It’s considered one of the fastest-growing areas of business with more than 400,000 job openings across the country. And you can learn the skills you need for the job in as little as 25 weeks.
The job is product manager.
What Does a Product Manager Do?
Product managers figure out the bigger business objectives for a product — who it serves and how, and what success looks like — and they head up the team that puts all the ideas into place. They are also tasked with keeping brands and products relevant and able to adapt to change.
Research, process mapping, product design, and quality assurance are all part of their responsibilities. These roles can be found in tech, finance, construction, health care industries, and more for companies like Amazon, KPMG, Flatiron Health, Gap and Vevo.
The average entry-level salary is $88,600.
A Virtual Boot Camp for Product Design
With close to 10,000 job postings located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana alone, a new program offered through Louisiana State University (LSU) aims to fill that need.
Developed in partnership with national tech education provider Fullstack Academy, the LSU Product Management Boot Camp is a 25-week virtual program created by professionals with backgrounds in product management, civil engineering, entrepreneurship, innovation, computer science, education technology, and a product lead at Amazon.
“We are in the midst of product management’s ‘Golden Age,’” says Bryan Kind, vice president of academics and product for Fullstack Academy.
“Product management is a growing field, which pays very well and has a career path that creates a lot of room for individuals to grow and advance. It’s a non-technical field, and many industries are recognizing the benefits of having a person or department focused on bringing new products from vision to life,” he explains.
“There are a number of traits and skills that can be leveraged into a successful product management career, including curiosity, problem solving, statistical analysis, process building, empathy, communication, and critical thinking,” Kind says.
The LSU Product Management Boot Camp offers a free self-paced Intro to Product Management: Skills to Career Pathway course to see which of a student’s existing strengths translate into a career as a product manager.
To qualify for the boot camp, university enrollment is not required. The product management program caters to early career professionals, up-skillers, or those looking to pursue product management as a new career path.
The curriculum focuses on job preparedness and practicing product management skills in real-life, authentic scenarios, versus a heavy focus on reading, writing and dissecting case studies. The program is separate from LSU’s undergraduate degree programs, but upon completion, graduates receive a digital certificate from LSU and Fullstack Academy.
LSU and Fullstack Academy aren’t sharing their enrollment numbers yet; they anticipate an average cohort of 15 students per one instructor. The tuition is $12,495, but a $1,500 Founder’s Scholarship is available for all students who enroll in the inaugural product management cohort in October 2022. Additional scholarships are also available for LSU current students and alumni, military veterans, and other communities.
