Hello OzB Family,
I'm looking for scrum master roles within Australia only.
Most scrum master jobs ads say 'certified' is a pre requisite.
I'm asking the forum to recommend the best scrum master certification with respect to:
1. Widely accepted
2. Value for money - includes renewable period etc
Thanks in advance!
This. So much this. If you want to work for large enterprises sure… go for it. They don't understand agile anyway.
They certainly don't understand it but by god they'll spend millions on Agile coaches in an attempt to!
At least you'll end up with some pretty drawings of flows, have fireplace roundtables in "safe environments" and hug everyone.
Edit:
To tac onto my original post since I can't edit it now. If all it takes is a certification to get a role, do you really think you'll be able to join a team of skilled engineers and product managers and tell them how they should organise and structure their work? I have worked with SM's before and they are productivity saps and Jira gatekeepers who demand you stop what you're doing an update a ticket.
I'm convinced it's just something someone made up in an effort to spend money on it lol.
I couldn't have agreed with you more, especially after going through a waterfall to agile conversion in the workplace where it makes zero sense given our structure, applications, and environments.
Sure it works in some scenarios, but people try and apply it when it doesn't, just because of buzz words.
Our productivity died in the a** because the culture has switched from doing the work, to doing the admin and talking about the work. That's all agile is. Such a waste of time.
Source: Work in government IT that was part of an "agile" team.
after going through a waterfall to agile conversion
Let me guess, you ended up less productive, with more processes and things you can't explain why you have them, like a Social Contract/Charter. You're now thinking "wait, isn't this just waterfall with extra steps?"
Sure it works in some scenarios, but people try and apply it when it doesn't, just because of buzz words.
Because Agile coaches need to justify their $200k+ salaries to come in and transform the productivity of a company :D
Our productivity died in the a** because the culture has switched from doing the work, to doing the admin and talking about the work. That's all agile is. Such a waste of time.
Atlassian is to blame for this. Jira is the epitome of a product that isn't needed, but they made billions.
@coffeeinmyveins: Thankfully I've now completely moved out of that space and I am so much happier. Nothing frustrates me more than wasting time and trying to justify myself to people who have no idea about IT, yet somehow work in a role in an IT department and bark orders and try and make you feel like you're at fault when it's not even.
It creates such a toxic work environment full of small teams silo'ed off from one another.
@newjerseydamo: Sounds like a big career change? What did you move to if you don't mind me asking?
It creates such a toxic work environment full of small teams silo'ed off from one another.
Wait until you see SaFE which I am convinced is the brainchild of a company designed to just make money by throwing around buzzwords…..oh wait that's exactly what it is, I hope they don't sue me like they are suing others for talking bad about it ;)
Worth having. Its cheap to get and easy to obtain. Scrum.org. USD 150. I spent about an hour every morning for a week doing the practice questions and passed easily.
worth having
and then
I spent about an hour every morning
passed easily
you've just proven that it's not worth having. Anything that can be obtained easily by spending less than 7 hours is just a 'pay to play' thing and doesn't provide you with any knowledge.
Worth having from an employment perspective…
I wouldn't say it doesn't provide you with any knowledge. The basics of scrum are very simple by design, so there isn't actually a tonne to learn. Its more discipline and sticking to principles.
I notice scrum.org have 3 levels and it gets expensive for all them. Are you aware of the different levels?
Idk, I just did psm1. That’s enough to be a scrum master if that’s what you want to do. You don’t even need it at all, but if you want a shiny badge for your cv, why not.
PMI-ACP. It'll cost around ~800 in total including exam and if you can find cheap Udemy classes to fulfill the hours criteria and self study. The renewal period is every 3 hours, but is fairly simple to do it.
Understand that Agile is a mindset, and you can use any methodology which suits your situation to achieve the goal.
It's been useful for me in the IT space and life in general when it comes to dealing with the unknowns.
From a career perspective, it may or may not boost your salary, but it will certainly look better on your resume.
I notice at DMI they also have a DASM do you know anything about that?
I have had my scrum cert for over 10 yrs now and it has provided me with a lot of benefit in jobs and it helps with salary discussions if you are going to BA, Scrum roles.
Which cert do you recommend?
Please don’t.
Suggestions so far (thanks for the helpful replies) :
Scrum.org
PMI-ACP
Is one more widely accepted than the other?
Any others I should look at?
Every company I've worked for or spoken to does not put any consideration into these certifications.
Experience is what will get you the job
Do you have any experience. Or are you looking to break into the industry?
Big corps generally list having a sm cert as a prereq even if it's all bollocks (I agree it is)
So that's why I'm asking here for suggestions about which one would be widely accepted. If you're not from a big corp sm background you might not be aware of any which is fine
If you're not from a big corp sm background
This is pretty much an exclusive this to Macquarie bank and a few other "big corps".
Like I said in another post here, I work at a unicorn tech company and we don't have SMs, neither do most others. But I guess if you want to work at those companies then go for it, but be aware that if you came to me for an interview and you were a "scrum master" as a ROLE, you're bottom of the pile.
@coffeeinmyveins: I've worked in big banks both in Australia and overseas for 15+ years and I can confirm that
a) scrum master is very much a job, a role, and a title at these places
b) even though these certs are a waste of time in my opinion, they are looked favourably upon by some naiive manager types
That's the reality I'm afraid
FYI a Scrum Master isn't, and shouldn't be, a job , it's a responsibility and the Scrum community has done a massive disservice to peoples careers by making them think that it's a role.
No job I've ever been a part of cares about certifications like the CSPO or SM certifications because anybody that is actually in the industry knows that they are trash and you can walk out of there without a lick of an actual understanding of what Scrum is, but ace the 'certification'.
A renewable period? lol because the scrum guide gets updated so often and you're not able to just research this yourself?
If you want to be an Agile Coach and work on digital transformation, that's one thing, but I would steer clear of "SM" roles at places like Macq Bank and opt to move into something like PO since they usually get lumped with that responsibility.
Source: Work at a unicorn tech company as a PM and we don't have any SM's.