Top Product Manager Career Goals

As a Product Manager, there are so many top Product Manager career goals you can set for yourself. Being a PM allows you the advantage of developing a wider set of skills while on the job. Career-wise, you can opt to transition to other professional fields such as project management, marketing, or program management with little adjustment. Or, as one of your top Product Manager career goals, you can move up a level.

PMs should always look for ways to improve their skills and advance their career, just like how they would develop their products.

If you’re asking yourself, “What’s the next step for me as a Product Manager?” this article offers some advice. We take a closer look at those progression opportunities to help you identify what top Product Manager career goals you may want to set for yourself.

Setting Goals as a Product Manager

The first step is to focus on having a vision for yourself. Identify the goals you want to focus on in the next few years of your career. If you are unsure, look at the criteria below to help you strategize on the goals you want to set. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Preciseness: What specific aspects of my career do I have to work on?
• Measurability: How significant are these developments going to be?
• Attainability: Are these goals attainable given the resources at my disposal?
• Applicability: Will the fulfillment of these goals have an impact on my career?
• Timescale: Exactly how long will it take me to achieve these goals?

These questions should put things into perspective for you whether you’re just starting out as a Product Manager or have been working as one for a couple of years.

Specific Examples of Top Product Manager Career Goals

To give you a better idea of the specific goals that most PMs set, we’ve listed down some common ones for you to review plus typical steps a PM can take to achieve these goals:

Become a Product Manager

This is a starter goal for those who are fresh graduates or those who would like to break into Product Management. There are several considerations to take to improve the odds of success. Some examples include: 

• Present a solid resume
• Obtain a referral
• Build a product
• Join a PM community
• Build your network
• Thoroughly prepare for the PM Interview

For this goal, one of the most crucial steps you need to hurdle is acing your PM interview. If this is something that you currently find challenging or you have no idea about, we recommend the following:

1. Go Through a Self-Paced PM Interview Course

The PM Exercise Interview prep course prepares you for PM interviews. It contains over 100 video hours and more than 100 online lessons that will equip you with knowledge on how you can master your interview skills.

Note: You would need an upgraded account to access the entire course.

2. Understand and Practice Answering PM Interview Questions

With over 2,000 Product Manager interview questions and responses from members of our community who have been through it, you can review all of the questions and sample answers on the database. 

3. Do Mock Interviews

A good way to gain more confidence when answering PM interview questions is by doing a mock interview. You can be an interviewer and interviewee in this setting, giving you the opportunity to get feedback from your partner and vice versa.

On the PM Exercises website, you can look for community members eager to do mock interviews. 

4. Repeat the Process per Category

The Product Manager interview is composed of different question categories. For example, product sense, execution, analytics, and more. 

We recommend that you go through the process of preparing for the PM interview per category. Once you’re comfortable with one category, repeat the process until you have gone through everything.

Become a PM at a MAANG Company

Landing a PM role at a MAANG (Meta/Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) company has become the holy grail for many Product Managers. Reaching this goal allows you to land a PM job at almost any startup — if you decide you want to move on. Not to mention that it positions you to name your title and salary (within reason, of course) in your future positions. 

The great news is that MAANG job offers are very accessible these days. You can find job offers on websites like Indeed and Linkedin. You’ll find many opportunities for growth at MAANG companies because you get to work in an industry that has stood the test of time and is best at setting trends.

Get a Promotion

If you’re already working as a PM, one of your top Product Manager career goals may be to get a promotion. 

The best way to get a promotion is to take on more responsibilities in your current position. As you become more instrumental in growing a product, you’ll have equipped yourself with the necessary skills and experience to move up the career ladder.

In Product Management, your career path can look something like this:

• Associate Product Manager (APM)
• Product Manager (PM)
• Senior Product Manager (SPM)
• Product Lead or Group Product Manager (PL or GPM)
• Head of Product (HP)
• Chief Product Officer (CPO)
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

The levels of Product Management differ from company to company but what we listed is how the PM career path usually plays out. If you would like to know more, consider reading Product Manager Career Path.

Become an Entrepreneur 

It’s the dream of many Product Managers to become an entrepreneur. They want to start a company where they can call all the shots. 

Becoming an entrepreneur is both easy and challenging at the same time but it’s one of the top Product Manager career goals we come across.

If you’re ready to dive in, it’s time to pin down an idea and build a team around you. Reach out to connections at previous companies, explain your vision, and see who wants to join you.

Also, it’s important to note that venture capitalists (VCs) are more receptive to tech companies launched by Product Managers as they know they’re able to think about the technical side and the user experience side, both of which are critical to success.

Become a Venture Capitalist (VC)

Some people set out with the aspiration of one day becoming a VC. Others find themselves heading down this path when they least expect it.

If you’ve experienced success as a Product Manager at a hyper-growth tech company, your experience, knowledge, and skills are in demand. 

Commonly, VC firms want to hire you to take advantage of your experience scaling a product at a highly successful company. Going from PM to VC is a significant career change, but it allows you to maintain your interest in product management without being as hands-on. 

What Skills to Focus on to Move Up

Whichever your specific goal is, you’d want to move away from a contributor mindset and move towards a perspective that focuses more on vision and strategy. 

Even if you’re just starting as an Associate Product Manager (the most common entry-level PM position), you can definitely contribute to your team by honing in on the specific vision and strategy.

As you do this consistently, you’ll eventually get to a point where you’re influencing the vision and strategy of your company. You can steadily work towards this by fostering the following skills while on the job:

1. Look after the product team.
2. Contribute to developing the team’s product strategy
3. Identify the right tools that can help product teams succeed.
4. Encourage cross-functional collaboration.
5. Be an ambassador of trust and solidarity.
6. Work with senior-level executives to align business and product goals.

Focusing on the five skills mentioned positions you to be more of a product leader. No matter which Product Manager career goal you go for, you will always be pushing forward if you put in a good amount of effort into developing the skills listed.

Tips for Choosing PM Career Goals

Knowing the most common Product Manager career goals is a good start, but it’s just that. Working towards your goals and making progress one day at a time is a different story. How do you know if you’re on the right track? Consider the following tips:

1. List All Options

This is where it all starts. List the PM career goals that pique your interest. Start with the list above but move on past these if you want to chase others. 

2. Be Realistic

Many people slip up before chasing their career goals. This is due in large part to being unrealistic. It’s okay to set your sights on the stars but remain grounded in reality. 

Unrealistic goals have a greater chance of leading to frustration and unnecessary stress in your career. For instance, setting the purpose of reaching VP of Product after a year as a Product Manager is unrealistic. Could it happen? Yes, it could. However, it’s doubtful. If this is one of your goals, make it something you chase over the long term. You have a much better chance of reaching this goal if you give yourself seven to ten years.

3. Set Short and Long-term Goals

Short-term goals give you something to strive for for over twelve months. Long-term goals stretch out for a year or longer. An example of a short-term goal is to land a PM job within six months of graduating college. A long-term goal could be to land a PM job at Google or Facebook within five years. 

4. Regularly Review Your Goals

You assume that your goals will stay the same but they probably won’t as you progress in your career. Regularly review and adjust your plans.

5. Move Laterally if Need Be

Most expect to move at a linear path when it comes to career progression. The reality is, you might need to make a few lateral movements in your career, and that’s totally fine. 

In most cases, in the middle of their careers, PMs discover that they are more passionate about one aspect of product development. For example, you might want to focus on just the leadership aspect of the strategy part of product development. In these cases, you may want to seek a position within an organization that allows you to focus on what you are inclined to do.

Conclusion

Although we present Product Manager career goals that may seem set, those who want to move up a level or break into Product Management should know that there are many goals you can set to advance in your career as a Product Manager.

That’s the beauty of being a PM – there’s not one strict path or steps to follow to grow and succeed. There are several. As with how necessary it is to be flexible and adaptable in Product Management, it is also very much the same in a PM’s career.

Set your own goals and map out your own career path to success.

FAQs

What is the typical career path of a Product Manager?

The common career path a PM follows starts with Associate Product Manager (APM). Then, the Product Manager to Senior Product Manager. There are many paths to moving forward after that. The Product Manager can reach for the Chief Product Officer (CPO) or he or she can become a Start-up founder. Read more about the Product Manager Career Path here.

What are the four 4 critical skills of a Product Manager?

A great Product Manager must have strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills. On top of these three, a great PM must also possess the ability to campaign for the product, reminding all the teams involved of the “WHY” behind the strategy.

Is it hard to become a Product Manager?

As with any job, being a PM is always going to be a challenge at first. It’s important to know that the Product Manager role is a dynamic one which means that no given day will be the same. However, if you apply yourself and roll with the punches, you’ll find that things will get easier as time goes on.

How long does it take to become a Product Manager?

After you graduate from college, you can apply to become a PM right away, provided that you have done a thorough research and the role and have prepared yourself for the PM interview. It’s highly recommended that you go through a PM interview course to familiarize yourself with the process. This type of preparation takes about 4 to 8 weeks.