The Top 5 Product Management Certifications (2022)
Udn Webber
Editorial Coordinator
Interested in earning a product management certification ?
A certified product manager must be able to develop a unique product vision and product strategy that also provides value to customers.
But how do they know how to do this?
Becoming an agile certified product manager is one of the best ways to gain the knowledge and skills needed to guide your project towards success and help you build a solid foundation.
And luckily, getting certified as a product manager is a pretty straightforward process, and certified product managers are always in demand!
To become a certified product manager, all you need to do is register for a digital product manager certification exam that you’re eligible for and pass it.
But with so many product management certifications to choose from, how do you know which product management certification program is the best for you ?
Don’t worr y.
In this article, you’ll learn what local and international product marketing and product management certification programs are and why you need one. We’ll also highlight five key certifications you can earn and how you can use your certificate to become an efficient product management professional in 2021.
So, come on down, future product managers, let’s get you certified!
What is a Product Management Certification?
Note: If you’re familiar with what a product management certification is and only want an in-depth look at the five best certifications, click here to jump to that section.
A product management certification is an official confirmation that an individual has the skills, knowledge, and abilities to manage the product development process successfully.
These product management training programs teach you essential management elements like product marketing fundamentals, devising a product strategy, and Agile product development insights.
These skills come in handy when you need to brainstorm with your product team and develop a new strategy to take your project to the next level.
Not to mention, having these skills on your resume is a testament to this:
3 Reasons Why You Need Product Management Certifications
So, you’re probably wondering why you need certifications for product management.
Well, apart from helping you develop your skills and broadening your knowledge for product management career growth, here are some other reasons why you need to hop on the product management certification program train now.
1. A product management certification helps you stand out
As an employee with product management certification certified employee, other team members and departments may view you and your opinions with a little more credibility. This can help with getting stakeholder buy-in from senior level product managers, company owners, and team members alike.
In addition to standing out from your teammates, you’ll also stand out on resumes when you’re applying for a new job or trying to earn a promotion !
2. You become more effective at core tasks
During certification courses, you learn about things in context.
What do we mean?
Product management certifications broaden your understanding of your role and introduce you to real-world strategies used by experts.
These on-demand courses will help you hone useful core skills like time management skills, roadmap planning , and product strategy planning.
And the best part is, with a product management certificate program, you’ll learn these things over a shorter period of time.
We’re serious; some courses can be completed in as little as a week.
That’s the same amount of time it takes people to break their new year’s resolutions!
3. Boosts your confidence as a certified product manager
When you complete a certification course, it highlights how you’re capable of understanding the job from a practical perspective and an academic point of view.
And since you know the ins and outs of your role, you’ll feel more confident and prepared to get things done the right way as a certified product manager.
Also, some training courses also teach you how to handle difficult situations and manage cross-functional teams effectively.
So the next time you’re facing a risky situation or dealing with a difficult team member:
Need a little help managing your remote team? Check out our guide to virtual teams and how you can manage them.
The Top 5 Product Management Certifications
Here are the five best product management certifications that you can earn today:
1. Certified Product Marketing Manager – A Product Management Career
The Certified Product Marketing Manager is an AIPMM certification that helps you understand core product marketing functions.
It also guides product managers in ensuring the success of a product in the marketplace.
AIPMM
Anyone can take this certification exam, but it’s recommended for product managers and marketers with 3+ years of experience (or an MBA)
2. Agile Certified Product Manager And Product Owner
The Agile Certified Product Manager and Product Owner course introduce you to the strategic and tactical concepts involved in Agile product management certifications programs and product ownership training.
Credential holders will be able to apply the concepts of the Agile methodology to real-world situations and deal with project setbacks seamlessly. Having an agile product management certification paired with experience and user research is a powerful thing! You’ll learn how to target customers, be able to provide in person training for team members, and will have a comprehensive understanding of the entire product lifecycle.
AIPMM
Anyone can take the certification course, even existing product managers operating without certifications, but it’s recommended for a certified product manager, as well as marketers with 3+ years of experience (or an MBA).
3. Software Product Management
The Software Product Management course prepares you for the challenges you’ll face as a software product manager.
It’s an excellent software product management course considering that 60% of the holders of this certification started a new career, and 27% earned a promotion or pay increase.
Here’s a glimpse of your future after completing the exam:
The University of Alberta (Coursera)
This certification program has no prerequisites.
Grow your product management knowledge with our product management glossary ! 😊
4. Digital Product Management
The MicroMasters Program in Digital Product Management provides credential holders with knowledge on digital product roadmaps and techniques for Agile product development.
It’s pretty much all you need if you’re aspiring to be an award-winning boss of a digital product company:e]
EdX and Boston University
This CPM certification has no prerequisites.
5. One Week Technical Product Manager
The One Week Technical Product Manager was designed by Dhaval Bhatt, an award-winning technical product manager.
The program is suitable for aspiring technical product managers or people who want to learn critical technical skills. The course also teaches you how to answer any technical product manager interview questions, leaving you feeling like Gloria here:
Product Manager HQ
This program has no prerequisites.
How to Use Your Product Management Certification
It’s one thing to get that product management certificate, but it’s another to put your product management training to good use .
So how do you do this?
By using a powerful product management tool like UDN Task Manager !
With UDN Task Manager , you can easily implement your product management skills at work.
Here’s how UDN Task Manager can help:
Here are a few ways UDN Task Manager can help you own your role as an effective product leader:
As a product manager, coming up with fantastic products is a major step towards success.
Luckily, UDN Task Manager has built-in Mind Maps to help you come up with ‘mindblowing’ ideas!
You can use Mind Maps for design thinking, devising a new product strategy, or planning upcoming launches.
Use the Tasks mode to create Mind Maps out of your existing Tasks in your Workspace. You can also create, edit, and delete tasks (and subtasks) right from your view!
Want to create a Mind Map from scratch ?
Opt for the Blank mode.
You can then create a custom Mind Map and convert the nodes into Tasks for your product when you’re ready.
You can also share your Mind Map via Public Sharing to keep your product team and clients in the loop.
Use the Timeline view to plan your work overtime and manage your resources.
The Timeline view is perfect for creating a detailed, internal product roadmap that your developers and other product managers can follow to build a new product with an actual product strategy backing it.
It even lets you assign tasks to each team member and adjust their schedule with a quick drag-and-drop.
Here’s our ultimate guide to roadmapping for getting you on the path to product success .
It requires a ton of tasks to get a product from its development stage to the final launch.
But it’s impossible to manage all those tasks without forgetting about something down the line, like a certain family around Christmas time…
That’s why UDN Task Manager lets you create and assign tasks and manage task Relationships all within the app.
Task relationships allow you to link tasks across your entire Workspace. You can loosely link related tasks for quick reference or use them to highlight important items for you and your team.
Try out the Relationships feature for tasks that rely on another task before it can get started.
Additionally, say goodbye to the dreadful “I forgot about that task!” with Reminders 👋.
Reminders inform you when you should be starting a task or opt to be reminded five minutes or up to three days before your task is due.
But that’s not all!
You can also include attachments to the Reminder, schedule the Reminder, and customize the Reminder notification.
Use Custom Statuses to manage every phase of the entire product life cycle .
With UDN Task Manager , you can create Custom Statuses for:
It’s all up to you!
Want to know what your customer needs ?
Simply use the Form view !
The Form view lets you collect and analyze info submitted by customers. For example, you can gather feedback from customers who’ve tried out your minimum viable product.
You can also add tons of Custom Fields to your forms and turn form responses into tasks when you’re ready.
Milestones indicate the end of a large set of tasks, like releasing a new feature for your product. It’s a great way to keep track of big accomplishments to motivate your team!
In UDN Task Manager ’s Gantt view , Milestones are represented as giant yellow diamonds 💎 to help you quickly identify them in seconds.
The Gantt view also lets you track product progress over time, helping you monitor your project over weeks, months, and even hours!
No product manager wants their teams to feel like this:
With Goals , you can make sure that every team member knows what they need to do while also keeping track of your team’s progress.
First, set your Goal in UDN Task Manager and then break it down into smaller, measurable Targets.
So if your Goal as a product manager is to increase daily engagement with your product, your targets could be measured as:
Once your Targets and Goals are both ready to go, you can track your goal progress in UDN Task Manager !
But that’s not all that this amazing goalkeeper can do 🥅.
Here’s more on how your team can use UDN Task Manager to set Goals
But there’s even more!
We know that as a product manager, you can never have enough functionality.
That’s why you get other amazing features like:
Time to get Certified ✅
A product management certification adds value both to your job performance and your resume for future job openings. The knowledge and skills you learn from these courses can help you transform into a great product manager.
All you need to do is go through the five courses we’ve listed here to find the certification that aligns with your career path.
But remember, without the right product management tool , even a product manager with experience can’t use their training to its maximum capacity.
With features ranging from Agile Dashboards to advanced Team Reporting , UDN Task Manager has everything you need to put your training to good use.
Get UDN Task Manager for free today so you can feel like this as a certified product manager:
