“When business goals are constantly varying, stepping on the right career path can be a tricky and on-going target.”
So, you completed your 2-days of CSM online certification training and serving as a Scrum Master in the organization! What is your next career move, then? Is your part done once you receive the CSM certification? Or you will think about adding more boosters to level up your Scrum career? Go through this article to learn more about the numerous career options available for you today!
Being a Scrum Master, you need to strengthen your Scrum knowledge on a regular basis. Typically, the very first move in the career of the Scrum Master includes serving one team so that all the issues faced by the team members can be resolved to deliver the end result very quickly.
A great Scrum Master always looks for additional challenging roles. Often, the next logical step of the Scrum Master is to work with multiple teams and at the scaled level concurrently. A Scrum Master who manages to work under complex conditions can make an easy transition from good to great, and this gives rise to the reality that- Success is often rewarded by accepting more challenges.
Level up your Scrum Master skills to play various challenging roles in the organizations implementing a Scrum framework.
Scrum Certifications List
Let’s take a look at the various certifications and requirements needed to earn those certifications after CSM certification. Given below is the list of various Scrum certifications that Certified ScrumMaster can take to upskill their career.
- Advanced Certified ScrumMaster® (A-CSM®)
- Certified Scrum Professional®-ScrumMaster (CSP-SM)
- Certified Team CoachSM (CTC)
- Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST)
- Certified Enterprise Coach℠ (CEC)
- Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®)
- Certified Scrum Developer® (CSD®)
- ICP-ACC Certification
Prerequisites of Scrum Certifications [For All Levels]
| Foundational Level | Prerequisite | Next Career Move |
|---|
CSPO
| None | A-CSPO |
| CSD | None | CSP |
| Advanced Level | Prerequisite | Next Career Move |
A-CSM
| Active CSM | CSP-SM |
| Elevated | Prerequisite | Next Career Move |
| CSP-SM | Active A-CSM | CTC, CEC, CST |
| Expert/Professional | Prerequisite | Next Career Move |
| CTC | Active CSP-SM, CSP-PO, or CSP | Coaches the team members on Scrum |
| CEC | Active CSP-SM, CSP-PO, or CSP | Help organizations to become an Agile organizations |
| CST | Active CSP-SM, CSP-PO, or CSP | Trains individuals on Scrum |
| ICP-ACC | Active CSM | Mentors the team in Agile adoption |
Top Scrum certifications for Certified Scrum Masters (CSM)
1. Advanced Certified ScrumMaster® (A-CSM®)
A-CSM certification is an immediate Scrum Master certification that can be earned just after the CSM certification. This certification will help an individual to facilitate smooth communication between the customers and the Stakeholders, increasing engagement. Further, as an A-CSM certified individual, you can not only increase your Scrum implementation skills but showcase your value as a highly-skilled Agile professional to the potential employer.
Prerequisites to grab A-CSM certification
You just need to hold an active CSM certification from Scrum Alliance, and you have at least 12 months of experience working as a Scrum Master.
What next after Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM) certification?
Once you have upgraded your skills with the Advanced Certified Scrum Master (A-CSM) certification, you are ready to master in Certified Scrum Professional ScrumMaster® (CSP-SM®).
2. Certified Scrum Professional®-ScrumMaster (CSP-SM)
Certified Scrum Professionals always aim to improve the ways of applying Agile and Scrum principles. They exhibit their experience and knowledge earned during the Scrum training. If you are looking to elevate your Scrum career to the next level, get ready to earn Certified Scrum Professional®-ScrumMaster (CSP®-SM) certification. After attaining CSP certification, an individual will get the following benefits:
- A candidate will be able to attend CSP events with other leaders
- An individual will get chances to earn more and be recruited by the top-giant companies
Prerequisites to grab CSP-SM certification
An individual should hold an active Advanced Certified ScrumMasterSM (A-CSMSM ) certification from any of the Scrum Alliance-approved training centers. Also, he/she should have at least 24 months of work experience as a Scrum Master.
What next after CSP-SM certification?
CSP-SM certification is a gateway towards achieving the Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST®), Certified Enterprise Coach℠ (CEC), or Certified Team Coach℠ (CTC) certifications.
3. Certified Team CoachSM (CTC)
The Certified Team Coach (CTC) is a guide-level certification that usually works with the management, Scrum teams, and Stakeholders. As the name says, the CTC works at the team level. Organizations hire Certified Team Coaches (CTC) to train, coach, mentor, remove obstacles, and lead the team to leverage value delivery, team collaboration, and continuous development across multiple teams.
Prerequisites to grab CTC certification
- An active Certified Scrum Professional certification
- 1,000 hours of Agile coaching experience in the last 2 years without considering your role as Scrum Master
- Coaching experience in at least 2 organizations
- Must be actively participated in a minimum of 5 Agile events
- Practical experience in Scrum implementation and coaching experience in Agile and Scrum frameworks.
What next after CTC certification?
Certified Team Coaches (CTCs) can initiate coaching, mentoring, and training the professionals on Agile and Scrum processes once they earn CTC certification. Also, they can recommend up to 50 individuals yearly for whom they have given 25 hours of in-person training or small group training to achieve Certified ScrumMaster® and Certified Scrum Product Owner® certifications. In this way, a certified CTC can contribute to creating a healthy environment for the organization by coaching the team members on Scrum.
4. Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST)
Scrum Alliance offers only one trainer-centric certification in the form of Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST) certification. This is the most sought-after certification, and those who wish to transform the working way of the teams can be a part of this training.
Prerequisites to grab CST certification
To become a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), you need to have:
- Detailed knowledge of the Scrum concepts, practices, and principles
- An active Certified Scrum Professional ScrumMaster™ (CSP-SM™) certification from Scrum Alliance
- Hands-on experience in implementing the Scrum framework as a ScrumMaster, Product Owner, or Development team member
- Teaching experience in partnership with any Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) or independently-
- Taught at least 100 candidates
- Hosted at least 10 or more days of ScrumMaster training sessions
- Respective certifications in order to train professionals on the courses (e.g., if you want to train on CSPO, an individual should hold an active CSPO certification.
What next after CST certification?
As a CST, you can teach Scrum to students who want to work in a Scrum environment. Scrum Alliance considers CST as an active member of the Scrum community who actively takes part in events and user groups, blogging, and in online discussions.
5. Certified Enterprise Coach℠ (CEC)
The Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC) exhibits their years of experience in Scrum transformations at an enterprise level. They also show their in-depth understanding of implementing Scrum practices and principles. The CECs are skilled at Scrum (both theoretically and practically) and guide organizations during their Agile transformation journey.
Prerequisites to grab CEC certification
The individuals aspiring Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC) credential must possess:
- Knowledge of Scrum practices, proven leadership, and coaching skills
- An active CSP-SM™ or CSP-PO™ or CSP® certification
- Working experience in Scrum team roles
- Coaching experience in at least three organizations
- 2,000 hours over the past 3 years of work experience as a Coach.
What next after CEC certification?
Being CEC certified, an individual can help organizations to become Agile organizations using the Scrum framework to transform the world of work. Also, they can recommend up to 50 individuals yearly for whom they have given 25 hours of in-person training or small group training to achieve Certified ScrumMaster® and Certified Scrum Product Owner® certifications. In this way, a certified CTC can contribute to creating a healthy environment for the organization by coaching the team members on Scrum.
6. Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®)
The Product Owner (PO) creates the product vision, prioritizes the product backlog, and helps the team in delivering what customers are intuitively looking for. The CSPO® is the certification for Product Owners that will help an individual in handling the business side of the project.
Prerequisites to grab CSPO® certification
There is no prerequisite to attend CSPO® training. However, in order to earn this certification, an individual need to attend a 2-day of CSPO® course taught by a Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST).
What next after CSPO® certification?
After taking CSPO certification, you can go for advanced-level certification of CSPO, which is an Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner® (A-CSPO®) course from Scrum Alliance.
7. Certified Scrum Developer® (CSD®)
The CSD® certification proves that an individual has skills in building software using Scrum as a part of the Scrum team. With CSD®, you can strengthen your technical skills in Agile software development.
Prerequisites to grab CSD® certification
Any programmer (having coding knowledge) can attend the CSD® course. To achieve this, an individual needs to undergo at least 5 days of the formal CSD training course by a Scrum Alliance Registered Education Provider (REP) and a Scrum Alliance Authorized Instructor.
In addition to this, the CSD® certification offers the privilege to CSM-certified candidates. They can skip the first 2 days and directly join from the 3rd day of the technical training.
What next after CSD® certification?
After CSD® certification, an individual can level up his/her skills with Certified Scrum Professional® for Developers (CSP- D) certification. The CSP certification help teams to constantly improve the ways of implementing Agile and Scrum practices and principles.
8. ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC) Certification
ICP-ACC certification in Agile Coaching certification aims to achieve an Agile mindset. After this certification, an individual can easily be able to differentiate between facilitation, mentoring, professional coaching and teaching and will get to learn the skills like team collaboration and conflict resolution to form a healthy organizational environment.
Prerequisites to grab ICP-ACC certification
An individual with CSM certification and 2-3 years of working experience as a Scrum Master is eligible to achieve ICP-ACC certification training.
What next after ICP ACC certification?
Being a certified Agile Coach, you can play the role of the mentor to the Agile team by facilitating Agile practices and empowering teams to reach their goals. More specifically, an Agile Coach can is a guide to the team members who help the team in Agile adoption.
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Career Roles of a Scrum Master
The Scrum Master is the heart of the Scrum process and plays a diverse set of roles in the team. Let's have a glimpse of the various roles that Scrum Master can play after the CSM certification:
1. Product Owner
Professionals who have an inclination towards the business side of the product are apt to become excellent product owners. These experts work closely with the development team and the stakeholders to ensure 100% successful product delivery.
Roles & Responsibilities
A product owner is responsible for ensuring successful project delivery. Their role includes but is not limited to managing and optimizing the product backlog to enhance the product value. Other tasks that a product owner performs are:
- Defining the product vision based on the needs of stakeholders and the consumer
- Prioritizing the product operations and continuously refining them with the changing project needs.
- Clearly define the product backlogs to ensure the team understands them properly and works on them accordingly.
- Product owners also act as a primary source of contact between the stakeholders and the development team.
- Ensuring that the final product complies with the legal regulations and stands tall on the industry standards.
Salary Range
The average salary of a product owner in the US is $97,070. A fresher can get somewhere around $71,000. However, with increased experience, the highest salary is around $130,000.
2. Project Manager
Another job role in the career path for a scrum master is a project manager. As the job name suggests, these professionals manage everything related to the project. However, it is significant to note that a project manager varies from a scrum manager because they can also handle non-agile projects.
Roles & Responsibilities
A project manager is a binding force that keeps every team working on the project together. They align the tasks to be performed by every team to ensure successful and timely delivery. The job roles of the project manager are but are not limited to:
- They plan the entire project completion process. In this phase, the manager decides whether he wants to opt for agile.
- They align the professional goals of everyone working on the project with the organization’s targets.
- Another role of a project manager is to manage the time and resources to get the most out of them and manage the project scope efficiently.
- Communicating with the teams and the stakeholders to ensure everyone is on the same page and the direction towards completion is right.
Salary Range
The average salary of a product owner in the US is $91,000. A fresher can get somewhere around $64,000. However, with increased experience, the highest salary is around $129,000.
3. Agile Coach
When you move progressively on the scrum master career path, you might work as an Agile Coach. This job role is apt for professionals who are inclined towards motivating and teaching teams to adapt to agile methodologies efficiently.
Roles & Responsibilities
Agile coaches are professionals who can give the right direction to organizations by helping them sail through challenges. The primary goal of agile coaches is to increase the ROI for the company. The roles and responsibilities of an agile coach are:
- Getting the organization ready for an agile environment.
- Train and coach every team member to use and make the most of the agile principles.
- Identifying the probable pitfalls in a project and figuring out how agile can help them sail through.
- Coach the scrum product owners to achieve their corporate goals and have a progressive project vision.
- Helping the product owners to make project-related decisions that help in efficient and timely product delivery.
Salary Range
The average salary of a product owner in the US is $113,000. A fresher can get somewhere around $82,000. However, with increased experience, the highest salary is around $156,000.
4. Senior Scrum Master
The next step in the right direction of the scrum master's career growth is to become the senior scrum master. These professionals assist the teams in adopting agile methodologies and implementing them effectively.
Roles & Responsibilities
It is a leadership role that trains and motivates the teams to follow agile principles for project success. Some of the job roles that these professionals fulfill are:
- Educate the team and the product owners involved in the project about the agile principles. They also train them in backlog creation, agile planning and everything related to scrum.
- Coordinates with the scrum team and ensures that they all adhere to the scrum practices. If there is any fallout, they will immediately address them.
- Promote project transparency by ensuring that all scrum events aim to grab every opportunity to inspect and adapt scrum.
- Work closely with the product owners to create a perfect balance between premium quality working software and the features that get delivered.
Salary Range
The average salary of a product owner in the US is $118,353. A fresher can get somewhere around $83,000. However, with increased experience, the highest salary is around $160,000.
5. Chief Information Officer (CIO)
The ultimate goal in the scrum master career progression is to become a Chief Information Officer. It is one of the senior-most positions in this domain with a promising salary and a secure career. A CIO is passionate about scrum implementation and holds deeper knowledge of this industry.
Roles & Responsibilities
The Chief Information Officer is responsible for setting up the IT and computer systems that would help in successful scrum implementation. The job roles of these professionals are listed below.
- Managing the IT staff and deciding the goals for each department.
- Oversee the IT budget and make all possible efforts to achieve maximum success within that budget.
- Identifying the software development needs and ensuring they deliver all the resources.
- Staying put with the latest IT trends and developments to decide which technology they can implement in their current company operations.
- Conveying the benefits or taking certain risks to the board of directors and convincing them to change.
Salary Range
The average salary of a product owner in the US is $146,000. A fresher can get somewhere around $98,000. However, with increased experience, the highest salary is around $219,000.
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Conclusion
The Scrum Master role should not be an end in itself. There is always a scope for consistent improvement. So, for all the Scrum Masters, ‘What’s your next career path?’ Being a Scrum Master, try not to keep yourself restricted to limited skills. Try to advance your Scrum skills always by taking more advanced Scrum certifications. So, are you ready to take the plunge with other advanced Scrum certifications after earning CSM certification?
