec 31st, 2023. For the free access, you would not have access to graded assessments and exams.
What I like about this course:
It is delivered by a renowned university
As a bonus, you learn about marketing principles which is a useful professional skill in today’s world.
4. Introduction to Product Management by Emergn on edX
Course link: Introduction to Product Management
Note:
Like the above edX course, this course’s free access is limited. The course ends Nov 30th, 2023. For the free access, you would not have access to graded assessments and exams.
What I like about this course:
You will learn about product management tools and practices as well as moving from projects to products.
5. Digital Product Management: Morden Fundamentals by the University of Virginia on Coursera.
Course link: Digital Product Management: Morden Fundamentals
What I like about this course:
It is delivered by a renowned university.
You’ll learn about exploring a new product idea and amplifying existing products.
Financial aid is available for paid access.
6. Product Management Fundamentals on Youtube
Course link: Product Management Fundamentals
What I like about this course:
It discusses key product management concepts such as technical viability, forecasting, tradeoffs, and a typical day as a product manager.
7. Software Product Management Specialization by the University of Alberta on Coursera
Course link: Software Product Management Specialization
What I like about this course:
It is offered by one of the top universities in the world.
Access hands-on projects
Financial aid is available for paid access
8. Build a Product Roadmap with Aha on Coursera
Course link: Build a Product Roadmap with Aha
Note: You need a basic understanding of product management
What I like about this course:
Gain practical prioritisation skills
Learn to use a widely used product management tool
If you are working on a project as a beginner, check out these tips for a successful product management side project.
When you are ready, I can help in 2 ways:
Join a free online community of aspiring and junior PMs. Learn from experienced PMs and recruiters, ask a question and get access to curated resources. Join here.
1-1 mentorship: Get 1-1 mentorship to land your first PM job or grow professionally as a PM. Navigate the 100s of templates and advice you see online and speak to an experienced professional excelling at her work and helping multiple folks land their first PM job. Email me at ezeanyaguuju@gmail.com to learn more and book a session.
Thank you