How To Become A Product Developer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a product developer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A product developer is a specialist that manages the process of developing a product or enhancing existing products to meet the customer's expectations effectively. A product developer works with the whole design team to strategize and execute plans within the agreed time. They create the designs of an industrial product based on the client's specifications and budget requirements. Product developers boost the company's brand image to attract potential customers by updating themselves with the current industry trends. They may also work as a part of a team collaborating with marketing, technical and manufacturing specialists throughout the product development process.

Traits or skills needed as a product developer are organizational skills as this is essential in working as efficiently as possible and also keeping a clean workspace. They must also be creative when thinking about a task or problem in a new way and need analytical skills when gathering information from various sources. To be a product developer, you must be a graduate of business, mechanical engineering, or graphic design. A product developer earns an annual salary of $75,636 on average.

ScoreProduct DeveloperUS Average

Salary

6.9

Avg. Salary $88,629

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.5

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 8.15%

Black or African American 3.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.67%

Unknown 5.32%

White 74.58%

Gender

female 38.86%

male 61.14%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a product developer

Explore product developer education requirements

Most common product developer degrees

Bachelor's

70.9 %

Master's

13.1 %

Associate

10.1 %

Start to develop specific product developer skills

Skills	Percentages
Product Development	11.20%
R	5.91%
Develop User	5.54%
C++	5.27%
Project Management	5.12%

Complete relevant product developer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New product developers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a product developer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real product developer resumes.

Research product developer duties and responsibilities

Target select electrical engineer database to yield increase and additional sales leads.
Implement CI and CD pipelines for the product using Jenkins and perl scripts.
Perform statistical analysis to generate technical reports and communicate results to company leaders through technical reviews and PowerPoint presentations.
Lead integration and deployment of various modules with UI.

Prepare your product developer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your product developer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a product developer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Product Developer Resume templates

Build a professional Product Developer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Product Developer resume.

Apply for product developer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a product developer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do product developers rate their job?

-/5

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Product Developer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

Its not a specific job, As a product manager your job responsibilities cover many different areas and that's what i love about it.