Good points, it turns out that $65k is lower than many of our other master's programs. We also ran through the numbers and that tuition x #students doesn't cover much more than our basic costs. We are a non-profit after all, and one that has a very strong track record in its educational program.
What you're telling us is actually very well aligned with what we've heard from our alums and from some companies. Yes, product managers are not CEOs and can't always just tell people what to do. Product managers work with their direct team (typically some engineers, QA, 1-2 UX designers, possibly a data scientist), but also need to know how to interface with marketing, sales, and others. Part of our curriculum looks at how to work with and positively influence others to achieve desired goals. But you're right, that's not easy, though there are some strategies and tactics that work better than others.
So, I'm a PM at Mozilla who did an MDes in Interaction Design at CMU. I'm a dataset of one, but my experience there was absolutely worth the cost. A few notes:
- 65k is a lot, but Pittsburgh is cheap compared to the Northern California or New York or almost anywhere. Someone on the thread tossed out 65k a year in additional cost of living; this number is way off. You can get a room for < 800 bucks a month (possibly significantly less if you're willing to commute even a little). Food is cheap, there is modest but acceptable public transit, the city's pretty bikable, and there's plenty of free stuff to do etc etc. TL;DR Pittsburgh is great.
- There are lots of fellowships for grads available through CMU. I TAed Web dev and creative coding courses and IIRC, the money I got for doing so completely covered my rent and internet bill.
- If you've spent any time at all on the CMU campus, it's pretty clear the the institution is absolutely unique WRT the depth and breadth of CS, Design, HCI, Robotics, and Business talent. BTW, this list is not exhaustive. The sheer density and variety and stuff happening on campus is simply not comparable to working at a startup (which requires laser focus). A big part of the CMU experience is expanding your horizons about what's possible in ways that MOOCS (and I daresay industry) cannot.
- Also CMU grad programs place nearly EVERYBODY. It's the primary reason I went there as a chronically underpaid, semi-clueless freelancer having trouble breaking into industry. Their relationships with industry – both formal, and through causal peer/alumni connections – are pretty staggering.
All of that being said, I didn't move into a PM role until I'd spent significant time in the UX org at Mozilla learning how the sausage gets made. I definitely only started to grok the on-the-ground dynamics of product management after several years in industry, and I'm still learning every day. My sense is that most PMs have similar trajectories of transitioning into the role after time in industry. I'd be curious about whether industry would look favorably on hiring PMs directly out of school.
Can't say this is a compelling argument. Being lower cost than other programs just tells me those programs are overpriced too. Also the whole nonprofit argument is baseless; did you know the NFL was structured as a nonprofit until 2015? Universities and nonprofits in general are well known to waste funds, especially on administrative positions and vanity projects.
Not to call this a vanity project, and obviously I am not privy to all of the financial information at CMU so I may be wrong and this program may just be quite expensive. The main problem I see with something like this is that
1: As with most Master's programs, it's probably just a cash grab by the university. Although since this is CMU I assume the placement will be very good, I'm also of the opinion that programs like these can, but not necessarily will, taint the overall reputation of the university by setting lower standards.
2: It's fine for a few universities to offer degrees in Product Management. But the thing is, the market (at least within tech) for this role isn't THAT large, especially when you consider that a lot of product managers start out as developers to begin with. If enough universities start also offering these programs, I assume the placement and utility of the program will suffer greatly. We don't need a glut of PMs the same way we had a glut of lawyers following the recession.
Well, if you honestly believe that Carnegie Mellon University is the same as the NFL as a non-profit, especially given our long track record of education and research, there really isn't anything I can say to convince you. So let's just end this here.
His/her point is that being a non-profit is often just a legal structure with tax protection. It is not a valid reason to charge a high price for something. Not addressing his/her point does not make it any less valid.
Importantly, faculty and admin staff at both the NFL and CMU are both highly paid.
CMU has a great reputation and has come out with a program that is likely to be very successful and the top question is about price.
Everyone in higher education should pay attention. We may be seeing the tipping point here where people start questioning whether the best move for them is to borrow $100k for a non-mgmt degree.
I think our generation will be the first to raise our kids by saying college is great, but only for the right price.
What you're telling us is actually very well aligned with what we've heard from our alums and from some companies. Yes, product managers are not CEOs and can't always just tell people what to do. Product managers work with their direct team (typically some engineers, QA, 1-2 UX designers, possibly a data scientist), but also need to know how to interface with marketing, sales, and others. Part of our curriculum looks at how to work with and positively influence others to achieve desired goals. But you're right, that's not easy, though there are some strategies and tactics that work better than others.