Career Transition_ From PhD to Product Management - Enago Academy

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Career Transition: From PhD to Product Management - Enago Academy

Career Transition: From PhD to Product Management Last updated Sep 27, 2018 Academia is increasingly becoming the alternative career path, as researchers and leading journals tout the value of broader career prospects. Several limitations cause dismal scenarios for academic work in postdoctoral research, including limited grant funding and discrimination in higher education. Postdoctoral research is a career trajectory ideal for scientists planning on becoming professors. As a result, ‘alternative’ career options are now becoming increasingly appealing to many PhD researchers. Moreover, dodging the postdoctoral position has also accelerated the career path for researchers by offering better value to the PhD credentials.

Product management, listed #9 on the top 50 jobs in the US by Glassdoor, is one such exciting career option for scientists.

Dekning the Product Management Product management spans sales to knance and complements a scientist’s deeply-rooted scientikc thinking Role skill

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set in business. A product manager is specikcally involved in building innovative products and services to address unmet needs within the market. Aside from launching new product offers, as a product manager, you can

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Career Transition: From PhD to Product Management - Enago Academy

and improve existing products. Responsibilities in the role involve: implementing price changes in the market, closing a product line, or training a sales team. Product management can be dekned as generating revenue for a company by creating value for customers. At its core, a product manager steers the infrastructure that makes a company tick from beginning to the end.

Skill set for Effective Product Management Scientists can smoothly transition to a career in product management as the skill set gained in team-based project work is sufkcient. For example, the career will include working in teams and collaborating with multiple departments – reflecting the academic research experience. Product managers will work across various groups in an organization, including knance, operations, legal, quality control, and project management. Such a setting can perhaps develop more scientikcally and ideally within biotechnology, which combines science with business .

The toughest attribute for researchers is the transition from specialization to generalization, as product management is not an exact science. While the success of PhD depends on logic and objective judgment, in product management success partly depends on multiple stakeholders. Subjective measures based on uncertain factors starkly contrasts the absolute measures experienced during a PhD. Nevertheless, a PhD degree allows for effective problem-solving in product management coupled with skills akin to research method design.

Overall, the role is a deeply personal interpretation, as the approach varies among individuals based on organizational culture and several independent factors.

How to Use Your PhD Skills for Product Management Attributes for successful product management are similar to the PhD skills of multitasking, data presentation, communication, and a strong entrepreneurial drive. Nevertheless, career transitions can still be challenging as employers often prefer experienced professionals than those specialized elsewhere.

When breaking into the industry a few tips can assist you to get your foot out the door: 1. Become familiar with basic marketing and knance principles – Online platforms including Udemy, Coursera, free YouTube lectures, micro MBAs and University-based certikcation offer a good start.

2. Establish your problem-solving skills – rekne your organizational skills gained during PhD training; include inventory list development combining QR codes and Evernote, to your advantage.

3. Apply to associate-level positions – career transition may seem tricky since a PhD graduate might overqualify for a role as product manager in a company. However, the years of PhD training and dedication qualify for a managerial position in a small to mid-size company. Apply for both junior and mid-career level positions.

4. Create your own product – a simple product such as a blog, or any side-project you initiated as a PhD or postdoctoral researcher can illustrate your entrepreneurial potential for product management. pay packages, better locations, and additional skills for career development. The functional leadership skills ar ranked clearly unlike those in academic domains. The benekts outweigh the efforts of career transition e Compared to academic work where tenure track is shaky and uncertain, product management provides hig providing access to meaningful work. her

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Career Transition: From PhD to Product Management - Enago Academy

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Enago Academy offers comprehensive and up-to-date resources for researchers, publishers, editors, and students to learn and share their experience about research and publishing. Enago Academy also conducts workshops primarily for ESL authors, early- stage researchers, and graduate students. Our advanced workshop modules cater to the needs of researchers who want to know more about the issues pertinent to successful publication. Read More Copyright © - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Contact Us

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