How much can you earn in a Product Management job?
The average product manager annual salary in different countries is as follows:
| Country | Salary ($=USD) |
|---|---|
| USA | $111,551 |
| UK | $65,134 |
| Canada | $90,907 |
| India | ₹10,05,367 |
Remember that these are just averages. The salary can increase substantially when you target the right company and have the right degree (such as an MBA).
What does it take to get a high-paying product management job after an MBA?
For starters, the pedigree of the business school can matter a lot when you’re competing with thousands of other MBA grads for such roles. For instance, a Stanford MBA can get over $160,000, an LBS graduate could get over $114,000, and a post ISB job can be upwards of ₹30 lakhs.
Choose one where your dream companies recruit. Here’s a list of the best MBA and Master’s programs in Product Management.
Once you’ve got into a top b-school, there’s still a lot that you’d need to do to improve your odds of getting an interview invite from Amazon, Google, Apple or [add your favourite brand here].
Do you remember Puneet, our friend who got into his numero uno choice after 5 GMAT attempts? If not, read his story here: How many times should one take the GMAT?
Puneet completed his MBA and managed to do what many aim for. He bagged a lucrative product management job after his MBA from ISB. He explains how he did it.
How I used my MBA to become a Product Manager
by Puneet Singh Anand
Before starting my MBA, I was associated with Tata Consultancy Services for over 5 years. Working for 2 of the biggest clients, I transitioned from being a Systems Engineer to an IT Analyst.
In the role, I was responsible for prioritizing onshore customer requirements and leveraging technology solutions to meet the needs of the organization.
Over the years I handled various projects and led teams to tailor requirements of client and business for 21 sprints and delivered 41 projects in an Agile Environment. As I grew, I came across an article which talked about Product Management.
It immediately had my full focus and as I researched more, I made up my mind to transition into the role.
As an analyst, I aimed to focus on opportunities to acquire business and focus on business outcomes, but I wanted to lead such opportunities.
Understanding the customer and the pain points, brainstorming ideas to come up with valuable solutions and delivering the right product was something that was of keen interest to me.
I communicated this to my manager and got access to some internal courses through which I could transit to the product owner role. As I progressed with the courses and talked to the mentors, I realized that the internal opportunities within the TCS for a PM role are very limited and the type of work is not exactly as that of a PM.
At that point I realised that to switch to a proper PM role that I was looking for, it will be best if I do a MBA, learn the necessary skill-set and get the proper opportunity. Opportunity is the key here.
Today, one can just learn all the things required to become a PM from the internet. But the scope and the opportunity of the growth is limited (at least in the start).
So to get the right set of opportunities, I felt the urge to transition through an MBA. And when in India, what better college can one aim than ISB?
At ISB, I got the opportunity to join various clubs one of which was the Business and Technology Club (BTC). Here I got to connect with the fellow classmates who were interested in transitioning to PM role.
There were few members who already had a PM background. Connecting with them and understanding the roles and responsibilities was a game changer.
Apart from this, learnings from the core courses and specifically designed electives helped me gain strong insights and develop a deep understanding about the PM. One example is of the Software Product Management course where in we were required to work on a product right from ideating to launching in front of the investors.
Participating in case competitions throughout added on its own value in the key learnings.
How I prepared for Product Manager roles
By the time we reached the career preparation week, the peer groups and the case comp participation had already made our basics clear.
At this point, I got the opportunity to connect with a lot of alums working in the PM industry.
The first step to prep up as guided by the alums was to deeply understand the role and the type of questions asked in the PM interviews. For this 2 books helped a lot “Decode and conquer” and “Cracking the PM Interview”.
Once I had gone through the book, applying the concepts to crack various cases with the fellow PM aspirants was the most helpful part throughout the preparations.
Product Manager interviews experience
My product manager interview experience was widely similar to the mock interviews that we have been practicing with our groups.
Apart from knowing the previous work and why we are interested to move to a PM role, all the companies were interested in understanding the way we approached any problem. This was done through the case rounds.
Usually the first round was the details on the past work experience and the why PM part and the second and the third round included cases. In few companies, case rounds preceded all other rounds.
In my final interview, once the interviewer had a fair idea about my background, I was asked about my favourite product and how I can upgrade the same.
Then I was given a case about the Instagram stories where in I had to find the root cause of a specific problem. I used all the concepts throughout the placement prep journey and landed the job.
I came to ISB with an ambition to move out as a Product Manager. Now that I have landed the role, I plan to gain a hands-on experience working as a PM.
At Jio Platforms, we have already been presented with a wide range of opportunities to work on different products.
The details of the type of products the organization is working on has been shared to us and we will have the chance to select a specific product to work on.
As much I am excited to join the firm, I look forward to apply all my learnings and grow through the role within the firm.
Also read:
– Is an MBA necessary to become a good Product Manager
– Career Change from Software IT to Product Management after MBA
– MBA in Product Management Syllabus
