Who is a Product Manager: an overview of IT careers

From our article today, you will learn who are the sales managers, what are the they do and how to start a career in IT.

Who's a sales manager

Everyone knows Google, Tinder and Tic Toc. Thanks to product managers, these products are used by millions of people. They have identified the desire of the target audience, formulated positioning, tested hundreds of hypotheses and calculated the economics.

The product manager profession is in demand in the digital technology sector. A product manager is a person who leads the process of creating new business ideas or improving existing ones. The specialist controls the life cycle of one or a pool of interrelated products, implements strategy, and leads a team. An IT manager works with digital solutions (software, applications, games).

Sales manager: responsibilities and functions

In essence, it is a specialist who daily slices tasks to people who know their job better than him. To do this, you need to be well versed in different areas and have certain skills. Otherwise, it won't work. 

Let's take a brief look at what a sales manager does:

1. Defines product strategy.
2. Uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to gain insights into customer needs and wants in order to create innovations that drive success.
3. Proposes a vision for the outcome and articulates the mission, taking customer feedback and market research from the market.
4. Assists in developing solutions that align with brand positioning.
5. Represents the future of a particular development, whether it's taking an existing product to the next level of improvement or developing something new.
6. Identifies and segments the CA and geographic markets where the project can reach the most customers to maximise results. 
7. Creates a pricing strategy and marketing plan that is directly focused on increasing business and revenue.
8. Works to improve profitability by managing return on investment.

What else does a product manager do? A product manager's responsibilities certainly include meetings with the development team, analysts, marketers, technical support, potential customers, etc. His/her attention is fully focused on bringing the IT product to market on time and ensuring its profitability during its lifecycle.

What skills a product manager should have

Today's product manager is a specialist with a diverse skill set and must be able to fulfil many different roles, often from brand manager to creative director. The direct responsibilities of a product manager are to be aware of market trends, creative and attentive to detail. 

Let's take a closer look at what a product manager does and what skills they should have.

Communication skills

The Product Manager must be a good communicator in order to interact well with the company's potential and existing customers, management and team. In a highly competitive market, companies are looking for agile team members who can quickly learn the market, synthesise and communicate important information and vision to the right people at the right time.

Strategic thinking

The product manager's responsibilities include product promotion strategy: risk identification, project definition, pricing and reporting to company executives.

People skills 

Produst manager what does it mean in the first place? That's right - communication with the team, company management, clients, including individual, group and online communication, relationship building. This specialist should see the problem from different angles. Having high-level management skills, supporting the team in the right direction and motivating, the manager will be more effective and successful in his role.

Design, technical and programming skills

What is a product manager? It is also the ability to use software development tools, know the principles of design and graphic design. Otherwise, it will be difficult to communicate with the web team.

CA research

Another thing a sales manager does. Essentially, he is an expert who combines the skills of a businessman and a web developer. He or she is responsible for identifying, articulating and confirming the value that digital development brings to the target audience.

Why pursue a career in product management

The specialist coordinates the development of the project at every stage of the life cycle. This is the main thing a product manager does. Of course, it is A challenging career in an ever-changing business environment, but with pretty good and growing fees year after year. 

Managers help introduce new concepts and ideas to the market, so they have to be entrepreneurs and a bit of a "nostradamus" at heart.

Specialist salary

Product management is an exciting field that can help you truly shape your future financially. Although novice managers earn less on average than experienced managers, the pay rises as experience and knowledge is quickly gained.

A manager's salary varies depending on many factors, including region, experience, type of product and the brand being promoted. As of early 2023, about half of all salespeople in Moldova earn between 1,000 and 2,000 Euros. Almost a third of employees earn less than 1000, and about a quarter of professionals boast salaries above 2000-3000 Euros. 

How do you become a product manager?

It takes perseverance and hard work:

1. Study your field of activity thoroughly. To become a sought-after specialist, you need to constantly evolve: learn from the experience of successful entrepreneurs, study frameworks, and read about new technologies. 
2. Determine your level. The profile aptitude tests will help you to do this. 
3. Study. When you've realised what you're missing, you can move on to learning - choose offline or online courses.
4. Make your own project. The teaching cases in the portfolio can be supplemented with your own project. This will be a good advantage when applying for a job. 
5. Build a portfolio. Just solving cases is not enough. In order for an employer to understand what you can do, you need to properly design projects in your portfolio. 
6. Complete an initial screening. Getting an invitation to an interview without relevant experience is not easy, but it is possible.  
7. Pass the interview and test assignment. Once you have convinced the recruiter to let you pass on, you need to prepare for the interviews and test assignments.
8. Complete a probationary period. After receiving an offer, a probationary period awaits you.  

Any of the following experiences would be useful for a prodact in IT: 

1. Working in a product team in another position will be a plus. For example, a product marketer already understands how to identify the needs of the target audience, what metrics are important for product growth and how to test hypotheses to optimise them. 
2. Non-IT product management is a very good basis for starting out in the profession. You already know the principles of product creation and development, all that remains is to understand the specifics of digital development.
3.  Participation in hackathons is a competition for developers where people join teams and come up with a solution to a certain problem within a limited time. Hackathons allow you to practise almost all skills. 
4. Running your own startup gives you a full understanding of how things work. You think of an idea that will solve a user problem, assemble the appropriate team, and start development. 

By the way, there is a community working in Moldova  Product Management Community Moldovawhich organises meetings, workshops and conferences for future and novice product managers. 

You can't be completely sure you'll like a position until you try it on. But there are 3 questions you can ask yourself that will help you know if it's worth trying:

1. Do I like talking to people? If you quickly tire of calls and work chats, don't like teamwork and can't find common ground with different people, then this career is not for you. A sales manager often interacts with colleagues, sets tasks, brainstorms, and resolves conflicts. Introverts will have a hard time.
2. Do I want to test hypotheses all the time? If you have a high tolerance for failure and are afraid of making mistakes, think several times before entering this profession. Product work involves generating and testing hypotheses. It is constantly experimenting with subscription pricing, call-to-action on the website or onboarding in the app. Metrics don't always improve - that's normal. You need to draw conclusions and move on.
3. Can I think strategically? If you don't like to plan everything in advance and don't see the global picture, it's better to give up this job. A product manager is responsible for developing the development strategy, drawing up the Roadmap and setting goals. The company's profits depend on his decisions.

Now you realise that it is realistic to get a start in the profession. But to do this, you need to work on yourself and constantly develop yourself. As a result, you will get interesting tasks, career growth and a good salary. But you should also realise that each company may have different requirements for a sales manager.