A comprehensive list of product management courses
Originally published on Medium
Product management is a discipline that thrives on curiosity — questions continually present themselves because there are so many unknowns. You can learn all the theory you like, but at some point you just have to stop thinking about what the answer might be and dive in to find out.
— @Jock Busuttil, author of The Practioner’s Guide to Product Management
May 2020 Update: This is my third time updating this post, and based on feedback, I will be releasing a list of free online resources for individuals looking to break into PM.
The journey to becoming a product manager has been one of the most humbling and rewarding life experiences I have had to date. I am certainly not alone in thinking so, as the Product Manager title ranks as the #4 best job in America in 2020 according to Glassdoor. Despite its growing popularity, there is yet to be a clear path towards becoming a product manager. When I scoured the internet for courses on Product Management in 2014, resources were few and far in between. In early 2015, I decided to invest time and money into completing General Assembly’s Product Management bootcamp, an invaluable yet polarizing experience in which I will share my thoughts on in the near future.
One of the most important takeaways from my experience at GA is that every great product manager is a curious and continuous learner. Whether you are looking to break into the world of product, or already are an experienced product person looking to sharpen your product acumen, I am confident that at least one following courses will add value to your product toolkit.
As a quick note, I am not paid or incentivized in any way to advertise any of the following courses. I have however participated and paid for a number of these courses below. Courses I have previously taken or are currently enrolled in have an asterisk next to their title.
Formal Degree Programs (Paid)
Carnegie Mellon University: Master of Science in Product Management
NYU Stern: MBA with Product Management Specialization
Institute of Product Leadership: The Executive MBA
University of Oulu: Product Management, Master’s Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management.
Code University of Applied Sciences: Bachelor of Arts in Product Management
Formal Executive Programs (Paid)
Stanford: Innovative Product Leadership: The Emerging Chief Product Officer
UC Berkeley: Product Management Certificate Program
Northwestern: Managing Product Design & Development & Product Strategy
University of Washington: Certificate in Software Product Management
Product Management Bootcamps (Paid)
Udacity: Product Manager Nanodegree, AI Product Manager Nanodegree*, Growth Product Manager Nanodegree
Thinkful: Product Management
Open Classrooms: Product Manager
Online MOOCs (Free/Paid)
Stanford University: The Art and Science of Product Management & Product Management Fundamentals
University of Virginia (Coursera): Digital Product Management Certification, taught by Alex Cowan
University of Alberta (Coursera): Software Product Management Specialization*
Highbrow: Intro to Product Management
Boston University (edX): Digital Product Management
Cornell University: Product Management Certificate
University of Maryland: Product Management Fundamentals
Pluralsight: Product Owner Fundamentals
Online Thought Leader Courses (Paid)
Product Management: How to Get The $104,000 Salary Job* by Felix Thea
One Week PM* by Kevin Lee (kevinleeme)
One Month: One Month Product Management
Fundamentals of Product Management by Ellen Chisa (Thanks for the tip Cole Mercer)
Product Innovation Educators by Chad McAllister
LinkedIn Learning: Product Management Foundations
Agile Excellence for Product Managers and Product Owners by 280 Group
Product Management 101 by Ramit Arora & Dean Slawson
Real Product Management for Startups and Maximum Impact by Vasily Starostenko
In-person courses (Paid)
Pragmatic Marketing: Pragmatic Marketing Framework
280 Group: Product Management Training
AIPMM: Certified Product Manager
Blackblot: Strategic Product Manager
MindTheProduct: Product Management Workshops
Silicon Valley Product Group: Public Workshops
PG Consulting: The Growth PM Workshop
Elevation Academy: Product Management
Product Owner Certifications (Paid)
Scrum Alliance: Certified Scrum Product Owner*
Scrum.org: Professional Scrum Product Owner
Did I miss any? If you have any feedback on this article, please feel free to comment below or reach out to me by email.
I am also working with a fantastic group of product people to build a curated list of product management tools and resources. If you would like to contribute to such a project, please feel free to reach out here.
All my best,
Frankie