Best Product Management Certifications Of 2024 – Forbes Advisor INDIA

Product management is the process of overseeing the development and lifecycle of a product, from ideation, innovation, implementation, industrialization, to improvement. Every industry is using product management to  maximize sales and revenue, establish new business streams, and improve profitability, and people with skills are in high demand.

If you’re looking to become an expert in product management, a certification is a great way to start.

Benefits of a Product Management Certification

Getting a product management certification gives you the right tools, techniques, and skills used for comprehensive product management. A certifications will help you hone your skills and knowledge that works with organizations to identify opportunities to maximize sales and revenue. Being proficient in product management can improve career prospects and salary opportunities.

There are plenty of product management courses available online, but not all have prospects to steer your career in the right path. Although certification courses have a short learning duration, choosing the right product management school which provides a learning curve with latest standards, or trends and technology, matters a lot in gaining a competitive advantage over others.

Thankfully, there are a few recognized universities in India joining hands with online learning platforms to help you become a certified product manager. Forbes Advisor India has selected the top-five schools to help you choose a product management certification that meets your budget and career goals.

1. Indian Institute of Management, Indore

Course: Certificate Programme in Product Management
Pricing from: INR 3 lakh
Duration: Six months
Mode of learning: Online

IIM Indore is a one-stop institute for product management to get the right skills and certifications. It has nine courses designed to provide students and professionals with contemporary tools and techniques used for comprehensive product management related to product specification, realization, marketing and manufacturing. 

If you already have a head start on your career and are looking for specific skills, the product management courses are tailored to cover all key areas of product’s life cycle including, ideate, innovate, implement, industrialize, and improve. 

IIM Indore’s product management certification programme is a six months course, with each module of 20 hours duration. There will be a total of 180 hours sessions divided among nine course modules. The pedagogy will be a combination of lectures, post-class exercise, Harvard Business Review case studies, and practical applications on BYOP (Bring Your Own Product) idea.

To be eligible for the programme, a candidate must have a diploma, bachelor’s, master’s, or equivalent degree from a recognized university in any discipline with minimum 50% aggregate marks for all the years. A working professional can apply for the certification course provided they have two years of working experience post completions of qualifying education.

2. Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in Association with Edureka

Course: Advanced Executive Certificate in Product Management
Pricing: INR 2 lakh (national), USD 3,500 (international)
Duration: 11 months
Mode of learning: Online

IIT Guwahati in association with Edureka offers both national and international participants an advanced executive certificate course in product management. This certification programme will help participants to become a product management expert that works with organizations to maximize sales and revenue, establish new business streams, and improve profitability.

The 11-month duration certification programme teaches you to identify opportunity and product ideation, product conceptualization and planning, product development, strategy, and analytics. The applicants will have to pass the preliminary eligibility check; and upon qualifying for the course, national participants must pay INR 2 lakh, and USD 3,500 for international participants. 

After certification, you can create a professional profile and get personalized career support to guide you through job search and career development.

3. Indian Institute of Management Lucknow and Emiritus Partnership

Course: Executive Programme in Data-Driven Product Management
Pricing: INR 3.8 lakh
Duration: Eight months
Mode of learning: Online

IIM Lucknow’s executive education programme links product marketing and development strategies with data analytics and design thinking. This certification will provide you with hands-on experience, case studies, expert sessions, project work, job function, and how to think like a product manager and analyst. It provides hands-on skills using Python, Tableau, Jira, and Google Analytics as well as machine learning tools to analyze and visualize data.

The certification consists of nine courses:

• Foundations to successful management of products
• Understanding the customer: customer research and design thinking (Part 1)
• Understanding the customer: customer research and design thinking (Part 2)
• Building product market strategy
• Defining user experiences and prototyping & communicating insights
• Agile and lean product development
• Launching a winning product
• Product management for digital products and platforms
• From startups to scaling Ups

Enrollment fee of IIM Lucknow’s executive programme in data-driven product management is currently INR 1.8 lakh. To test and gain the certification, you’ll need to have a diploma, bachelor’s, master’s, or equivalent degree from a recognized university, along with a basic understanding of Python.

After certification, you can create a professional profile and get career support to guide you through job search and career development.

4. SP Jain School of Global Management in Association with Simplilearn 

Course: Professional Certification in Product Management
Pricing: INR 13,229 per month
Duration: Four months
Mode of learning: Online

SP Jain Global School of Management has partnered with Siimplilearn in collaboration with VMware to provide a four-month course on professional certification in product management. The certification is designed for both aspiring product managers and associate levels. Completing the certification demonstrates that you are proficient in product management services, and a hands-on experience on using learning tools, including Jira, Mixpanel, Google Analytics, and Balsamiq.

The curriculum is broken down into eight sections:

• Product strategy
• Product market fit
• Design thinking
• Leadership and growth mindset
• Product ideation
• Product roadmapping and prioritization
• Product lifecycle management
• Rapid prototyping

5. Duke Corporate Education with upGrad

Course: Post Graduate Certificate in Product Management
Pricing: INR 1.95 lakh to INR 2.48 lakh
Duration: Six months to 10.5 months
Mode of learning: Online

An applicant must be post-graduate to apply for certification in product management offered jointly by Duke Corporate Education and upGrad. It is a six to 10.5 months duration programme, and comes with placement opportunities and support. 

A compulsory six-month base program costs close to INR 1.95 lakh. The fees and duration keep adding up for additional courses including, growth in product management, AI ML solutions in product management, and digital transformations. 

In the compulsory base program, there are seven areas of concentration:

• Growth – Product management
• Driving user retention and engagement growth
• Activation and resurrection
• Growth strategies
• Strategies to drive acquisition and referral growth
• Monetisation strategies
• Experimentation techniques

Working with your mentor, you’ll be given industry-led projects and assignments. After certification, this program also helps you prepare for an company-specific interview and career bootcamps, along with access to upGrad’s exclusive access to job portal.

Bottom Line

Getting a certification should be on your list of priorities if you plan on growing a career in product management. There are ample opportunities with many certifications that can provide you with tools, techniques, and skills used for comprehensive product management. Choose a product management certification that meets your budget and career goals.

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