Agility has been around the corner for quite some time now. Almost every software development business adopts agile methodologies to guide their processes and teams. In recent years, agile has percolated into several different streams other than just IT. Owing to the high demand, the pressure to produce value quickly, and cut-throat competition, Agile has become more important than ever. Thus, a certification in agile has been the best bid for professionals to meet this corporate demand. Still not certified? We’ll give you 5 reasons to earn an Agile certification in 2024 in this blog!
We’ll also answer the following questions:
- Why should you earn an Agile certification in 2024?
- What are some popular Agile certifications right now?
- How to go about getting an Agile certification?
5 Reasons To Earn An Agile Certification In 2024
To answer the first question mentioned above, let’s look at five reasons why we say that a career in agile is a good choice. These are:
- Increased Demand For Agility In Projects.
- Agile Certification Gives You In-Demand Skills.
- Increased Customer Satisfaction.
- Agile Certification Teaches Better Project Predictability.
- Companies Prefer To Hire Rather Than Train Teams In Agile.
1. Increased Demand For Agility In Projects
Today, consumers want deliverables quicker while maintaining supreme quality. The only way businesses can keep up with this pace and make fruitful progress is by following a structured method of production. Some opt for scrum, lean, agile, or a mix of all three. Learning what works best for your product and team is the key to getting the competitive upper hand. And how can one know what works for your team? Through better leadership and project management. Preferably, the team leaders must portray a vast knowledge bank of solutions to problems.
Better leaders know where to take chances and where to play safe. When it comes to stakeholders’ interests and product quality, taking chances could possibly mean losing authority in your domain. Employers have come to understand the fact that agile principles make project systems smoother and product delivery efficient. Consequently, to incorporate project agility, there is a need for agile experts, like scrum masters, agile coaches, or agile value stream consultants.
2. Agile Certification Gives You In-Demand Skills
While your skills speak for themselves, some employers demand concrete evidence of your knowledge. The exact compensation you receive is also directly proportional to your skills, experience, and educational background, amongst other factors. This is because when it comes to Agile practices, your organization must have trust in your capabilities to apply the Agile frameworks and solve complex problems as a scrum master. This is where certifications and accreditations come into the picture.
Most employers these days offer higher job posts and heftier paychecks to those who demonstrate better skills. The candidate’s past work experience illustrates their skills through their performance in certain exams, or through their accreditations. Thus, by investing time and money into learning and upskilling, you will see significant growth not only in your career but also in your salary range.
3. Increased Customer Satisfaction
With Agile, the consumers get continuous delivery of the working product in iterations. On the other hand, the developers get to produce the output iterations keeping all the current events in the loop. There is a new “trend-based” culture that has a direct effect on the consumer’s product demands, regardless of the type of the product. As trends come and go, the stakeholders demand modifications, which traditional models cannot incorporate.
In non-agile development cycles, the final product is outdated by the time the entire product is ready to hit the market. Therefore, with an Agile certification, you learn the means to bring about speed, efficiency, and value to your company and its clients. So, by ensuring higher customer satisfaction, agile-certified professionals are considered an asset to the organization.
4. Agile Certification Teaches Better Project Predictability
The agile framework forms a trust-worthy, self-organizing team of professionals who are proficient in their responsibilities. This ‘trust’ brings about product predictability. On the other hand, Agile also demands a constant pace of the development cycle with a preference for a shorter timescale. This pace consists of short bursts, at the end of which a functional product component is produced. Since testing is carried out throughout these “bursts” or “sprints,” major errors in the output are considerably reduced. Thus, the product life cycle is under control.
Since an agile certification will teach you how to cultivate such predictability and control in projects, you stay ahead of the curve. You can demonstrate higher success rates in your projects as well as predict accurate outcomes. Thus, businesses would consider you reliable as a project leader. So, you can advance much faster in your career with an agile certification in 2024.
5. Companies Prefer To Hire Rather Than Train Teams In Agile
Korn Ferry estimated that the global tech talent shortage will amount to 85 million people by 2030. This establishes that there is an increase in the demand for accredited personnel to fill the positions and tough competition to retain them. But the condition remains that there are only a few certified and competent Agilists across the globe. Senior scrum masters and agile coaches stand as even more scarce resources that companies need. Thus, it is a cut-throat competition amongst employers to get Agilists onboard their teams.
Read the blog on the Difference Between Agile Coach And Scrum Master.
With the increased adoption of agile for projects, organizations are conducting in-house training programs led by agile coaches. Since training all the teams is an expensive as well as time-consuming affair, businesses tend to hire certified Agilists right away instead. The winning combination that companies look for is agile certifications and a working experience of two to four years. A scrum master certification comes under the banner of “must-haves” in most job descriptions seen on Indeed.com. In addition, proficiency in agile management tools is also usually a required skill for the position of scrum master.
3 Popular Agile Certifications in 2024
Project managers are usually well-versed in Agile fundamentals but lack a proper Agile course certification endorsing their skills. There are so many agile certifications available for project managers on different platforms delivered via various mediums. Here are 3 popular agile certifications:
1. Disciplined Agile Certification
PMI’s Disciplined Agile provides a toolkit of Agile and Lean project management practices. This Disciplined Agile Toolkit picks up the best from hundreds of these agile methodologies to create a unique solution. This improves the way of working of Agile teams and the organizations as a whole. Since Disciplined Agile suggests “Starting where you are”, it is the simplest to implement in any given scenario, unlike other rigid frameworks. There are a total of 4 certifications in the Disciplined Agile journey.
The DA journey starts with Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) – the introductory course that clears your foundations. It is followed by Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM), which is an intermediate-level certification. DASSM is designed to make you a scrum master. The DA journey ends with two master-level certifications – Disciplined Agile Coach (DAC) and Disciplined Agile Value Stream Consultant (DAVSC).The DAC certification helps you coach teams in Agile and lead agile transformations. Whereas, the DAVSC certification helps you build the skills to optimize enterprise-wide value streams. In these series of courses, you solidify your knowledge of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit. Simultaneously you hone the skills to lead teams across the enterprise. Thus, with the DA journey, you will be well-prepared to navigate your Agile projects!
Related: Complete Guide To Disciplined Agile
2. SAFe
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) facilitates the application of Agile concepts to all teams within an organization. Agile principles are often implemented beginning with an organization’s software department. But you can grow agile to cover the whole solution delivery cycle with a complete framework like SAFe. While SAFe is a popular framework among big software development teams in organizations, alternatives have become more popular over time. SAFe certificates are very beneficial for people who operate in software development settings with a complex team build.
There are several SAFe certifications available based on your role. Here is the list of SAFe certifications you can pursue:
- SAFe Agilist Certification
- Agile Software Engineer Certification
- SAFe DevOps Practitioner Certification
- Practice Consultant Certification
- Practice Consultant Trainer Certification
- Agile Product Manager Certification
- Practitioner Certification
- Release Train Engineer Certification
- Lean Portfolio Manager Certification
- SAFe Scrum Master Certification
- SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification
- Product Owner / Product Manager Certification
- SAFe Architect Certification
- SAFe Government Practitioner Certification
3. PMI-ACP
Your agile abilities are formally recognized by the PMI-ACP certification from PMI. It demonstrates your capacity to guide agile teams to success. You have to fulfill certain requirements to obtain the PMI-ACP certification:
- Secondary degree
- 21 contact hours of Agile training
- 12 months of general project experience within the last 5 years OR current PMP OR PgMP
- 8 months of agile project experience within the last 3 years
The PMI-ACP certification enhances your proficiency in Agile principles and helps you bring forth value-driven delivery. Moreover, it teaches you how to involve stakeholders in identifying requirements and considering their feedback to guarantee project success. You also learn how to leverage agile metrics and iterative development cycles to deliver value to consumers and make well-informed decisions.
Want to know more about Popular Agile Certifications in your country? Refer to these blogs:
- 8 Things To Consider Before Opting For An Agile Certification in the USA
- Agile Certification in Australia: How To Pick The Best One For You?
- How To Choose Your Next Agile Certification In Canada?
- Agile Certification in India: A 360-Degree Analysis Of The Top Players
- Agile Certification UK Edition: Top 7 Trending Courses To Look Out For
What Is The Agile Certification Process?
If you’re considering pursuing any Agile certification mentioned in this blog, here are the key steps to guide you through the process.
1. Enroll in an Agile Certification Training Course
Your path to Agile certification starts with the necessary education. You must choose a trusted training provider to ensure zero hassle and guaranteed success. Make sure that you pick a training institute with certified and reputed instructors. For example, for our DAC and DAVSC certification training courses, we have Mr. Ashish Sadekar as the trainer. He is one of the top 10 trainers all across the globe. Thus, you must find trainers with a similar stature in the field. Also, one key thing to look out for – is to ONLY pick providers who are recognized by the certification body. Research their offerings, mode of teaching, as well as years of providing the course.
2. Gear Up for the Exam
Once you’ve completed your agile certification training, it’s time for you to study on your own. You should explore additional resources like reference books and practice exams, along with your notes. You should also create an efficient study schedule to cover the curriculum before the exam date. Highlight areas of improvement and revise regularly to reinforce your knowledge. It’s also beneficial to join study groups or forums where you can discuss concepts and clarify doubts.
3. Take the Exam
When you’re set for the Agile certification test, register for it following the rules from the certifying organization. Check the test details like its format, how long it lasts, and any special needs. Bring all required ID and items based on the exam guidelines. Stay calm and sure when answering the questions. If you find a tough question, skip it and come back if you have time. Manage your time well and prepare properly, and you’ll pass your Agile certification exam easily!
4. Maintain Certification
To keep your Agile certification current, you might need to get ongoing education credits or join professional development events. You can do this by learning continuously through workshops, conferences, webinars, and reading industry news. You can also spread your knowledge through seminars and such. Also, connecting with other Agile experts can give you useful advice and chances to improve. Keep yourself updated with the latest Agile practices to stay ahead of the curve!
Why Should You Opt For Disciplined Agile?
Disciplined Agile was acquired by PMI in July 2019 and launched in 2020. Disciplined Agile as an idea and a product has been around for the last 10 years and has made a significant impact with some of the top world brands such as Papa John’s and Franklin Templeton. PMI‘s acquisition of Disciplined Agile led to a wider reach and wider acceptability of the Disciplined Agile toolkit.
Some Statistics:
- A case study from Franklin Templeton showed an astounding fall in the time to market. The time to market was reduced from 800+ days to continuous delivery of new features on the adoption of Disciplined Agile.
- Franklin Templeton also saw a sharp rise in Customer Satisfaction Ratings – from 3.6 to 4.5 (scale of 1-5).
The Disciplined Agile tool kit was repositioned and its certifications were rechristened to accommodate the various competitive offerings in the play. In its current form, Disciplined Agile is positioned as a “Hybrid” Toolkit. Disciplined Agile comes with extensive knowledge and as the experts say “It is an incredible combination of Lean, Agile, and Disciplined Agile”.
As organizations continue to adopt the new Agility wave, there will be increased adoption of Disciplined Agile. One of the key benefits for organizations to adopt Disciplined Agile is to have a quick way of achieving Agility. Given any other means, this might be a much more difficult proposition. So, a quicker way, with no frills and lesser investment, makes Disciplined Agile a more attractive bid for many organizations. As organizations look to adapt, Disciplined Agile as a tool offers the right guidance to the Agile teams and helps improve their WoW (Way of Working).
Journey of Disciplined Agile:
Disciplined Agile breaks the journey into 3 parts:
- The Beginner: DASM Certification
- The Doer or Experienced: DASSM Certification
- The Master: DAC and DAVSC Certifications
PMI has come up with learning paths with certifications for each stage. Essentially, Disciplined Agile helps to bring Agility to your organization from all stages of your career. Thus, you can start your first step in your learning journey based on your prior experience with Agile.
Still, trying to figure out where to start? You can simply take our Disciplined Agile Eligibility Test.
Why ProThoughts For Disciplined Agile Certification?
ProThoughts is the leading institute for PMP and Disciplined Agile Certification Training and one of the premier partners of PMI for Disciplined Agile in the entire globe. ProThoughts collaborates strongly with PMI to come up with carefully curated resources for Disciplined Agile concepts. Combining your working experience with agile principles, the knowledge imparted by our industry specialist tutors, and a gamified approach to learning, ProThoughts makes sure to instill the DA values in you. It is you who, therefore inculcates disciplined agile into your organization as a whole.
The Disciplined Agile Certification Package provided by ProThoughts includes the following:
- In-house industry-expert tutors;
- Rich course content, along with flashcards, mind maps, and activity handouts;
- Detailed explanations of exam strategies;
- Pre-Training and Post-Training Support;
- Mock tests are specifically curated as per the latest developments.
You can contact us at (+91) 842290-7604 and our consultants will be happy to assist you in the enrollment process.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve read all the 5 reasons to earn an Agile certification in 2024, you’re all set to start your journey in Agile. See you on the other side!
