MBA’s and Product Management has to be the most common question and misconception about product management. No, an MBA is not necessary to become a product manager. This is the same as the age-old question, do you need an MBA to start a business? Heck, even with an MBA, it’s hard to get into product management.
To refine that answer further, you don’t need an MBA to break into product management. Does it help? Yes. It doesn’t help in the way you think, and it’s not because of the academics.
MBA Must Be Awesome! In reality, it’s more like MBA’s is Must Be A-hole.
Why People Think MBAs Would Help For Product Management
MBAs learn a bunch of cool business things. From marketing, and finance to psychology. All of that knowledge is key to building and launching a product. Supposedly. Ask any MBA student, and they’ll likely tell you they got more out of the MBA networking than the actual course material. The MBA knowledge does help in some way for someone to get their first job as a product manager. However, this is rarely the deciding factor.
How do MBAs Actually Help With PM?
The MBA does help in one way. Internships are easier to get as an MBA student. There are programs that are specifically targeted at MBA students. That’s the foot in the door for Product Management. Internships also tend to convert interns into full-time employees. Another avenue to get into PM. The problem for the layperson without an MBA is getting the interviews in the first place. The path to interviews as an intern is much easier.
MBA vs. Product Management – BookSmart vs. Street Smart.
The same question here is, do you need an MBA to start your own business? Can you learn the tricks of the trade on the job or on your own? Of course!
This has been a hot debate over the years. Joshua Kaufman has written about this in his book “Personal MBA.” He distilled all the core concepts that a top-tier MBA teaches and found books to learn those concepts. You can even read the same textbooks as they use at Harvard if you’re into that.
- Finance
- Leadership and Organizational Behavior
- Marketing
- Technology and Operations Management
- Business Government
- Strategy
- Entrepreneurial Management
A lot of the MBA curriculum overlaps with what you would need for a Product Manager. Product Management has core disciplines in design, development, marketing, and strategy.
Product Management Core Skillsets
- Design
- Marketing
- User Experience (UX) and Psychology
- Strategy
- Technology Management / Coding
You can use the same “Personal MBA” strategy and learn all the disciplines necessary for Product Management. Though we don’t think product management courses are worthwhile. There is too much material to learn to cram into a one-week course.
Both MBA’s and Product Management are big on frameworks. This is another reason why companies prefer to hire MBAs. You can learn these frameworks on the job through experience or through an MBA.
Road to Product Management without an MBA
Without an MBA, it would be harder to jump into Product Management right out of school. A lot of new Product Managers obtained their PM job by transitioning from a related discipline. Most commonly, engineers, designers, data analysts, strategy, and operations will have an easier transition into Product Management.
If you think about it, those are the adjacent core competencies that product managers need. If you are currently working with Product teams at work, you can build relationships with your PM and eventually transition over. Once you have a Product Management title, it’s that much easier to find the next PM role.
Interview Like You Have An MBA
You can earn a “street” MBA and Start your own “business.” Read up on all the domains to learn the same knowledge. Utilize the 80/20 principle. You don’t need to know everything about marketing, strategy, or business to know enough to talk shop. Use MBA terms and frameworks in your resume if you need to.
The target segment for this article is people looking to get into product management. To do that, you need to know enough to give the perception you’re well rounded.
Interviews are all about that perception. Fake it till you make it! Learn the core concepts that MBAs teach. Additionally, don’t forget to sound arrogant during the PM interview to add that extra dash of MBA realism!