“Is it really worth the time and money I am going to spend?” This question is a common one most aspirants ask before deciding to pursue any certification. Because you often end up investing your time, money, and energy into a course that you didn’t require in the first place. There are a plethora of paths available for agile certifications, but in this article, we are going to focus more on Scrum certifications.
If you are planning to get a Scrum certification, then you probably have asked the above question more than once, not just because you are confused about the need but also because you are confused with the various options available.
This article will talk about the various Scrum certifications available, their benefits, and how to get one.
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Is it worth it to become a Certified Scrum professional?
Today, finding an IT company or team that hasn’t implemented Agile or Scrum has become tricky. Not because it’s some craze or a trend, but because it is a highly effective methodology that gives you results.
As more and more companies and teams implement Scrum, there are more requirements for Scrum Masters, certified professionals who can guide, train, and support product development teams.
Being a Scrum-certified professional is not just a requirement for a team leader or an aspiring Scrum Master. It is beneficial for anyone who is yet to learn the Scrum framework or a Scrum practitioner who wants to expand their knowledge, efficiency, and performance.
Most of the certification programs require you to spend full 2 or 3 days and some initial fees. But they are worth it because it teaches you to self-organize your team, become well-versed in various Scrum and Agile practices, methodologies and tools. It will also help you to stay ahead of the competition in your industry.
A Scrum certification opens the doors for various opportunities. For example, you can go beyond your role as a project manager and become Scrum Master, Agile trainer, Scrum coach, Agile coach, and even a Scrum certification trainer.
Let’s learn about some of the popular Scrum certifications. Shall we?
What are the most popular Scrum/Agile certifications?
Just like having a bachelor’s degree will increase your credibility for a particular role or position, an authentic certification works the same way. Irrespective of your industry, a Scrum certification helps you establish authority as a Scrum Master or a Scrum practitioner.
Among the many organizations that offer these certifications, Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org are the most popular ones. But there are other institutions too.
CSM & other related from Scrum Alliance
CSM or Certified ScrumMaster course offered by Scrum Alliance helps you understand the Scrum framework, team accountabilities, events, artifacts, and how you can guide your team in applying Scrum.
Apart from CSM, Scrum Alliance offers other courses depending on the Scrum Team role. These are not restricted to project managers. Software engineers, business analysts, new Scrum team members, and Scrum masters can also undergo various training and pass the respective exams to get certified.
Depending on your role, you can take up either of the three different tracks. They all have advanced certifications that you can take up after gaining a couple of years of experience.
Scrum Master Track
- CSM or Certified ScrumMaster
- Advanced Certified ScrumMaster
- Certified Scrum Professional ScrumMaster
Product Owner Track
If you are less of a developer and more on the business side like a product owner, your role requires you to manage the stakeholder’s needs and be hands-on with the product development. In that case, you have,
- Certified Scrum Product Owner
- Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner and
- Certified Scrum Professional Product Owner courses.
Developer Track
If you are a developer and part of a Scrum team, the developer track is the right one for you. It has
- Certified Scrum Developer
- Advanced Certified Scrum Developer and
- Certified Scrum Professional for Developers courses.
PSM & other related from Scrum.org
Scrum.org doesn’t need you to undergo any training from the organization. All you need to do is pass the exam to get certified. But, of course, you do require some previous knowledge and experience in Scrum first. So if you do need some training, they offer that too.
The most popular one is the Professional Scrum Master or PSM certification that helps you understand Scrum and apply that knowledge in real-world situations. Here are the various certificates for various roles:
- Professional Scrum Master for Scrum Masters with three levels of assessments.
- Professional Scrum Product Owner for product owners with three levels of examinations.
- Professional Scrum Developer for product developers. It is commonly called PSD.
- Scaled Professional Scrum for people who know about scaling Scrum and Nexus Framework.
- Professional Agile Leadership for agile leaders.
- Professional Agile Leadership – EBM for advanced agile leaders with an understanding of Evidence-Based Management.
- Professional Scrum with Kanban for anyone with expertise in using Kanban with Scrum practices.
- Professional Scrum with User Experience for someone who can integrate UX practices into the Scrum framework.
SAFe & other related certifications
For short, scaled Agile Framework or SAFe is a framework for organizations to implement Agile and Scrum at the enterprise level. Many institutions offer training and certifications that focus more on the role of a Scrum Master in the context of an organization. If you are an experienced Scrum Master and want to scale your knowledge from applying to individual agile teams to the enterprise level, this is for you.
Many organizations, like Scaled Agile.com, agile-center.com, and Project Management Institute, offer SAFe certifications. Some of them are:
- SAFe Scrum Master (SSM)
- SAFe Advanced Scrum Master
- SAFe Scaled Agilist
- Certified SAFe Practitioner (SP)
- SAFe Government Practitioner (SGP)
An important point you need to remember is that many of these certifications have an expiry date. Yes, you read that right. They hold for a year or more. The renewal varies with the courses like paying some amount, earning some points, undergoing some advanced training, and taking another assessment.
Where can one be certified as a Scrum Master?
Now that you have an idea about the various Scrum certification courses available, let’s see where you can get these. Even though quite a few organizations, it is better to go with the top 5 as they are popular and have more credibility, success rate, are better reviewed, and provide value for your money.
Below are some details about the top 5 organizations:
- Scrum Alliance – This organization was founded in 2001 by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, the creators of Scrum itself! Its CSM is quite popular and is most suitable if looking for an overall Scrum certification course. You can check their website here.
- Scrum.org – Co-founder of Scrum Alliance and co-creator of Scrum Ken Schwaber, founded Scrum.org in 2009. If you want to get the Scrum fundamentals right, you can go with their PSM or other courses. Check out their website here.
- Scrum Inc – Jeff Sutherland, the other co-founder of Scrum, started this organization in 2006. Their courses are known for their interactive classes and hands-on exercises. You can learn more about them here.
- Scaled Agile – Founded in 2011, Scaled Agile specializes in SAFe certifications. If you are a Scrum Master who wants to scale your Scrum knowledge to your organization, you can find such courses here.
- Project Management Institute – It is not a Scrum exclusive but is a leading institute for training millions of management professionals worldwide. They have some Agile, Scrum, Lean and other certifications that you can know more about here.
How to earn these certifications?
You now know about the courses, and you know where to get them. This section will tell you how to earn these certifications.
Most of the certifications have training for a day or two. And it can be either online or offline. But what you need to understand is that you must have a clear understanding of the Scrum framework, its principles, various terminologies, and phrases used beforehand.
To get any Scrum certification, you need to register for the relevant course on the respective website. Usually, you have to pay the amount in USD, but you might have options for other currencies depending on the website.
After the training, you will need to appear for an exam, usually for an hour, with multiple-choice questions. Even though most of these exams are in English, some offer in other languages like French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, or Russian. Once you get more than the passing score, you will receive the certification.
And voila! You are now officially a Certified Scrum Professional, be it Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Developer, or Scrum Agile expert.
And last but not least, don’t forget to renew your certification annually, or once in two or three years, depending on your certification’s validity.
What are the benefits of getting a Scrum Master Certification?
Apart from being good at your job, getting a Scrum Master Certification has lots of other benefits.
- A certification expands your knowledge and expertise in various Scrum and Agile practices thanks to the extra training you undergo.
- You become better at solving issues, overcoming obstacles, team management, collaboration, and other things that increase your team’s performance.
- Since you are now an expert, you will be considered an asset to your organization. You become a highly valued and reputed professional who will be responsible for a team’s success.
- It expands your career opportunities as there is quite a demand for the role of Scrum Masters. As a certified professional, you can get a better salary than your non-certified peers.
- Apart from a good salary, there are many roles that you can take up. Other than a Scrum Master, you can become Scrum Coach, Agile Coach, Product Owner, Product Manager, and many more.
- Another benefit is networking. You will become a part of a community of Scrum experts. With such communities, you can expand your horizon, get solutions to some problems that you cannot solve, and get advice from other professionals across the globe.
Do employers Value Agile Certifications, or would getting PMP is better than those certifications?
PMP is a popular and industry-recognized certification, and a comparison between it and Agile certifications is obvious.
PMP is the most recognized project management certification offered by the Project Management Institute. It deals with various aspects of project management like the methods, tactics, guidelines, practices, and terminologies, and the critical areas of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing a project. And it takes about 3 to 4 months to complete.
PMP is mainly about the traditional waterfall method. So, getting a PMP is more beneficial if you work in an organization that does things the conventional way or if your projects don’t need much problem-solving or adapting to market changes. But this will be your requirement right now.
As you already know, Scrum certifications take a couple of days and focus on the agile methodologies. Therefore, it is more beneficial for organizations that need to adapt to the ever-changing marketplace and technology. Also, you have more career opportunities.
Remember that the cost or the time you spend on course completion shouldn’t be the deciding factor. Instead, think in terms of your career goals and the future opportunities you get with that certification.
Wrapping up
Now that you have a clear understanding of Scrum certifications, various options available, and how to get them, it’s time for you to make the decision. Consider multiple factors like the time to complete, the amount to be paid, your company sponsor you, and how beneficial the certification is for your job and career goals.
The certifications are helpful for your career in more than one ways. They help you open up doors to better career opportunities, but they also make you learn a subject in detail, thus increasing your knowledge. However, the certifications would have no value in the long run if you don’t hone your skills continuously with real-world experience with Agile projects. Working with a project team to implement Agile practices will help you both, before and after the certification exams.
