Agile Certifications – Top 5 to consider this Year

Agile certifications assist professional to improve delivery predictability and accelerate software delivery. Methods and Principles of Agile not only helps in cutting down the overall cost of a project but also helps in reducing rework. Agile has matured now and similar to other domains like Project Management. This is the reason why agile professionals aspire for Agile certifications so that they can gain all the benefits when they plan to switch jobs or aspire to a career in the Agile domain.

Key benefits of Agile certification for professional are

• Better visibility, credibility & Salary
• In-par with the current market trends.
• Complete and Extensive hands on knowledge of Agile
• Change in the mindset and thinking

Agile Certifications

These are the top 4 Agile certifications bodies which are the best for Agile professionals in their career development.

• Scrum Alliance (Certified Scrum Master®/Certified Scrum Product Owner®/Certified Scrum Developer®/Certified Scrum Professional®)
• Scrum.org (Professional Scrum Master™/Professional Scrum Product Owner™/Professional Scrum Developer™)
• PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Professional®)
• SAFe Agilist®

Scrum Alliance Agile certifications

Certified Scrum Master (CSM®)

The Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) certification is the starting point for people who wish to fill the ScrumMaster role, either as their primary goal or as a step towards other certifications. Roles like a Developer, Scrum Master, Product Owner, Business Analysts can start their certification journey from the CSM®. CSM® gives you access to the basic Agile framework, Scrum Roles, events, artifacts, and practices of Scrum Framework. A CSM® indicates that the holder has attended a CSM® class, and passed the CSM® exam. After successfully completing the ScrumMaster course, the student receives an email from the Scrum Alliance. The message contains information about membership, and how to create an online profile and take the CSM® exam. This certification is offered by Scrum Alliance.

For more details read my Blog: How to Pass Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) Exam

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO®)

The CSPO® certification is the starting point for people who wish to fill the Product Owner role, either as their primary goal or as a step towards other certifications. The CSP® certification is the next step for ScrumMasters and Product Owners. A CSP® indicates that the holder has successfully served in one of these roles for at least one year. The CSP® candidate must submit an application containing a detailed description of what the applicant has done in his/her role. The CSP® may be obtained immediately after the CSM® or CSPO® if the applicant has been actively practicing his/her Scrum role for the required duration.

Certified Scrum Developer (CSD®)

Scrum Developer Certified (SDC™) is an entry-level certification for Scrum Team members and those who interact with any Scrum Team. The objective of this certification is to ensure that Scrum Team members know enough about Scrum to effectively contribute to a Scrum project. The courseware and preparation tools required for the certification exam will be available online on SCRUMstudy.com. An online proctored exam will be conducted at the end of the course.

Certified Scrum Professional (CSP®)

If you are having any of basic Scrum certificate (CSM®, CSD®, or CSPO®) with 36 months of Agile/Scrum work experience, gained within the past five years, you can plan CSP®. It is an advanced certificate and good for those who are committed to continuous improvement in practicing Scrum. You are required to earn 70 SEUs (Scrum Education Units) to get the certificate.

Scrum.org Agile certifications

Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM™)

While official training is available and is usually comparably priced to the CSM® course, attendance of a course is not mandatory in order to obtain a PSM™ certification. The assessment itself costs $100 to take separately with this fee typically included in the cost of a training course. The PSM™ training courses are based on official training material so are likely to be less variable than CSM® courses although the quality of any training is still going to be very dependent on the individual instructor. This certification is offered by Scrum.org.

Here is the key differences between the CSM® and PSM™:

• For CSM® you must attend two days class whereas PSM™ doesn’t mandate to attend any class. For PSM™ you are not required to take any specific course. If you are confident to pass the exam, you can directly purchase the PSM™ exam without taking any specific course.
• CSM® examination is easy, whereas PSM™ is not easy to pass as questions are tricky and the passing score is 85%. If you are not conceptually aware of the Scrum Framework, I highly recommend taking a course before appearing in the exam.

Skills	Certified Scrum Master® / CSM®	Professional Scrum Master™ / PSM™
Attainment	by attendance	by assessment
Learning Materials	course outline only	free downloadable guide
Training Cost	typically $1,000 – $1,300	typically $1,000 – $1,300
Training Required	mandatory	optional
Training Materials	vary by instructor	standardized
Assessment	superficial	comprehensive
Questions	35 questions, 68% pass mark, no time limit	80 questions, 85% pass mark, a time limit
Certificate Renewal	every 2 years ($150)	not required

For more details read my Blog: How to Pass PSM Exam Tips and Tricks

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ (PSPO™)

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ is a 2-day course that provides the foundation knowledge needed to work with Scrum in a highly practical way. The course is a combination of instruction and team-based exercises where students experience how the Scrum framework improves product development efforts.  The course also includes a free attempt at the globally recognized Professional Scrum Product Owner I certification exam (PSPO™).

For more details read my Blog: How to Pass PSPO Exam – Tips and Tricks

Professional Scrum Developer (PSD™)

The Professional Scrum Developer™ (PSD™) assessment is available to anyone who wishes to validate their knowledge of how to build complex software products using Scrum. Those that pass the assessment will receive the industry-recognized PSD™ Certification to demonstrate their mastery of the content.

Professional Scrum Developers are members of the Scrum Development Team and demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Scrum and their ability to build software using Scrum in real-world situations.  The value of certification is intimately tied to the demonstration of knowledge needed to achieve it. By that measure, the PSD™ assessment is significantly more valuable than available alternatives for Scrum. And, we strive to ensure that they remain valuable and relevant through frequent inspection and adaptation of the assessment content.

For more details read my Blog: How to Pass Professional Scrum Developer Exam Tips & Tricks

PMI Agile certifications

Agile Certified Practitioner® (PMI-ACP®)

PMI-ACP® certification is designed for those who are in or want to move into a leadership role and for those who have been implementing Agile Values and Principles in the day to day project work. For PMI-ACP® you need to have a minimum work experience of 1500 hours on Agile projects and 2000 hours’ experience of general project management. PMI-ACP® Exam is not just limited to Scrum Framework; it also has included other frameworks like Lean, Kanban, and XP. PMI-ACP® is conceptually strong examination compared to the basic Scrum Master certifications. You should take a classroom or online training before appearing in the exam.

For more details read my Blog: PMI-ACP: How to Pass PMI-ACP Certification Exam

Scaled Agile Agile certifications

SAFe Agilist® (SA)

If you want to be part of enterprise Agile and willing to be part of multiple teams in the adoption of Scaled Agile Framework®, SAFe Agilist® could be an ideal choice for you. For more details, you may refer our course details

Agile certifications Categories

Basic Knowledge – Agile certifications

• Scrum alliance cradle and Scrum.org cradle of three certifications for three different roles in scrum i.e. Scrum Master, Product Owner and developer are the basics which one can target to start with.
• CSM®/CSPO®/CSD® is definitely easier to crack than PSM™/PSPO™/PSD™ certifications but the knowledge gained in CSM® is also interesting. As Scrum alliance mandate training for CSM®/CSPO®/CSD®, it gives good exposure to the basics of Scrum. Though scrum.org has the foundation and advanced courses for PSM™/PSPO™/PSD™, it’s not mandated and from knowledge parse, professionals until mandated generally don’t go for it.
• Both these certificates cover the high-level basics of Agile and focus more on scrum. Out of these two CSM ® is more popular in the market. Definitely, the objective of the certification is met if the professional get benefits out of it. Also, PSM™ being little harder than CSM® makes CSM® even more approachable

Advanced Knowledge – Agile certifications

• After basics, its time take a little deep dive approach. Definitely, if you are CSM®/CSPO®/CSD®, you will go for the next step in scrum alliance provided CSP®. However, the spectrum of knowledge given by PMI-ACP® is not comparable.
• CSP® doesn’t mandate any training, it just needs some Scrum Education units to apply for certification. No test is there for CSP®.
• PMI-ACP® is hard from entry to exit i.e. its prerequisites itself is a little tough. It ensures and expects prior agile experience and project management experience along with training PDUs. The exam as well covers a wide spectrum of agile flavors and not only limited to Scrum. It covers Lean, Kanban, XP, TDD, etc. which gives more in-depth of agile overall. The exam is similar to PMI® certification. That’s the reason why PMI-ACP® holds a lot of value and gained credibility in the market.
• There are advanced certifications by Scrum.org as level II and III for PSM™/PSPO™ as well which can be targeted for but again that is the only scrum based and becomes even harder as compared to the level I of it.

• SAFe SA certification validates knowledge in applying the Scaled Agile Framework, lean, and product development flow principles in an enterprise context so they can lead the adoption of the Scaled Agile Framework.

There are few advanced level Agile certifications

• ScrumMaster – Professional ScrumMaster™ (PSMIII)
• Product Owner – Professional Scrum Product Owner™ (PSPOII)
• Team Coach – Certified Team Coach (CTC®)
• Enterprise Coach – Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC®)
• Trainer – Professional Scrum Test (PST®), Certified Scrum Test (CST®)
• Scaling – Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS®)

Summary

In summary, the following points will support you to choose the right Agile certifications:

• To break in as a newcomer to agile world start with CSM®.
• Increase adaptability in Agile technologies with PMI-ACP®
• Project with SAFe framework or leading a Lean/Agile change initiative in a large software enterprise, I advise doing SAFe Agilist certification
• You already have significant experience in Agile approaches and want to move to become a professional Agile Coach, then you should opt for Certified Agile Coach (ICP-ACC)
• All the above programs will help you to earn required 70 SEUs for doing CSP® which shows your skills at an advanced level and showcase you as an experienced Scrum practitioner.

Table of Contents (PSM ™, PSPO ™ & PSD ™ Certification)

1. Scrum Framework – Scrum Theory
2. Scrum Framework – Scrum Roles
3. Scrum Framework – Scrum Events
4. Scrum Framework – Scrum Artifacts
5. Scaling Scrum – DoD – DoR – Scrum Framework
6. Developing People and Teams
7. Managing Products with Agility
8. Developing and Delivering Products Professionally
9. Evolving the Agile Organization – Scaled Scrum, Portfolio Planning & EBM

Recommended Practice Exams

• Scrum.org
  • PSM I – PSM Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • PSM I – PSM Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSM II – PSM II Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSPO I – PSPO Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • PSPO I – PSPO Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSPO II – PSPO II Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSD – PSD Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • SPS – SPS Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
• Scrum Alliance
  • CSM – CSM Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • CSM – CSM Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
• PMI
  • PMI-ACP – PMI ACP Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • PMI-ACP – PMI ACP Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions