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Product Development

By ACS Distance Education on January 29, 2019 in Careers, Education & Jobs Success | comments
This work involves the creation and development of products or services that a business provides. Existing products may need monitoring and changing, and new ones need creating. This work requires innovation, technical skills and industry awareness.

Scope of Work


Product developers work for companies designing new products, or improving older products.  What you do on a daily basis varies according to the field you're in. People working for software companies will do one thing, while people working for kitchen manufacturers will do another. Generally speaking, all product developers spend time assessing consumer needs, looking for problems in need of solving, consulting with management and sales, and actually drafting designs and tests.

What You Need to Learn

  • Project Management - managing a project  start to finish, design, including sourcing materials, design adaptations, through to a prototype
  • Product understanding - broad awareness of the sector, products, competition,; dynamics of industry, demand, supply, changing trends
  • Research Skills - identifying gaps and researching to find potential solutions, new ways of thinking
  • Technical Writing - reporting, design work, manual writing
  • Statistics - collecting and interpreting data, analysing data to help adjust products in development
  • Entrepreneurship - principles of startups and driving business, motivation, business environments
  • Marketing Foundations - understanding the driving forces in marketing, and how consumer interest helps in product design and development, using marketing data to inform design decisions
  • Law and Ethics  - general understanding of relevant laws (e.g patent law) and ethics regarding development and use. Knowledge of when, where, and how to seek further information.
  • Business Operations - general awareness of how business works, costings, supply chains and logistics

Starting a Career


There are many opportunities for starting out in product development. Start by learning about the sorts of products you wish to work with - whether grown, mined or manufactured.  Remember that general design and development skills for many product developers are transferable from field to field. i.e. If you're in product development for children's toys, the skills you have will still be useful in developing kitchen tools. Developing new plant varieties or animal breeds both require an understanding of life sciences, particularly genetics.

Opportunities for new developers may include:

  • Work experience and internships. Look for a place in a factory or warehouse, where you can observe developers at work to build your network
  • Volunteering to conduct market research
  • General factory work. Places that produce materials are helpful for seeing how products are put together. This can help you develop a sense of how things work.
  • Machine shops/mechanics. Experience working with tools and design plans are essential. Working for a mechanic will help you learn to read schematics, about cause and effect, and how to alter parts/work with parts as necessary.
  • Courses, workshops, and seminars. Ensure you spend time building your skill set. Attend shows and workshops to build your skills and cultivate your network. Formal studies at first should be broad to give you a sound foundation and better ability to adapt throughout your career.

Don't be afraid to call places looking for volunteer, intern, and work experience positions.

Progressing a Career


A career in product development will progress as long as you have a good attitude, and keep developing knowledge, skills, industry awareness and networking. This will happen if you:

  • Keep learning - through formal or informal studies
  • See and be seen - network with colleagues, and be proactively involved in your industry
  • Embrace opportunities - every opportunity has risks. Follow the less risky opportunities that present the most to gain. People who avoid all risk though, do not progress their career.

    Moving your career forward may lead to jobs such as:
  • Consultant - taking on independent work and/or advising companies on trends and developments
  • Department Head - taking the lead on new projects, running the department and making decisions on direction and investment
  • Chief Operations Officer - supervising operations decisions, working to achieve efficiency in supply and demand chains, logistical planning, and more.