Certifications For African Techies (Part 1)
In Tech, the first priority is to get the skills you need to prove you can deliver at a certain level based on the nature of projects and startups you have worked on. But as you start advancing in your career, certifications can’t be ignored. You may not primarily need it for a job but we all get to a stage where we want to validate our skills on a global scale. We will be sharing some global certifications you can consider this year if you are at that stage of your career
Product Management
There is so much demand for product managers these days with more companies working on launching their own product. It’s right up there as one of the most in-demand jobs globally. These are the most credible global certifications for product managers looking to put that global stamp on their resume;
- Certified Product Manager (CPM): It is organized by Association of international product marketing and management (AIPMM), the largest global professional body for product managers in the world with a presence in about 65 countries. It’s safe to say investing in getting this certification puts you on a global map with the rest of your product management counterparts from other parts of the world.
Exam Fee: $395 for member, $520 for non-members
Certification Cycle: No expiration
Training required: Licensed training partners
2. Product School Certifications: Every product manager’s dream at some point is to speak at product school. It’s the greatest global platform for product managers. They bring in product managers from every tech company you have on your wish list to work someday. They have three certifications for product managers depending on your career stage;
- PMC: The full meaning for PMC is product manager’s certificate is a basic certification for those without any prior experience in product management, mostly students or people transitioning from other fields into product management.
- PLC: The full meaning for PLC is Product Leader Certificate, as the name Implies, you need to have a practiced product management for some years with proven experience in core product management competencies.
- PEC: This stands for Product Executive Course and is reserved for senior product managers with demonstrated product leadership experience. It is the highest level of certification for product managers in product school.
Exam Fee: Starts at $4,199
Certification Cycle: No expiration
Training required: Product School
Product Marketing
This is another tech career path gaining traction in Africa for one simple reason, African startups are not playing around anymore. They are building products that are solving really crucial problems on a very large scale.They are expanding into multiple countries , getting funding in tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, getting acquired and even acquiring others too. So a typical startup is building to scale and keep scaling once they achieve product-market fit. And to grow, you need growth and product marketers who are trained to do the job.
Key Certifications for Africans
- Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM): This is organized by AIPMM and it is the most recognized product marketing certification for proven product marketing and growth experts who are looking to put that global stamp on their resume.
Exam Fee: $395 for members, $520 for non-members
Certification Cycle: No expiration
Training required: By Authorized partners
2. Hubspot Marketing Certifications: They are the hotspot for marketing. Hubspot is one of the world’s largest inbound marketing and sales platforms that helps companies around the world attract visitors, convert leads and close customers. They have a marketing academy where you can take certifications across multiple marketing functions like email marketing, Inbound sales, Social media marketing and lots more. These badges are globally recognized by recruiters and would boost your product marketing profile on your LinkedIn.
In our next post, we will be sharing certifications for product owners, scrum masters and project managers (yes, project managers still have a place in tech).
Written by Harry Enaholo
