Agile is undoubtedly the need of the hour when conventional methods of project development are not good enough. In the IT industry, the demand for agile professionals has expanded drastically in many management areas. The extreme demand for agile project management triggers the agile certifications need globally. Also, the fancy jargons like lean-agile, PMI-ACP make those overwhelmed interested in adopting agile principles and agile practices from the start.
In other words, agile certification is on every project manager’s wish list. The benefits of holding this certificate are countless. Whether you want to be a certified scrum master or interested in flexible project management methodologies, adopting the agile approach makes you a favourite choice for employers and potential clients. If you want to survive in today’s market, understanding how to implement the agile methods and understanding how it works helps you respond to the ever-changing corporate environment.
We have gathered all the information regarding prerequisites required for becoming agile certified, but before that, let’s understand what precisely agile certification is.
What is Agile Certification?
Those days are gone when Agile was just a part of employee training. Now, if you want to be a project management professional, you surely need certification in the domain of agile. Agile is now matured just like other domains, including service management and project management. Organizations, on the other hand, search for agile certification in the resume of candidates.
Many aspirants and agile professionals take this certification to get the various benefits when they switch their careers or job. Agile training offers the following benefits:
- Better exposure
- Lucrative salary
- You are up to date with the current market trend
- Better credibility
- You’ll become an agile certified practitioner
Agile Certification Benefits
You’ve seen somebody becoming an agile coach, and now he/she is earning well. Is this what you are looking for from the agile certification course? If yes, you might not be thinking big. Apart from filling your pockets, this training course can help you in any area of your life with tons of benefits. Here’s how!
You are Increasing the Career Options
This training course is leading you towards continuous improvement, and you are widening your career options. We’ve discussed above; agile project professionals are in demand due to agile’s popularity. You can create new opportunities through this competitive international certification training along with the benefits for your management career.
Small Projects
Agile manifesto and agile framework both work on the intelligent approach. That’s why when you start a career in agile, you get the streamlined approach to tenable project management. What’s better than you are getting the real-world experience? You are focused on keeping things simple; you collaborate with the team members, regulate value delivery, and a high level of stakeholder engagement.
Grow your Capabilities
An agile project manager has the small project lifecycles with ease and can quickly respond to the shifting priorities. The reason is that agile offers you the tools that let you do more innovative tasks. Even project managers working for years shift from traditional approaches to agile project management to expand their qualities.
Eligibility Criteria
The eligibility criteria for the agile certification:
- You must have a secondary degree.
- Eight months in agile project management in the last three years before the application.
- Training in agile practices for the period of 21 contact hours.
- General project experience of 12 months within the last five years. (Note: Present PgMP or PMP also satisfies the requirement but not necessary for the PMI-ACP).
Steps of Agile Certification
The agile certification process varies between certifications and training providers. Here we are listing the most popular method adopted by various project management institutes.
- The first step is to equip you with a strong understanding of the agile methodology and prepare to sit in the exam. Because of virtual classes nowadays, the agile certified course is available in the virtual courses or even in a self-led E-learning course.
- Just like other project management certifications, the study period differs from person to person. Still, with the precise focus, you can be a part of the scrum alliance by sitting in the SCRUM study Agile Master Certified (SAMCTM) exam in a shorter time.
- This certification exam is 120 minutes extensive, and on passing the exam, you will achieve the international Agile master Certified Qualification.
Top 4 Agile Certifications
- PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Professional)
The PMI-ACP training course is the finest project management certification if you want to become an agile certified Practitioner. The Project Management Institute provides this training course. This PMI-ACP certification training is ideal for those project teams and professionals who want to or are using the agile methodologies. This certification authenticates and validates the people who have real-world experience executing agile projects.
Browse our ICAgile Certification Trainings here.
2. Scrum Alliance (Certified Scrum Professional)
The scrum alliance officially offers this agile scrum professional-level certification. This certificate demonstrates and recognizes the candidate’s ability in the advanced roles, antiques, advanced practices, and the Scrum framework procedures.
Join our Courses here.
3. Scrum.org (Professional Scrum Master/Professional Scrum Product Owner/Professional Scrum Developer -1)
If you are working in a scrum and want to be called a certified scrum trainer, You can take this official course by Scrum.org. This training validates the candidates’ knowledge in the scrum and applies the Scrum framework and practices in real-world situations. This course is valuable for all scrum masters, scrum product owners, and scrum developers. You need to pass the exam of this training, and training course completion is upon you.
4. SAFe Scaled Agilists
Scaled Agilist or SAFe Agilists is a training course of official two days offered by the different training providers. The participants working in software development, business analysis, scrum, testing, and project management with five years of experience are the target audience of this course. The candidates will learn principles of lean-agile leadership from this course and learn how to launch SAFe agile in an organization.
Conclusion
As Rowan Bunning once said:
“The Agile movement in software is part of a larger movement towards more humane and dynamic workplaces in the 21st century”.
Over time, agile practices are getting encouragement from the IT sector and other sectors, and now recruiters are looking for agile principles in management positions. The decision is entirely up to you whether you want to upgrade yourself or stay there where you are sitting for the past two years. The good thing about agile certification is it’s offered officially by the Project Management Institute, inc globally, and you can take it anywhere.
