Upgrad Product Management Review 2024: Should You Enroll It?
Product management is one of today’s most popular careers that you might choose. That is why Upgrad’s team is. In this Upgrad product management review, we will share everything that you need to know.
As a product manager, you will be in charge of the market performance of your company’s products. In other words, you will create and implement a strategy each time your company launches a new product to ensure that it succeeds throughout its entire life cycle.
If you are a junior product manager or are interested in learning more about the profession, you may find the obligations to be a little unclear because the role does not appear to have a clear or consistent description. This is due to the fact that role responsibilities fluctuate from one firm to the next.
And if you are doing research on what exactly is Product Management is and where you can learn it? You are in the perfect place because we are here to help and to save you a lot of time.
About Upgrad’s Product Management Certification
Understand the principles of user research, product design, product analytics, and more to gain a comprehensive perspective on product management. Experienced product specialists from India and Silicon Valley collaborated on the development of this Product Management Certification Program.
If you are in search to become a successful product manager this is the perfect place. You will learn exactly how to build a product roadmap from start to finish. All the lessons are held by industry experts and from Duke CE professors.
The best thing if you get from this course, is the certificate you will get once you finish it. Duke CE is ranked among the top 3 in Executive Education by the Financial Times. The certificate is easily shareable across all social media like LinkedIn, etc. This way you can easily prove your qualification to people.
Pre-requisites required to enroll in product management certification
More than prerequisites to be accepted on this program are some things in order for you to know if this career track is for you or not.
First, there are the eligibility requirements if you are on the right track, to begin with.
- To get started, you’ll need a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, Finance, Engineering, Economics, or Marketing.
- You’ll also need at least 3-5 years of hands-on expertise in product development, strategy development, testing, or any level of product design.
The second thing is the creative side of the Product Management
When we refer to a product manager as a wizard, we indicate that they must possess the superior creative ability as well as a sharp mind in order to keep up.
- As a result, you’ll need to be able to create extensive competition analyses from scratch, figure out marketing plans based on scenarios, and much more.
- You’re comfortable building/providing insights to product roadmaps for any level of product development, and you’re aware of resource allocation’s finer points.
Lastly, you’ll require an emotional quotient.
The ability to establish a repertoire with your clients is maybe one of the most undervalued skills in the field of product management.
- In-depth knowledge of practical interpersonal skills that may be applied to product development, delivery, and marketing.
- Believing in using the proper body language to create symbiotic relationships with your clients/business owners.
- Knowing how to deal with problems in a productive manner while still keeping the team motivated.
Also Read: Upgrad full stack development review
Thoughts on course pricing and Duration
Now let’s talk about one of the most important factors that determine any online learning. The pricing. If you chose Upgrad Product Management you will have to pay a fee of just 3200 USD. It might sound a lot, but when you think about the university level of education you will get this price is not that much, to be honest. However, we will talk a little bit later on if this course it’s worth the price.
As for the duration, the Upgrad Product Management program lasts for around 6 months. This time period is filled with more than 200 hours of content which is recommended to be learned for at least 10-12 hrs/week.
You will be able to get your hands to more than 15 case studies and real-life projects which will help you a lot build a little experience before your first real job.
But this isn’t all there is. You will have more than 10 live sessions with professors and industry experts. In these live sessions, you will have Q&A time where you can ask questions if you have any unclear things. This has proven to be much needed if you plan to learn anything online.
Can I Get a Job with Upgrad’s Product Management Certification Program?
You can go in many different ways if you want to be a Product Manager. You have hard and long roads like getting a Product Management position without having any education for it but just a similar profession. This will require more time of course. The first way you can go to achieve it is to become and work for some years as an APM till you gain trust to have a real PM position. Or the other one is to become a PM in smaller companies and where you might need to accept a big cut on your pay. Either way, you choose, it is not recommended.
The recommended way is to choose and follow a type of education that can make all this process way easier. But when it comes to choosing the best education alternative is a whole another debate. Some might say that traditional education is better and some might say that online courses are better. The only advice I can give you here is to learn more about both types and choose for yourself which one you feel more like at home.
However, having the Upgrad Product Management Certification under your belt will be a huge plus in your career chase. When the time comes and you are sitting before a hiring manager it will show commitment to becoming a PM. After the course is finished you will have access to a community of people that have the same goals as you and you will have a portfolio of projects that can back up your words.
Thoughts on the syllabus
Now let’s talk more in-depth about what this course can offer.
Now that you know a lot about this course we will learn in detail what exactly it has to offer. Here I’m will try to summarize the syllabus of the Upgrade product management.
In your first lesson of this program, you will be going to learn about the market research for a 0-1 product for a B2C product. This module will help you analyze the industry trends, different market techniques, product life cycle, etc.
Just because the syllabus is too big in order to talk about every little step, we will be going to show you only a list of the module titles with a little description.
- Market Research For A 0-1 Product For A B2c Product
- User Research For A 0-1 Product
- Create Product Artefacts For 0-1 Product
- User Design For A 1-n Product
- Prototyping
- MVP + Usability Testing
- Product Analytics
- Growth, Engagement & Monetization
- Product Marketing And GTM Strategy
- Excel And SQL
- Product Planning And Development
- Tech For Non-tech
Specialization:
If you are serious and want to go all the way on this training you can choose to follow the three specialization curriculum. On these special modules, you will be going to learn more advanced stuff that will make a difference once you start working.
Growth Product Management
The Growth Product Management specialization will take 6 weeks to get thru. Initially, you will learn more about what a Growth PM does, how he interacts with his team, etc. And right after that, you will learn more about retention and engagement growth strategies, acquisition and activation, growth loops, and growth mindset. If you have learned a thing or two about Product Management you should know by now how important it is this specialization in your way to becoming a great product manager.
Data Science for Product Management
The other specialization is called Data Science for Product Management. This specialization also lasts 6 weeks as the first course but it focuses more on the technical part of PM, like Data Science. As well as the other one this course starts with an introduction to the Data Science PM role. Afterward, you will learn all about the fundamentals of Data, Analytics, and Statistics. Then the course goes thru hypothesis and validation, Data Science techniques, visualization, and lastly product improvements.
Digital Transformation
The last specialization is the Digital Transformation program. If you do not know anything about it, don’t worry because you will be introduced to the role of a Product Consultant, its key skills, etc. Some of the modules that you will be going to find on this specialization from Upgrad Product Management are the Main Pillars of Digital Transformation, Emerging Tech, Design Thinking for PMs, and a lot more.
Pros and Cons of Product Management Certification
| Pros | Cons |
| Learning to be a Tech PM comes with a bonus of SQL and tech stack knowledge. This way you are going to learn a little about programming too. | There are certain assignments that aren’t graded, so you might never know how you did. They do supply the ideal solution, but it’s not the same as getting it graded; it’s not as exciting. |
| Even after you’ve graduated, you can participate in webinars and hackathons. Upgrad is known to organize different events that can be a plus in your journey. | The post-course help is adequate but not exceptional, although I did not take advantage of it. |
| Mentor Calls, which connect you with genuine professionals. Your questions will have an answer by a real expert not like on some other online courses where you have to Google everything that is still unclear. | The timeframes were a little rushed; it’s an intensive program, and you’re still working your regular job, and life happens; you get sick or have other obligations, and you only have two chances. |
| Assignment feedback that is thoroughly rated, with the option of re-evaluation. | |
| Mock interviews and resume writing assistance are available. |
Thoughts on Some Upgrad Features Like
Mentorship
One of the biggest problems that online learning courses have is that they let the students do all the learning by themselves. Upgrad has understood this part and has taken action to fix it. If you choose to enroll in this course you will get 7+ hours of domain-specific mentorship calls. This way you will have plenty of time to ask a professional all the questions that you might have had during the learning part.
Job Assistance
Finding a job after you finish your studies on Upgrad will be way easier than finding one studying somewhere else or even worse studying on your own. On the Upgrad curriculum are included even 50+ cases and solutions, peer to peer mock interviews, resume building, and company-specific interview preparation. This way you will know what to expect from your first real interview and how to maintain your confidence and calm during your answers.
Career Counseling
Upgrad will not only teach you all about a profession and how to land a job, but even better it will help you choose the best job position suited for you. The professors and experts will give you many valuable recommendations based on your type and what you like the most. This way it is more possible for you to find a job that you love showing up every day.
Conclusion
The use of product-based services is projected to increase as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data make deeper inroads into our daily lives. Product managers will be in higher demand as a result of this, and I believe that upGrad’s product management program can assist professionals to take advantage of these new changes. A product manager, in a sense, steers the company down a competitive path in the future.
