Product Management: Why BS degree requirements are a load of BS
Every time I see the words “BS in Computer Science” in a Product Manager job description, I cringe. And no, it’s not because I dated my fair share of tech bros with BS degrees, although that was traumatizing.
I cringe because companies pass on brilliant candidates who have the experience and knowledge to blow a BS graduate out of the water just because they have a different degree or no degree at all (something something, Steve Jobs didn’t have a degree, something something). And for what?
Are you telling me that a Linear Algebra class would make me a better Product Manager? I’ve applied more information from a single class in Beginners Improv Theatre to my career than all my years in math and computer science combined. I learned more about problem solving just by surviving my early 20s than I ever learned in a classroom.
I know English majors who would blow your mind with their written communication skills. I know Theatre majors who could tell such riveting stories, they could compel the most critical stakeholder into buying in what they’re selling. And I know myself, a History major, who can find the root problems in any company using my extensive research and investigative skills.
You know, things that actually matter to the role.
And honestly, I’d wager that most of us had these skills to begin with and that’s what attracted us to our majors and further, our careers. Which brings up the question if degrees even matter at all!
Luckily, the beauty of education is that anyone can hone their craft without a degree, which is why degree requirements are, for the most part, a joke. I know tons of Product Managers, including myself, who take classes on Udemy, who are coached by mentors, who collaborate in Product communities, or who read books (remember books?) to further expand their skill set. And to these companies, it doesn’t matter because you don’t have a degree the price of a midwestern starter home collecting dust in your basement.
Also, please don’t forget that most people get their degrees right out of high school. You know, before their brains are fully developed and they know what the fuck they’re doing with their lives. When I was 18, I was singing in a band and writing Jack White fanfic (don’t ask). Do you think I ever considered that I should get a BS degree on the offhand chance I’d become a Product Manager? I didn’t know what Product Management was back then. Companies still don’t know what Product Management is today!
Not to mention, I would bet my lunch money that a company who requires a computer science degree or software engineering experience for a Product Manager role is not product-driven, but instead engineering-driven. So unless you want to take orders from a mouth-breathing, brother-of-the-CEO, ‘solutions architect’ instead of actually doing Product Management, run in the other direction.
Listen, it all comes down to this: companies bypass a huge talent pool of Product people because of their unnecessary (and often confusingly limiting) degree constraints.
It’s not classy, but it’s definitely classist.
And please, for those talented PMs out there with computer science degrees, I mean no offense.
Actually wait, let me break this down for you in a way you’d understand:
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