Having made a name for itself providing software engineering education since 2012, BrainStation has evolved into a global leader in helping tech-savvy professionals future-proof their careers. More than 100,000 people in 100-plus countries have benefited from its courses in areas such as data science, AI, design, marketing, cybersecurity and more. BrainStation offers opportunities to learn both online and in-person across campuses in New York, London, Miami, Toronto and Vancouver. With a 91 percent graduation rate, 95 percent of BrainStation alumni get a job within 180 days. Its Product Management Course is an example of its part-time certificate programs.

What Sets BrainStation Apart?

BrainStation is known for cultivating partnerships with some of the most recognizable brands in its subject areas, which means courses are often taught by those with deep expertise and are based on real-world scenarios. Its Product Management Course is no exception and includes instructors from e-commerce giants such as Shopify and Amazon. This course also balances teaching theory and practice with exposing students to a wide range of product management tools, including ChatGPT, Jira, Figma, and many others.

Smith has been recognized internationally for its innovative approaches to business education, by the Financial Times among others. Housed at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., the school offers a mix of both degree programs and professional development courses for those learning while working. On average, 96 percent of Smith graduates get a job offer within six months and earn an average salary before perks and bonuses of $74,924, with some graduates earning base salaries of up to $182,575. Its Master of Digital Product Management is described as a “cross-disciplinary degree built for changemakers.”

What Sets Smith School Apart

The Master of Digital Product Management program marries the business expertise for which Smith is renowned with the technical prowess of Queen’s School of Computing. This is a recently-developed program that has only been running since 2022, which Smith states is the “first degree of its kind in Canada,” drawing upon input from academia, government, and industry, including the tech sector. Beyond the core takeaways of the program itself, students will also tap into SmithEdge, a set of personal capabilities that span experience, self-awareness and insight into human dynamics, which the school believes will prepare graduates to thrive in today’s business environment.

CareerFoundry specializes in streamlining the journey for those making career changes to enter the tech sector. The Berlin-based company was founded in 2013 and promises to take students from beginner-level to job-ready in less than six months. More than 7,000 people have taken CareerFoundry courses, and on average graduates find a job within 75 days. In fact, the school guarantees their program graduates will get a job they love within six months of graduating, or they’ll refund your tuition.

What Sets CareerFoundry Apart?

CareerFoundry has established product management education for learners at all levels. This includes a free short course that lets you test the waters based on five 15-minute lessons. If you decide product management is right for you, the Intro to Product Management course will get you access to a community of more than 5,000 graduates and tailored feedback – both written and via video – from your instructor and designated mentor on a daily basis. The Product Management Immersion program goes even further, offering exposure to the tools, processes and mindset that makes product managers successful.

Founded in 2014 and based in San Francisco, Product School has trained more than two million product professionals. This not only includes students who enrol in its online courses, but Fortune 500 companies that bring in their teams for custom training. Its instructors work in product management at companies that include Google, Meta, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, and Amazon. Product School is also known for hosting the annual multi-city product management conference ProductCon, an awards program known as the Proddy Awards, and has published The Product Book. It offers a number of free educational resources, including its podcast, webinars and product management templates.

What Sets Product School Apart?

Instead of a traditional diploma or certificate, Product School has established a series of certifications to reflect the quality of its programs and training. This includes the Product Manager Certification (PMC), which it says is recognized across the industry and has been attained by more than 15,000 professionals. Product School emphasizes its focus on small cohorts of students for each class, which allows for individual attention from instructors. Class options include two-month, part-time live online sessions that can be done on weeknights or weekends, as well as a five-day full-time course that spans 30 hours of training. Those who take the course receive two years of unlimited access to content and tools.

Based in New York and boasting more than 40,000 full- and part-time alumni, General Assembly offers a variety of courses in coding, design and other business disciplines. While some of its programs are held on-site at its campus locations, it also offers a number of programs online, including its Product Management Short Course. Its focus is on “building bridges” across functional areas while bringing product ideas to life. Beyond product managers, General Assembly’s course is designed to support career paths in marketing management, business analysis, user experience (UX) design and project management.

What Sets General Assembly Apart?

Leading technology companies including IBM, Amazon, Xerox and Canon all count General Assembly graduates among their employees. Its track record spans more than 12 years and the Product Management Short Course is led by instructors with real-world experience. Prospective students have the option of taking a 10-week part-time evening session online, or a one-week accelerated version of the Short Course. Those who are unsure about taking the next step can join group information sessions to understand more about the Short Course as well as get answers to general questions about product management.

No long, boring videos. No boilerplate projects. No lack of accountability. Co.Lab was founded in 2020 with a mission to ensure product management education is delivered through live group discussions with a diversity of thought, where students learn by doing and get feedback from their peers as well as instructors. With a 90 percent graduation rate and 75 percent job placement rate, the online school says those who take its programs earn a median salary of US$96,000. Its alum number more than 1,500 professionals across 60 countries

What Sets Co.Lab Apart

Co.Lab is highly focused, offering just two programs: a four-week Product Sprint where students get hands-on learning in small groups to begin building their portfolio, and a Product Bootcamp that goes deeper, exposing students to cross-functional teams of designers and engineers that they are likely to encounter in real-world product management roles. The Bootcamp covers the complete product development lifecycle, including the build of a functional minimum viable product (MVP). By working in a real technical environment, Co.Lab says students not only learn product management but build their personal brand and make valuable friendships along the way.

Scotiabank, Interac, Google, Dropbox – University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS) lists these organizations looking for product management talent in Ontario, among others, with this demand inspiring their online Project Management Bootcamp. The program is aimed at beginners looking to get their start in the field; the bootcamp’s instructor is a product manager at Grammarly and is offered in a live online environment. Overall, U of T’s SCS claims an 89.5 percent job placement rate within 180 days of graduation, an 82 percent graduation rate and $62,000 average graduate salary.

What Sets University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Apart

The Product Management Boot Camp is offered in partnership with Circuit Stream, an online course provider that provides students access to a community of more than 1,000 technology professionals. Those who complete the bootcamp will receive a digital badge co-branded by Circuit Stream and U of T SCS to demonstrate their product management knowledge. The school also offers bootcamp students career support and guidance including resume building, interview preparation, and access to job opportunities across the technology industry.

The UBC Sauder School of Business is accredited by AACSB, which provides internationally recognized, specialized accreditation for business and accounting programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies, in particular, offers programs in fields ranging from agile leadership and behavioural insights to business analysis and more. Its approach is based on helping students start, advance or change their career by helping them acquire skills they can immediately apply. Its Product Management Bootcamp is aimed at early to mid-career professionals who already have a background in software engineering, UX design or business analysis. Those supporting the program include ProductBC, a community of product professionals that includes more than 1,400 members.

What Sets UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies Apart

Those who complete the Product Management Bootcamp may be able to further their skills and employability through UBC Sauder’s AI Product Management Bootcamp, which explores AI use cases in a wide variety of vertical markets and how to build products that incorporate machine learning to enhance human decision-making and personalize customer interactions.

The School of Continuing Studies at York University, Canada’s third-largest university, offers more than 35 career-focused certificate programs to approximately 5,500 students. While it has a campus and in-person spaces for onsite learning, many of its programs are also offered online and blended, with accelerated formats that can be completed in less than a year. Its Certificate in Product Management is aimed at business analysts seeking a more strategic role on a product team, associate product managers working towards a promotion, or those in roles such as marketing, operations, and customer success looking to switch careers.

What Makes York University Stand Out

According to York University, this was the first post-secondary product management program to be offered in Canada. As such, it was designed in consultation with, and is taught by, leading product management professionals. The program takes an experiential approach to assignments and projects. York also offers exclusive fireside chats with top product managers and leaders with opportunities to build students’ networks. There’s also no application process associated with this program: Students can enrol directly and prepare to learn.

Founded in 2020, Product Hall has quickly established itself as a credible online school teaching everything you need to know to ship digital products. Its target market includes aspiring product managers as well as those currently in the field looking to enhance their skills. Product Hall founder Quadri Oshibotu has personally taught more than 99 classes and mentored more than 50 students over the past 10 years. Besides offering courses, Product Hall has also captured some of its greatest insights in a book titled Product Management: A Complete Guide to Creating Products People Love.

What Sets Product Hall Apart?

Beyond expert instructors, practical lessons and an exclusive focus on product management, Product Hall also claims to be the only bootcamp of its kind that offers lifetime support. This means one-on-one mentorship can continue long after students have completed their studies.

Spread across five campuses serving more than 41,000 students, Edmonton-based University of Alberta has a graduation rate of 79.2 percent, and a job placement rate of 83 percent within one year of graduating. This makes it a top five Canadian university and one of the top 100 in the world, according to the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022. Its Software Product Management specialization was designed for those already in the field who want to become software project managers. Though programming experience is not required, students should have some knowledge of how software is developed.

What Sets University of Alberta Apart

The Software Product Management specialization is a six-course package offered through Coursera that begins with introductory material and concludes with a capstone project. The school recommends taking these courses in order because they build upon one another. The format has students leading a team of developers in Agile practices in realistic scenarios. The first five courses are available on demand; the capstone project course is part of a regular schedule. Those who complete the specialization will receive a certificate from Coursera awarded through the university.

Now part of consulting firm Accenture, Udacity has been in operation since 2011 and was founded by a pair of instructors from Stanford University. It has since grown to more than 16.9 million users in more than 240 countries. Though it is a private online education provider and not an accredited institution, Udacity issues what it calls “nanodegrees” in fields that are highly valued by employers. Though it doesn’t publish a job placement rate, Udacity says 80 percent of its graduates have reported a positive career benefit, whether it be starting a new job, or gaining confidence for current and future roles. Its Product Manager nanodegree program is available to anyone, even those without any previous experience.

What Sets Udacity Apart

Udacity models open-ended projects based on real-world scenarios and offers feedback from industry experts and mentors. Its instructors for the Product Manager nanodegree both work in product roles at Google and it promises the program will teach students more than 51 different skills that could help them in their careers. Udacity’s approach also reflects the specialized skill sets many employers may be looking for: Its course catalog includes an AI Product Manager nanodegree to help those focused on building products with AI or machine learning capabilities; a Data Product Manager nanodegree that covers areas such as modeling and enriching data; and a Growth Data Product Manager nanodegree that delves into customer acquisition, retention, monetization and more.