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The differences between product managers and scrum masters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 8-10 years to become a product manager, becoming a scrum master takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product manager has an average salary of $111,729, which is higher than the $86,329 average annual salary of a scrum master.
The top three skills for a product manager include product management, QA and product strategy. The most important skills for a scrum master are jira, software development, and agile scrum.
| Product Manager | Scrum Master | |
| Yearly salary | $111,729 | $86,329 |
| Hourly rate | $53.72 | $41.50 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 125,678 | 44,670 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 6 |
A product manager is responsible for ensuring product development, providing the best marketing strategies, and effectively handling the sales and marketing team. Product managers' duties include monitoring the market trends and conditions, identifying business opportunities and plan initiatives, and collaborating the product launch process with the appropriate departments. A product manager is also responsible for generating ideas on improving product features, determining timetables and reasonable pricing, and analyzing product sales. A product manager must have excellent strategic and decision-making skills to contribute to its growth and profitability.
A scrum master is a job that's rooted in leadership. It is the scrum master's responsibility to ensure a scrum process over the development of a project. They are not directly involved in the decision-making but guide the team in completing the scrum process with their experience and expertise. Also, a scrum master must be adept at being agile in approaching a project and also be able to schedule meetings during the process. In addition, the scrum master acts as a coach as well, helping the scrum teamwork cross-functionally.
Product managers and scrum masters have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Manager | Scrum Master | |
| Average salary | $111,729 | $86,329 |
| Salary range | Between $81,000 And $152,000 | Between $65,000 And $114,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | ICE Mortgage Technology |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Energy |
There are a few differences between a product manager and a scrum master in terms of educational background:
| Product Manager | Scrum Master | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between product managers' and scrum masters' demographics:
| Product Manager | Scrum Master | |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.3% Female, 34.7% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 11% |