However, much of the software business relies on sales. Because of this, product manager jobs exist to ensure that those products are reliable and effective, and that they do what they say they're going to do.
Product managers make sure that the software products they produce are effectively coordinated in terms of sales, pricing, product development, market strategy, and public relations. If your organization is particularly small, you may do everything yourself. If it's large, you may be responsible for just one project or product.
Job Duties
Product managers may help determine what the product's marketing strategy is going to be. In this position, you may be working with subordinates to help you with this job, including development managers and market research managers. One of the things you may do is develop a product because you have discovered what the demand is going to be for the services offered by your company. In fact, you may hit the jackpot by discovering an underdeveloped or even untapped market that needs your product, including the public, the government, and other markets, too.
Pricing
You may be responsible for helping set the price of the product you work on. When you set prices, you must set them high enough so that your company makes a decent profit but not so high that products won't sell. However, this isn't likely something you determine all by yourself, and instead you work as a team with other managers. For example, you may need the services of advertising or promotion managers to help you attract customers for the product you're working with.
Environment
Being a sales product manager or in a closely related job can be quite high-pressure, primarily because you're always working under deadlines. Usually, changes are going to come up that require you to deal with them and still stay on schedule so that you meet your original product completion date. The product needs to go to market on time, and it will need to be of high enough quality that people will want to buy it. Of course, the basic reason you want to do this is so that people can buy a high-quality product, but it also bears noting that they won't buy it if it's not high-quality; this purely practical drive is one reason not to produce poor-quality products.
You may have to travel and you may have to attend meetings within the industry sponsored by professional associations or your employer. You may be transferred as needed to other areas of your company as well. In most cases, you'll work more than 40 hours a week on a regular basis, including weekends. This is especially true when a product is first in development or rushing to get to production.
Educational Background Needed
The type of educational background you are going to need depends on the product you are managing. In most cases, you'll need experience in related occupations before you begin to work as a product manager. Some employers may require you to have a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing, or even a master's degree. It's also helpful if you take courses in business law, economics, finance, and mathematics as this will help you be a better product manager and give you the necessary background to see marketing trends so that you can better predict how a project is going to do before it's developed, as well as after. If the product or products you manage are particularly technical, you may be required to have a background that will help you understand just how products work, like computer technology.
Getting the Job
Much of the time you can start in entry-level or associate product manager jobs and work your way up into more senior-level positions. In fact, this is one of the best ways to do it because you will know the company inside and out. If you are beginning a job search outside of a company, look at job sites online or in trade magazines for suitable positions.
Other Qualifications
Besides the technical expertise to manage the products you do, you'll also need to be very good at word processing applications and with database applications. If your product is available to a customer base that doesn't speak English, it may be especially helpful for you to learn the language most common to your customer base, such as Spanish.
As a product manager, you'll need to be very good at working with people, and you'll need to be flexible in regards to changing direction quickly during a product's development or journey to market. Because you're likely to be working with groups of people, you'll need to be good at communicating your ideas and goals clearly so that they're passed on correctly to the people working on them.
Economy and Outlook
Product development fluctuates with the economy; when it's weaker, there are fewer demands for new products, and when it's stronger, demand increases. Therefore, product managers' jobs fluctuate with the economy somewhat; at present, they may be less in demand than usual.
