Редакція dev.uaWork
27 March 2025, 15:08
2025-03-27
Who is an educational course producer: what does he do and how much does he earn?
A few years ago, the profession of a producer was associated with show business, celebrities, and big money. Today, this is a person who explains to a senior with 10 years of experience that recording a video about bugs is more important than the bugs themselves. And rehearsing a webinar is more serious than a code review. If this seems like a simple task to you, try persuading an IT guy to re-record a lesson because of one mispronounced word.
IT education has already turned into a separate industry, in which the producer plays one of the key roles.
Darya Bilokon, Producer Team Lead of the Laba and robot_dreams online schools, told dev.ua about the profession and its features in the section on IT professions.
A few years ago, the profession of a producer was associated with show business, celebrities, and big money. Today, this is a person who explains to a senior with 10 years of experience that recording a video about bugs is more important than the bugs themselves. And rehearsing a webinar is more serious than a code review. If this seems like a simple task to you, try persuading an IT guy to re-record a lesson because of one mispronounced word.
IT education has already turned into a separate industry, in which the producer plays one of the key roles.
Darya Bilokon, Producer Team Lead of the Laba and robot_dreams online schools, told dev.ua about the profession and its features in the section on IT professions.
Who is a course producer?
A course producer is a kind of product manager who creates educational products instead of applications and platforms. He manages dozens of tasks and delays, controls processes and the team, and at the same time negotiates with star developers to record a lecture today, not «after the release.»
A producer is a person who manages the creation of courses from idea to launch. He analyzes the market, finds experts, conducts a promotional campaign and is responsible for the final product. In online schools, he creates courses for a mass audience, and in IT companies, he helps teams learn internally (in-house, such a position may sound like L&D specialist, Education Manager, Instructional Designer, Upskilling Specialist).
A producer must be part marketer, part technical specialist, part diplomat, but most importantly, they must clearly understand which course will interest students and fulfill their tasks.
How is a producer different from a methodologist and instructional designer?
Several specialists can work on the same training course at the same time. Their tasks may overlap, but their areas of responsibility will be different.
The methodologist is responsible for the concept and structure of the course. This position is often found in large schools where creating an educational product requires a «deep dive.» In this case, the methodologist works on developing the curriculum, preparing materials (notes, presentations), and checking the finished content.
An instructional designer creates the student’s learning experience. He or she thinks through the logic of students' interaction with the content so that the course is not a set of lectures, but an interactive story. In in-house teams and online schools, an instructional designer can perform the duties of a methodologist and work on the course content together with lecturers.
A course producer combines analytical, managerial, and marketing functions. He or she identifies market needs, coordinates the work of a methodologist, instructional designer, and lecturers, promotes the product on the market, and oversees content creation.
If you imagine a course as a movie, then a methodologist is a screenwriter, an instructional designer is a director, and a producer is a person who ensures that the movie is released on time, will interest the audience, and will not fail at the box office.
Of course, positions and functional responsibilities may vary depending on the company, the number of team members, and the scale of the course. At robot_dreams, the producer is the main coordinator of all processes, and tasks related to the methodology and content of the course are performed by instructional designers together with lecturers.
What does a course producer do?
The list of functional responsibilities of a course producer is quite wide, although it depends on the format of work. He can work as an independent specialist and build a product from scratch together with a lecturer. Or he can be part of a school, where he will create a course together with marketers, production and sales departments. Regardless, each educational product is developed according to a similar plan.
Research and planning
A successful course starts with an analysis. At this stage, the producer determines how to expand the school’s product line. If the producer works within the company, he analyzes what competencies need to be developed in the team.
The main tasks of the producer at this stage:
Market, competitor and potential audience research
Determining the unique value of a product
Creating a course concept and curriculum
Financial model calculation
Planning a promotion strategy
In large schools, the producer collaborates with separate specialists who are responsible for each direction (for example, at robot_dreams, marketing analysts conduct research, and instructional designers create the course concept). In the corporate sector, the specialist closely interacts with the HR department and team leaders. But it is he who sees the big picture and determines the vector of development.
Search for a lecturer
Often, it is the producer who determines who will be the course expert. In our team, sourcers are involved in the search for potential speakers. The producer communicates with them in search of a match, weighing both professional experience and the ability to present the material in an interesting way.
Promotional campaign
Once the contract with the lecturer is signed, the preparation for the launch begins. Here, the producer decides how to properly present the course to interest potential students. His responsibilities include:
Organizing a photo shoot and shooting a video advertisement with lecturers
Creating landing pages for your course
Organizing events to engage the audience (webinars, workshops)
Participation in marketing campaigns and sales support
Content preparation
While marketing activity continues, the team is working on creating content:
Prepares educational materials
Records video lectures
Conducts a test session of the course
Organizes meetings with a public speaking coach as needed
Analytics and upgrades
Launching a course is only half the battle. Once it’s complete, work begins on improving the product. The producer analyzes financials, sales, and conversions, and conducts a retrospective with the team that worked on the course. From this data, recommendations are generated for updating and improving the product.
What skills are needed for the profession?
Creating educational products requires a balance between strategic thinking, understanding of educational processes, and the ability to negotiate with even the busiest experts.
Analytical skills are a must-have: without this, it is difficult to determine which course will be in demand, which topics are currently on the hype, and which ones have long been out of reach even at the level of free webinars. In addition, the producer must be confident in the main performance indicators (ROI, ROMI, CPL, CTR, CPP, conversion) and be able to work with creatives for advertising.
Another important aspect is project management. The producer balances tasks, edits, campaigns, and experts who will «record the lecture accurately by the end of the week» (no).
That is why strong communication skills are critically important here, the ability to find a common language with all participants in the process — from developers to students who are always waiting for answers in the chat.
And, of course, rapid adaptation to changes. IT education is developing rapidly, technologies are being updated, and trends are changing faster than you can finish your coffee. A producer must understand what’s new in EdTech, test new approaches, and not be afraid to change what seemed perfect yesterday.
Who can become a training course producer?
If a specialist has experience working with educational or tech products, basic knowledge in the field of IT (programming languages, analytics, tools), as well as managerial skills, then getting started will be much easier.
Specialists from other fields often come to production, seeking to diversify their work routine:
Project managers. Have the necessary experience in managing processes, teams, and deadlines.
Advertising agency account managers. Used to working with various stakeholders, managing teams, and creating strategies for brands.
Analysts and marketers. Can quickly assess market needs, determine demand, and promote products.
Event managers. Know how to effectively manage resources and ensure the implementation of the plan.
How much do course producers earn in Ukraine?
The number of technology education programs in Ukraine is growing at a rapid pace. According to Forbes, 36 Ukrainian IT schools have graduated over 600,000 students over the past 20 years. This means a huge demand not only for courses, but also for the producers who create these courses.
Unfortunately, there are no statistics on the salaries of educational producers in Ukraine, only general figures for all areas. According to the Work.ua portal, the average producer salary is 40,000 UAH, with a range from 19,000 UAH to 83,000 UAH. A study by the international production company AMO Pictures shows that in the production industry, producers' salaries range from $650 to $1,800. Although these data do not directly relate to educational projects, they can serve as a guide for understanding the general situation in Ukraine.
On DOU and Djinni you can find vacancies in the education sector with a salary of 30,000-70,000 UAH, sometimes with the note «rate + percentage». However, for the most part The ads do not specify specific figures.
In short, being a producer of educational courses is a fusion of management, creativity, and marketing. It may be difficult to find balance in the «fires» of the first projects. But with each new course, strategic planning and teamwork prevail over chaos and improvisation.
Стаття ні про що, вигадали професію - базовий маркетинг та специфічний освітній пафос. "злиття менеджменту, творчості й маркетингу" - ніби щось неймовірне. На практиці тут просто потрібен хороший маркетолог або PM, специфіка тут легко вчиться.
Стаття ні про що, вигадали професію - базовий маркетинг та специфічний освітній пафос. "злиття менеджменту, творчості й маркетингу" - ніби щось неймовірне. На практиці тут просто потрібен хороший маркетолог або PM, специфіка тут легко вчиться.