Are you already a Scrum Master? Or are you looking to be one? Whatever might be the case, the question is have you thought about the career path you will take? Would you like to remain a Scrum Master forever, or would you be open to handle more responsibilities in your organization? These are some of the questions a candidate should be asking oneself before going for courses like the CSM certification training.
What you need to understand is the fact that there is a world beyond the Scrum Master, and once you are a certified member of this elite community, a lot of doors will be open to you. Let’s take a look at the top 4 career roles that you can go for if you are a CSM certified professional –
- Agile Coach
Ask anyone who has undergone a CSM certification course and they will tell you that the end goal is to become an Agile Coach. So much so it has now almost become a trend. Rightly so as this role will help you stand apart from the crowd with an extra feather in your cap. If you have completed a CSM certification course and earned your degree, then you are someone who can successfully manage several complex tasks, and handle multiple teams at one go. You will be someone who would be responsible for facilitating implementations of Agile methodologies and improve overall team functioning.
- Product Owner
If you are on a Scrum team and you being the Scrum Master takes extra care in what you are building, so much so that you have begun providing thought leadership to the client, you can become the product owner. Product Owners are candidates with a high level of commitment to what they are creating and are also experienced Scrum Masters who have successfully completed their CSM certification with flying colors. Although the movement to become a Product Owner isn’t a promotion, it’s quite definitely a useful transition within the team that affords you with more responsibility. It is a great way to show your organization that you can be relied upon and ready to climb up the career ladder.
Although in some organizations you might need to undergo another certification before you are considered eligible for the Product Owner role, but in the majority of cases all that’s needed is a CSM certification and a fiery zeal to learn and apply new things.
- Mentor
If you have been in the Scrum Master role for a long time, and have proven your mettle across projects that converted into profits for your organization, then you can ascend to a position where you can mentor new Scrum Masters. Let’s be honest here. Even after a CSM certification like the Certified ScrumMaster training, new Scrum Masters are still green-fingered. Learning about concepts and methodologies in controlled environments is very different from actually applying them in everyday workflows. Even more tricky is to balance the needs of the customer with your organization’s ethos to achieve a healthy working relationship. As a Scrum Master mentor, you would be responsible for imparting tips to your colleagues and would also involve giving psychological support to other teammates. The end goal as a mentor would be to help team members become self-sufficient and self-organizing.
- Managers and other management roles
Let’s face it. A good manager is sometimes who takes care of everything in a project to get successfully completed. If the manager is a CSM certified professional and a Scrum Master then all the better as they will have a level of insight other managers will not have. They will understand all the nuances of a project including the potential roadblocks and will be able to put in course corrections even before they are needed. This “look-to-the-future” attitude of such a manager will also help in preserving the relationships with the client as the team will be on the same page all the time. In this role, you will be able to anticipate the needs of both the client and the team and give support in the right manner.
However, what needs to be remembered is the fact that Scrum Masters turned managers are very different from professionals in other managerial roles. Over the years, the Scrum Master has already hit upon a delicate balance that helps them work closely with the team. That’s the main reason why most love to move to a managerial role as well because it ultimately helps them to get even more proficient at guiding teams through complex projects.
There you go! The top 4 career paths or roles that you can take if you are a CSM certified individual, working as a Scrum Master for an organization.
