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Level up You Career With Best Agile Certification: Exam Detail & Preparation Tips

Introduction

Do you want to validate your Agile skills & level up your career? Get global recognition and stand out of the crowd with the right Agile certification. Here is a complete guide to skyrocketing your career with Agile. So stay tuned…

Let’s start with the term “Agile”.

Agile is a methodological approach that provides flexibility to respond to unexpected changes quickly and with ease. Adopting Agile enables you deliver value consistently while maintaining better control over budget, reducing project risk.

According to research-based stats on Agile “93% of business units adopted an Agile model before the pandemic did better than the other business units that hadn’t.”

Agile promotes a higher level of team engagement and productivity and that’s what every organization needs to grow. For the same reason, organizations are looking forward to adopting Agile and consequently, the demand for Agile professionals has increased globally and triggers the need for Agile certifications.

If you are an Agile practitioner aiming to move up the ladder, but struggling to find the best Agile certification that could really help you. In this Agile certification guide, we put together this list of some best Agile certifications, that can help you grow professionally. What we are going to discuss in this post is-

What is Agile certification?
Why Should Go For Agile Certification?
Who all Can Go For Agile Certifications?
What are the Best Agile Certifications To Take Your Career To Next Level?
Top Paying Agile Certifications With Complete Details
Tips to Choose the Right Agile Certification
How to Get Agile Certified?
Preparation tips for the Agile Certification exam

Before moving to top Agile certifications, let’s start by exploring what is Agile certification and why need it?

What is Agile Certification?

Whether you are looking to expand your Agile approach in the field of software development or you want to rise to the top in project management, Agile certification is the right step, to begin with. Agile certifications can help you level up your career in project management and position you as an Agile professional to empower cross-functional teams.

An Agile certification validates your specialized knowledge of niche practices in project management. It can be broken down into different types of Agile Scrum Methodologies, including Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), Lean-Agile, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Agile Project Management (APM), Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development (DSD).

By taking the professional Agile Certification Training, you will learn about all those methodologies and concepts that are most needed to enhance the project management skills and also get you Agile credentials by clearing the certification exams.

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Why Should Go For Agile Certification?

Obtaining Agile certification can bring exponential growth to your career. According to The 13th Annual State of Agile Report, companies have realized improvement in:

Team morale by 64% to the 61% that of last year.
Project predictability by 52% as compared to 49% of last year.
Risk Reduction by 50% compared to 47% last year.

As a result of more and more organizations adopting Agile work culture, there is a great increase in demand for Agile-certified professionals having relevant experience. Gaining Agile credentials are good for professionals who aspire to grow their career in the Agile domain.

Agile certification could help increase your earning potential as Agile certified experts get much higher salaries compared to non-certified professionals. In addition, there are numerous benefits of obtaining Agile Certifications.

Here are the benefits that you can reap by attaining the Agile certifications:

Better Credibility
Better Visibility
Higher team involvement
Stay updated on the current market trends
Increase operational productivity
Ensure High-quality product
Higher customer satisfaction
Provide project planning & cost estimation

Now, let’s see who all can go for Agile certifications.

Who all Can Go For Agile Certifications?

The Agile certification is good for professionals such as Project Managers, Agile team members who wish to uplift their careers and want to become Agile Project managers. could help increase your earning potential.

Agile certification is recommended for the following professionals:

Working and aspiring Agile coaches
Professionals who wish to gain a leadership role in Agile projects
Product Owners
Scrum Masters
Iteration Managers
Project Managers
Team Leaders

Other than these, here are some other Jobs that demand Agile development skills

Web developer, UI/UX Designer & developer, System Analyst, Software QA Engineer, software developer/engineer, product manager, network engineer/ Architect, IT Project Manager, Computer Systems Engineer / Architect, Business / Management Analyst.

Now let’s move on to the next section of this Agile certification guide, see the top Agile certifications.

Best Agile Certifications To Take Your Career To Next Level

Agile is a need of the day, there are different accredited scrum certification organizations offering training courses as per the growing demand of Agile professionals.

At different career levels, Agile certifications can be categorized as -

Foundational Level Agile Certifications
Practitioner Level Agile Certifications
Expert Level Agile Certifications

Best Agile Certifications

Foundational Level Agile Certifications

These are foundational level Agile certifications for beginners best suited for professionals willing to enter and build an Agile baseline.

Practitioner Level Agile Certifications

At the practitioner level, requirements get a bit tougher than the foundational level. For example, to earn a PMI-ACP certification, which helps you learn and explore covers scrum, lean, XP, kanban, and other frameworks, applicants need a complete 2,000 hours of team-based project experience with 1,500 hours working on Agile methodologies.

For PMI Project Management Professional or Program Management Professional certification you must have project experience & completed 21 hours of classroom training to sit for the exam. Enroll for the right PMP project management certification course.

Expert Level Agile Certifications

Requirements for earning expert-level Agile certifications vary. Prerequisites for expert-level Agile certification generally include current practitioner-level certifications, demonstrated real-world experience, and expertise with recommendations from certified experts. Applicants must have to complete coursework, meet exam-score benchmarks, and might need to undergo a peer-review process.

Now let’s have a deep dive into Agile methodology certification offered by different scrum certification organizations.

Top Paying Agile Certifications With Complete Details: Prerequisite, Cost, Salary

1. Agile Certified Practitioner

The PMI-ACP certification is recommended for any professional who currently works on an Agile project for an organization that is seeking to increase Agility. The Agile Certified Practitioner or ACP certification helps you in recognizing your knowledge of Agile principles, real-world Experience for managing Agile projects and techniques, helping you to work better with teams, stakeholders and peers.

Certification Name: PMI Agile Certified Practitioner

Accreditation Body: Agile Project Manager Institute(PMI)

Prerequisites:

2000 hours of project experience on a project team.
1500 hours of Agile methodology work experience.

Agile Certification Cost:

Members $435
Non-members $495
Need renewal after every three years, 30 PDUs (professional development unit) in Agile topics.

Average Salary: $123,000

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 3 hours
Total Number of questions: 120 (MCQs)
Pass Percentage: 70%

Who all can go for this Certification:

This course is good for professionals working in Agile adopting organizations, having this certification training validates your real-world, hands-on experience and skills.

Other Certifications Offered by PMI

Project Management Professional (PMP)®
Program Management Professional (PgMP)
Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)®
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®
PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)®
PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)®
PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)®

2. ICAgile- Agile Certified Coach

This certification is ideal for professionals, who want to work as Agile Coach in a business environment. ICP-ACC helps you gain proficient coaching skills by providing you the aptitude to distinguish between training, mentoring, and coaching.

Certification Name: ICP- ACC Training

Accreditation Body: ICAgile

Prerequisites:

Agile Methodology basics
Work Experience as an Agile practitioner

Agile Certification Cost: $1795

Career Path:

Average Salary: $119,883

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: NA (Not Applicable)
Total Number of questions: NA
Pass Percentage: NA
Requirements: 16-hour training taught by an IC Agile Authorized Training Partners

Who all can go for this Certification:

Professionals aspiring to be Agile coaches
Product Owners
Scrum Masters
Enterprise Agile coaches
Professionals looking for a leadership role in Agile projects
Iteration Managers
Project Managers
Team Leaders

3. SAFe® 4 Agilest

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a methodology that is adapted by large-scaled Agile project teams to ensure seamless Agile transformation.SAFe synchronizes the collaboration, alignment, and delivery of multiple Agile teams which leads to project success. SAFe Agile certification is a two-day training course by Scaled Agile training providers. The course will teach Agile leadership principles and how to launch SAFe in Agile.

Certification Name: Leading SAFe Training course

Accreditation Body: Scaled Agile

Prerequisites:

Minimum 5 years experience in software development and testing
Scrum experience in management or business analyst

Agile Certification Cost:

No additional cost other than registration, with the applied condition: exam should be taken within 30 days of registration.
The exam retake fee cost is $50.

Career Path:

Agile Coach
SAFe Release Train Engineer
SAFe Program Consultant

Average Salary:$123,000

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 90 minutes
Total Number of questions: 45 MCQs
Pass Percentage:75%
Requirements: Candidates must attend a 21-hour training program offered by an IC Agile Authorized Training Partners.

Who all can go for this Certification:

Managers, Directors, CIOs, Executives and Leaders, VPs
Project and Program Management
Development, QA, and Infrastructure Management
Product and Product Line Management
Enterprise, System, and Solution Architects

4. Certified Scrum Master

CSM is a certification by Scrum Alliance is the best scrum master certification, covers the entire Scrum Framework. It helps you get a better understanding and functioning of the Scrum team events, roles, and artifacts. The Scrum Master is responsible for facilitating the project execution processes, while at the same time working with the Product Owner along with the development team and ensuring that the best Scrum practices are being followed.

Certification Name: Advanced Scrum Master Certification

Accreditation Body: Scrum Alliance

Prerequisites:

Basic understanding of Scrum Framework
One year work experience as a scrum master(in recent 5 years)

Agile Certification Cost: $700 to $1500 with additional training cost $1000

Average Salary: $100,00 to $130,000

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 1 hour
Total Number of questions: 50 MCQs
Pass Percentage: 75% (37 answers need to be correct out of 50)

Requirements:

Must attend 16-hour (2-days) training course provided by a Certified Scrum Trainer
Attempt online test
The certification has to be renewed every two years by paying a $100 fee.

Who all can go for this Certification:

Additionally, Scrum Alliance offers five certification courses for IT and software developers:

Certified Scrum Trainer
Certified Scrum Developer
Certified Scrum Professional
Certified Scrum Coach
Certified Scrum Product Owner

5. Certified Scrum Professional

Certified Scrum Professional certification course focuses on scaling Scrum to big organizations. It demonstrates the ability of the candidate in the advanced skill of artifacts, Agile practices, technique, roles, and procedures of the Scrum Framework. While focusing more on topics like lean concepts, coaching, system thinking, emotional intelligence, facilitation, and a deeper understanding of Agile transformation.

Certification Name: Certified Scrum Professional

Accreditation Body: Scrum Alliance

Prerequisites:

Basic understanding of scrum framework
Active A-CSM certification
Minimum 2 years work experience as a scrum master

Agile Certification Cost: $1259

Renewal Cost: $ 250

Average Salary:$115,000

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 1 hour
Total Number of questions: 50 MCQs
Pass Percentage: 75% (37 answers need to be correct out of 50)

Who all can go for this certification:

Managers of Scrum teams
Teams transitioning to Scrum
Scrum team members such as developers

6. Advanced CSM (ACSM):

If you are a Certified Scrum Master with a minimum of one year of work experience as a Scrum Master, then you are eligible for this advanced course. ACSM will help you gain a deeper Agile insight, best scrum practices, different ways to coach the product owners and team members for better performance.

Certification Name: Advanced CSM (ACSM)

Accreditation Body: Scrum Alliance

Prerequisites:

Basic understanding of scrum usage & implementation
One year of work experience as a certified scrum master

Agile Certification Cost: $1295 to $1495, $100 is renewal cost, needs to be renewed after every two years by

Average Salary: Varies between $100,00 to $130,000.

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 60 Minutes

Total Number of questions: 50 MCQs

Pass Percentage: 74%.

Who all can go for this Certification:

Who wants to grow a career as a scrum master, and have completed the CSM course
Teams who want to transition to Scrum
Scrum Team Managers
Scrum Team members like developers and product owners

7. Certified Scrum Product Owner Training®(CSPO):

The Certified Scrum Product Owner training is certification training conducted by the Scrum Alliance Certified Trainers (CSTs). CSPO certification course propels your career as a product owner and enhances your skills to lead Agile teams, facilitate smooth and proper communication between the team and stakeholders, improve scrum functionality and motivate your team members.

Certification Name: Certified Scrum Product Owner Training®(CSPO)

Accreditation Body: Scrum Alliance

Prerequisites:

Must have basic knowledge of Agile.
Completed 2-day CSPO course certificate

Agile Certification Cost: $1295

Average Salary:$101,459

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: NA
Total Number of questions: NA
Pass Percentage: NA
Requirement: To earn a CSPO certificate, you must attend 2 days of CSPO classroom training conducted by Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) from Scrum Alliance.

Who all can go for this Certification:

Developers and Product Owners working in a scrum team
Teams looking transition to Scrum
Scrum Team Managers
Professionals looking to pursue Professional Scrum Master™ certification

8. Certified Scrum Developer® Training

Certified Scrum Developers certification course, help you in strengthening your skills in Agile software development. It brings an opportunity for you to learn specialized Agile engineering skills and gain the proper working understanding of Scrum and Agile principles. The main goal of this training course is to expose you to the important development tools and techniques that Scrum requires.

Certification Name: Certified Scrum Developer® Training

Accreditation Body: Scrum Alliance

Prerequisites:

Attend 5-day formal training program conducted by CSD instructor and Scrum Alliance Registered Education Provider (REP®).
If you are CSM certified, then you can start directly from the technical training session from the third day of training.

Agile Certification Cost: No other fee, than course tuition fee.

Renewal Cost: Renewal requires 20 SEUs (Scrum Educational Credits) with a renewal fee of $100.

Average Salary: $71,750

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 60 minutes
Total Number of questions: 80
Pass Percentage:85%

Who all can go for this Certification:

Highly recommended for software developers (programmers) who are working on software development in a Scrum environment.

9. Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) PSM™ I:

Professional Scrum Master™ is a two-day training course entailing the basics of Scrum Frameworks, roles of a Scrum Master. This course mainly focuses on team dynamics, team motivation, conflict resolution, and improved planning and estimation by integrating team-based exercises with scrum guidelines.

Certification Name: Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) PSM™ I

Accreditation Body: Scrum.org

Prerequisites: No, defined prerequisites, anyone interested in attending the training and giving the PSM examination can take part.

Agile Certification Cost: $150

Average Salary: $100,500

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 60 Minutes
Total Number of questions: 80 MCQs
Pass Percentage: 80%

Who all can go for this Certification:

Any Scrum Team members including- Product Owners, developers, managers.
Professionals are interested in pursuing the Professional Scrum Master™ Certification.
Teams looking forward to the scrum transition.

10. Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) PSM™ II:

PSM™ II is an advanced-level Scrum Master course. It is designed in such a way that it will foster professional development. Highly recommended for scrum professionals who want to improve their abilities to be a Scrum Master.

Certification Name: Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) PSM™ II

Accreditation Body: Scrum.org

Prerequisites:

Cleared PSM™ I assessment
Minimum of one-year work experience as a Scrum Master

Agile Certification Cost: $250

Average Salary: $117,000

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 120 minutes
Total Number of questions: 34 questions
Pass Percentage: 85%

Who all can go for this Certification:

If you have cleared the PSM™ I assessment, and have a year of experience as a scrum master, then you can opt for PSM™ II assessment.

11. Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) PSM™ III:

The Professional Scrum Master™ level III (PSM III) is an assessment that is available to candidates who have passed the PSM™ I and PSM™ II courses and wishes to master an eminent level of Scrum. PSM™ III is the highest level certification that a Professional Scrum Master™ can obtain.

Certification Name: Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) PSM™ III

Accreditation Body: Scrum.org

Prerequisites: The candidate must clear (PSM™ I) & (PSM™II ) assessments

Agile Certification Cost: $500

Average Salary: $90,560

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: 120 minutes
Total Number of questions: 34 questions
Pass Percentage: 85%

Who all can go for this Certification:

Anyone who has cleared the PSM™ I, PSM™ II assessments, can opt for the PSM™ III assessment.

12. Kanban Management Professional

Kanban Management Techniques provides a developmental transformation approach to improve the workflow of your team. The course is all about the Kanban values, methodologies, and other factors that are involved in a Kanban system. Get to understand and learn about the early stages of the Kanban method. To obtain this certification, there is no examination to clear. Instead, you just have to attend courses recognized by KMP and get the certifications with lifetime validity.

Certification Name: Kanban Management Professional

Accreditation Body: Lean Kanban

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of Kanban Methodology

Agile Certification Cost: $495.00

Average Salary: $116,286

Exam Details:

Exam Duration: NA
Total Number of questions: NA
Pass Percentage: NA

Who all can go for this Certification:

Agile Coach
Project Managers
Program Managers
Software developers
Business analysts

Here are the renowned Kanban Certifications:

Team Kanban Practitioner certification(TKP): It is an introductory course that includes Kanban principles, practices, methods and gives a basic understanding of the Kanban system. This course is ideal for beginners.

Kanban System Design (KMP-1): It is an intermediate-level course designed for leadership roles and looking for effective changes in the team environment.

Kanban Management Professional (KMP-2): It is an advanced level Kanban certificate that enables you to learn various continuous improvement models, for acquiring KMP-2, you first need to acquire KMP-1.

So, after gaining in-depth knowledge of these best Agile certifications, now let’s move on to the quick tips to choose the best scrum certification that help you grow professionally.

Tips to Choose the Right Agile Certification

Are you overwhelmed with a large number of Agile certifications? Yes, your dilemma of choosing the right certificate is very obvious. Here are the tips to get out of that dilemma and choose the right certification:

Step 1: Define Your Goals & Priorities

Your priorities most often include:

International certification
Practical skills
Progression of current knowledge
Gaining a flexible approach to project management
Earning PDUs

Step2: Look at Project Environment

Figure out answers to the questions-

What kind of environment you are currently working in, and the kind of environment you’d like to join?

Are you aspiring for a role that leads projects across teams?

Are you at the leadership level, seeking to level up your position?

Answer to all these questions helps you understand, what you are aiming for.

Step3: Find What Practical Skills are a Must

Knowledge of Agile or Scrum processes with the right and desired skillset will instill you with confidence when it comes to improving productivity by implementing Agile or Scrum within your workplace.

Step4: Go For Certification & Gain Credibility

Certification validates the capabilities and integrity of your skills. Here you can choose a provider that offers accredited training & international certification.

That is all how you can choose the right Agile certification to get into Agile. Now let’s move on to the steps on how to get Agile certified.

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How to Get Agile Certified?

Here are the simple steps you can follow to become Agile certified.

Step 1: Choose the best-suited Agile certification, considering your interest, need eligibility.

Step 2: Find a reputed training course provided by accredited bodies, that can help you better prepare for the exams

Step 3: Hone your foundational skills and cover all the concepts under that particular certification, get desired experience if required.

Step 4: Prepare and pass the exam with the minimum required passing percentage.

Step5: Don’t forget to check out for how long the certification is valid and how many PDUs are needed to maintain the eligibility of that certificate.

This way you can get Agile certified!!

Preparation tips for the Agile Certification exam

The amount of material that is covered by these top Agile certifications is extensive and could seem overwhelming to you.

Here are the best practices to follow that ensure you are prepared to meet the exam head-on and achieve optimal results both on exam day and in your career.

Practice 1: Go through the certification exam handbook thoroughly, this will give you all the details of the Exam process including exam policies and procedures.

Practice 2: Collect all available study materials, source references, books, Agile Podcasts / Videocasts. List Agile tools and techniques and skills that you have to cover for the exam.

Practice 3: Develop a study schedule, considering the amount of study material and reference material develop a schedule that is flexible enough to fit in with your other regular roles and responsibilities.

Practice 4: Get Accredited certification exam-specific training, with the great number of material covered by the Exam, another great option to speed up & strengthen your preparation to enroll in an Agile-specific training and self-study course.

Practice 5: Prefer Study Guides, there are a wide variety of Exam prep books and study guides available both online & offline. They will help you understand the concepts and exam patterns that can greatly contribute to clearing the exam.

Practice 6: Practice exam sample questions, when you do a bit of research about these Agile certifications you will find, a large number of free sample questions are available from a variety of resources on the internet. Apart from free questions, you can subscribe to authentic online resources to access the highest quality of sample questions.

That’s all for scoring well !!

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Ready to Move up The Ladder With Agile Certification

If you work in a team-led project environment, or in an organization promoting Scrum teams, or implementing a responsive project management culture at leadership or cross-project level, Agile certification will be your best option to get an edge.

So, are you ready to take the next career step with the best Agile certification? Examine your work environment, experience, and what you are aspiring for in the future. JanBask offers a best-in-class accredited training program in Scrum to help you build a solid foundation and pass the exam in your first attempt.

Drop-in your doubts and questions relevant to Agile methodology certification, we will get back to you soon with answers.

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