Why everyone is looking for product managers and why they are paid an average of 170,000 rubles per month

What does a product manager do

Imagine that you decide to launch an application. You need to come up with an idea, create a design and a user-friendly interface, test all the functions, find bugs, and think over an advertising strategy. And first you also need to understand the needs of the audience, calculate the potential profit and find a way to stand out from the competition. Without proper preparation and coherence of the team, all this can turn into an uncontrollable fire.

This is where the product manager comes in. Its task is to ensure the successful process of creating and launching new products or upgrading old ones. To do this, it is important for him to be a good analyst, strategist and manager.

The product manager reads the desires of the audience, the situation on the market, the opportunities and goals of the company. And then he finds a solution that would ideally meet the given conditions, and ways that will help to achieve the result as quickly as possible.

The product is involved in the work on the product at all its stages. At the same time, he is not directly involved in development or testing. To make the list of tasks clearer, consider what this specialist does at each stage:

1. Analysis. The product manager studies trends and the situation on the market, target audience and competitors.
2. Pre-development. Creates a strategy and business model, forms terms of reference.
3. Development. Controls the work of the team at intermediate stages, checks for changes in the market.
4. Testing. Analyzes the results, organizes the revision of shortcomings.
5. launch. Prepares the product for market launch, discusses advertising campaigns.
6. Escort. Regularly evaluates the effectiveness of the product, looking for ways to improve performance.

There are many responsibilities, but you should not be afraid. All the skills you need to get your first job can be mastered quickly. For example, the courseProfession Product manager” in Skillbox lasts only a year, and at the end you will already be able to apply for the position of a junior specialist.

On job search sites, you can find a consonant profession - a project manager. But the tasks of this specialist are different from those that the product is engaged in. The project manager controls that everything is ready on time and without exceeding the budget, and what will happen to the product next is no longer his concern. The product, on the other hand, takes care of the project even after it has been published.

Become a Product Manager

Why do companies need such a specialist

A product manager is a relatively new profession, but very much in demand. Right now on hh.ru openProduct manager vacancies / hh.ru more than 2,000 vacancies. Such specialists are sought not only in IT: product managers are needed for launches in industry, beauty, pharmaceuticals, and education. This is because they make the life of the company easier: they optimize processes and prevent them from wasting time on obviously failed ideas. This affects not only the internal comfort of the team, but also income: the presence of a product in the state can increaseProduct Management Statistics: 20+ Eye‑Opening Insights / UXCam profit by 34.2%.

Employers are willing to pay well for this. According to Habr Career statistics, product managers in Russia in the second half of 2021, on average receivedIT salaries in the second half of 2021: + 17% due to support and administration in the regions / Sudo Null IT News 170,000 rubles. And the maximum salary generally exceeded 250,000 rubles. For beginners, the offers, although more modest, are still worthy: junior level specialists receive about 90,000 rubles a month.

When looking for a job, you can go beyond the Russian market. Abroad, this profession is also in demand and well paid. For example, in the USA average salaryProduct Manager The product is $10,048 per month before taxes.

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What you need to know to get started

A product manager needs to be familiar with the order and features of all stages of product production, so he must understand how a developer, designer, marketer, tester work. Otherwise, it will be difficult to effectively set tasks and communicate with the team.

It is also important for a product to master data analysis tools, audience research methods, and team management skills. All this is taught in the courseProfession Product manager» in Skillbox. It lasts 12 months and consists of 92 modules and 476 video lessons. The teachers here are practicing experts who share really useful information, and you can study in any free time: it’s enough to find three to five free hours a week.

During the course you will learn:

• how to set goals, where to look for ideas and investors for the product;
• how to identify customer needs, see trends, test ideas and prototypes using the CustDev approach;
• how to create convenient and beautiful interfaces for websites and applications and calculate CJM (user paths);
• how to use the SQL query language - it is useful for collecting metrics and analytics;
• how to formulate complex reports and forecasts in Excel;
• how to create and test an MVP (minimum viable product);
• how to work with a team using the Agile method;
• how to calculate unit-economy.

Workshops and hackathons, as well as numerous practical tasks, will help you immerse yourself in the profession. For release, you will need to design a prototype, create a full-fledged business model and MVP, and then defend them before a professional jury.

And that is not all. In addition to the main modules, you can take the Emotional Intelligence and Leadership course for free and improve your English on the CESPA online platform.

How to find a job

Here, too, Skillbox will help out. It is enough to refer toCareer Center» online university, and an HR specialist will provide individual support. It will help not only in finding a potential employer: together with a career consultant, you will prepare for an interview, create a competitive resume and portfolio. Skillbox has many partners, and platform students get to interviews with them faster than other applicants.

Finding a job shouldn't be difficult. But if you still can’t find it, Skillbox will return the money for training. By the way, the costs will quickly pay off - course fee is equal to two salaries of a junior level product manager. The first six months you can generally study for free, and Skillbox also gives students an installment plan for 31 months.

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