A brief intro to the product manager role

There are a lot of amazing career choices in tech. Some require you to have sound coding skills and, for some, you don’t need to know how to code.

Product management is among the exciting fields in tech that you can enter without any knowledge of programming or design.

Who is a product manager (PM)? A product manager is someone who ensures a product is successful. Products can be software, hardware, etc.

What the product manager does is ensure that the right products are built. By making use of data and feedback from customers, the PM works with the designers and programmers to bring the product to life.

Types of product managers

This classification is based on the users of the product that is being built.

Internal product manager: An Internal PM manages the product that is used by people within a company or firm. Internal PMs usually build tools that ensure the smooth running of the company; these tools are not for public use. For example, Internal PM can work with a team that builds a tool that improves customer care services or a tool that is used to gather data or feedback from customers.

This is usually a good role to start your PM career since you are building tools for your company. There is less risk of losing money in case the product fails or has many bugs.

Business to business product manager: A business to business PM builds products for other companies or businesses. An example is the Google cloud Platform. Many companies rely on this product for the smooth running of their business.

Business to Consumer Product Manager: Business to consumer product managers deal with products that are built for direct consumers. Examples of such products include Microsoft Word, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Below are links to a few resources to get you started:

• https://www.productschool.com/blog/
• https://www.productmanagerhq.com/
• https://280group.com/product-management-resources/
• https://www.udacity.com/course/product-manager-nanodegree--nd036
• https://www.linkedin.com/learning/

If you have any question, you can reach out to me on Twitter @vik_linho. This is a brief introduction to the role of a product manager. I hope you now have a clearer insight into this exciting career in tech.