TL;DR: There are product management certifications available for product managers of all levels, including those who want to learn about agile processes and scrum. While the certification from Product School is perfect for beginners, the Certified Product Manager Credential by AIPMM is best for managers looking to take the next step in product management. But keep in mind that real-life experience is one of the best ways to grow their careers and use product management certifications to boost their practical skills and knowledge.
It can be hard to get into product management, and it's even harder to be a brilliant PM. You need to be able to develop a fresh perspective of the product you're working on and come up with strategies that help the product meet customer needs. So what can you do to learn these key skills?
Luckily, many product leaders are dedicated to teaching the next generation of PMs the practical skills they need to succeed in product management.
Whatever stage you're at in your product management career, there's a course available to help you boost your industry knowledge and gain a professional certificate. We've shortlisted our favorite product management certifications that will help you excel in your PM career, whether you're experienced or just starting.
The Product Manager Certification by Product School is perfect if you've just started or want to start a career in product management. Led by top Silicon Valley product leaders from tech companies like Google and Meta, you'll get hands-on experience through live lectures and real-world scenarios.
What makes great product managers
Understanding your customers
Strategic alignment
How to bring concepts to reality
How to create a go-to-market plan
How to win over hiring managers
Get unlimited access to course materials for 2 years
Formal training in small online classes
Industry recognized certification
30 hours, either part-time over 2 months on weeknights or weekends, or full-time over 5 days
From $1,760 per month
None - no prior experience needed
The Certified Product Manager certification by AIPMM is ideal for product managers looking to take their career to the next level. Offering both online and in-person learning, this course helps you to learn key skills and strategies for marketing throughout the product life cycle and how to create a marketing plan for your product. There's a certification exam at the end to show off what you've learned.
Developing case study materials
Crafting business plans
Performing competitive analysis
Product life cycle modeling
Learn at your own pace with live, on-demand and in-person teaching
Review program structure and video samples before you commit
Internationally recognized professional association for PMs
Up to 20 hours
From $125 for an AIPMM membership
$395 for self-paced study
Recommended for product marketing managers and product owners with at least 3 years of experience
The Product Strategy certification course is ideal for a senior product manager looking to step into leadership and strategy roles. It teaches a growth-oriented approach to product strategy, taking into account user research and techniques that cover the entire product roadmap. This product management course prides itself on giving PMs hands-on experience to help them progress in their careers.
Analyzing new product opportunities
Assessing the pros and cons of different business models
Creating buyer personas and other product marketing essentials
Using agile processes grounded in the jobs-to-be-done framework
Helps project managers and product owners break into higher-paid product management roles
Has more of a focus on product marketing
Offers an applied learning project to help learners apply their new skills immediately
2 months, 4-6 hours per week; mix self-paced and live online classes
$2,850
Anyone can take this product management certification, but it's recommended that you have prior experience in product management from any point of a product's life cycle
Scrum Alliance's Certified Scrum Product Owner certification is ideal if you've got some experience in agile development but want to master Scrum. It teaches you how to maximize your product's value and how backlog grooming within the scrum framework can help you achieve more.
Product owner core skills
Goal setting and planning, including using sprints
Understanding your customers
Validating product assumptions
Offers a professional product management certificate without an exam, which suits many learners
Helps you gain skills that you can apply immediately to your product process
Explains scrum in a simple-to-understand way to open the door for other opportunities
Approx. 16 hours over 2 days, online live
$895, but offers run regularly
None, but it's recommended that you've been a product manager or project manager for at least 3 years
PMC means product management certification. Some people use the term to cover all product management certifications available, but others will only use it to describe the PMC provided by Product School.
In general, PMCs help PMs, whether brand new or experienced, to gain practical and technical skills related to product management and also project management. Some courses will mean that you become a certified product manager at the end of it, after completing an exam.
While you don't need a certification for product management, it's a good idea to have one. If you're looking to start a new career in product management, you'll be up against plenty of PMs with certifications and experience in product management.
Many entry-level product management certifications have a module dedicated to helping you learn how to stick out from the crowd to get your first PM job, so it makes sense to look into a product management program if you have high career aspirations.
How long it takes to get a product manager certification depends on the course. Most courses are offered part-time, often in-person and online, so you can complete them around your job. They can take a few months over a couple of evenings a week or weekends.
Some product management programs offer fast-track places of intensive 5-day courses, while others may take 2 full days.
There are no best qualifications for a product manager, as there are no formal qualifications required. However, most top companies will want you to have a degree at least. Aspiring product managers should consider taking courses and certifications in product management so they have a solid foundation to build on when they get their first job.
Which product management certification is best is down to the stage you're at in your career, your style of learning and your career goals. If you're just starting out in product management, you may benefit the most from the Product School PMC, while if you want to become an agile certified product manager the Product Owner certification from Scrum Alliance may suit you best.
Make sure you look carefully at the curriculum for each certification before you choose which one to enroll on.
In our opinion, product certifications are worth it. They help you gain experience in product development, marketing strategies and project management, and often offer hands-on projects to help you translate the product management skills you've learned into the real world.
However, it's important to understand that as well as classroom learning, you need practical experience in building and launching products. Showing that you've had product success will be vital in growing your product management career and landing your dream job.
Conducting user interviews is one of the most powerful tools for developing your product. Because it's simply the easiest way to understand what your product’s opportunities are, that is what your customers want or need but haven't got yet. However, it’s also a tricky approach as we’ve also realized ourselves that it can get quickly overwhelming to understand users.
Andrea Ramsbacher
Growth Manager
Creating a new product isn’t just about making something cool; it’s about making something that tackles people’s problems. That’s where the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework comes in, a method that emerged as a product development tool focusing on people.
Andrea Ramsbacher
Growth Manager
We all have limited time and resources. We therefore have to make sure that we focus on the most important features that will tackle the most pressing customers’ problems. That's where backlog grooming, also known as backlog refinement, comes into the picture. By regularly organizing and prioritizing your backlog items, your team makes sure to focus on the right features and to work more efficiently for your product development.
Andrea Ramsbacher
Growth Manager
