Becoming a Product Manager: A Complete Guide

Becoming a Product Manager: A Complete Guide is a course by Cole Mercer and Evan Kimbrell giving you an end-to-end roadmap to your product learning.

‍

It starts from setting expectations about the product role, slicing through fundamental concepts, and ending with job hunting and career advice. Despite the large scope, the course structure is paced well providing for a clear, informative, and enjoyable watching experience.

This course is for aspiring Product Managers who are ready to dive into a longer, theory-heavy learning experience about the entire product management experience.

The Becoming a Product Manager: A Complete Guide program has 4.7 stars on LinkedIn learning based from 5,500+ reviews.

‍

Learners have said:

This course was worth it, it's very thorough and the hands-on examples clarified how to balance the scope of the lessons in actual practice and helped me avoid wasting time in analysis paralysis. - Jacques Rafael Wainright

‍

This course is most similar to Co.Lab's 4-week Product Management Sprint Ideation course because it is an introductory program and open to beginners of all levels. Whereas Co.Lab’s 8-week Product Management Bootcamp focuses on building an MVP rather than learning product management fundamentals.

‍

After completing either this course or Co.Lab's 4-week Sprint program, it is recommended that you join Co.Lab's 8-week Bootcamp to apply your learnings and build your own product with a cross-functional team consisting of developers, designer, and a mentor.

‍

‍

Cost

‍

Becoming a Product Manager is less expensive at the price of LinkedIn learning's subscription price (around $25 monthly) than Co.Lab Product Sprint's $500. Though it's understandable as this course is designed to be completed under a day or two.

‍

Whereas, the Co.Lab Sprint program is a 4-week course with over 20 hours of content and programming, as well as access to a live product shipping experience, mentorship, and community.

‍

‍

Learning Outcomes

‍

In this course, you will get a certificate of completion, but not a student portfolio. At Co.Lab, you will get both.

‍

However, our focus at Co.Lab is to help learners gain confidence, credibility and tangible experience, beyond just the certificate. Portfolios with Co.Lab are just the end result - the work involves speaking to real users, doing market research, and potentially working with a team to build out a real MVP.

‍

Additionally, Co.Lab portfolio are hosted publicly for you to share with recruiters, hiring managers and supporters. You can check out other student portfolios here.

‍

‍

Personal Brand Support

‍

Co.Lab’s programs are unique in that we focus on helping you stand out from the crowd, by building your personal brand and community online.

‍

Co.Lab's Sprint program also has a robust Build in Public program, where you get to share your wins and learnings to your professional network - ensuring you remain visible to recruiters and hiring managers.

‍

Lastly, the Sprint program grants you entry to an exclusive Discord community of tech professionals where you can get advice, networking opportunities, and referrals.

‍

‍

Mentorship

‍

Co.Lab also has weekly mentor check-ins to ensure that you're guided appropriately by industry professionals. In fact, your spec in the Sprint program will be personally given feedback on by your mentors.

‍

It will also be published on Co.Lab's website and posted in Co.Lab's social accounts.

‍

There will also be an end-of-cohort celebration where top students get to present their product idea to the public.

‍

‍

Curriculum Content

‍

Both this course and Co.Lab’s Product Sprint explain the Product Manager role, their responsibilities, and the fundamental concepts that you'd have to learn to start as an entry-level Product Manager.

‍

This includes the product lifecycle, understanding Agile & Scrum, identifying user needs, competitive & market analysis, designing an MVP, and how to ideate on a problem space - all covered in 109 videos and 13 chapter quizzes.

‍

However in Co.Lab, you will also get the chance to apply your learnings, build your own spec, and get real-time support from your mentors, pod group, and internal community.

‍

‍

Self-paced vs Cohort-based Learning Experience

‍

What makes this course different from Co.Lab's Sprint program is the learning experience. Becoming a Product Manager is a self-paced program. Co.Lab's Product Sprint is a cohort-based program.

‍

While this course allows you to study the basics of a PM role with more flexibility since you will go through it at your own pace, it also means that you need to have the internal motivation to finish the course.

‍

With Co.Lab's Product Management Sprint program you are in a cohort-based model with built-in accountability. You go through the program with other learners. You get to share your learnings, compare and contrast ideas, and provide you with real people who can be your sounding boards.

‍

If you enjoy structured group learning, and struggle with self-paced individual programs, then the Sprint program may be a better fit for you.