Product engineering is the process of designing and producing a device. A product engineering manager, therefore, is the one who coordinates all the production processes, from designing to assembling to the actual production process.
Their responsibility is to review new product designs, analyze the cost implications, and oversee every requirement for the product to be made. After meeting the requirements, they then approve production. Every part of the production process is handled by the product engineering manager, as they verify every aspect. By implication, no technical work is executed without their lead.
A product engineering manager must possess a degree in engineering and years of experience as a product engineer before they can qualify to be a product engineering manager. Other skills they should have include strong leadership skills, interpersonal skills, and communication skills
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a product engineering manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $66.23 an hour? That's $137,758 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 5,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many product engineering managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and detail oriented.
If you're interested in becoming a product engineering manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 70.1% of product engineering managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.6% of product engineering managers have master's degrees. Even though most product engineering managers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a product engineering manager. When we researched the most common majors for a product engineering manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on product engineering manager resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a product engineering manager. In fact, many product engineering manager jobs require experience in a role such as product engineer. Meanwhile, many product engineering managers also have previous career experience in roles such as project engineer or engineering manager.