What's the best Scrum courses and certifications

[Stuart Capel - London]

Hi.

I'm looking to get a scrum certification as I have some time in December. I've been working with Agile for a few years now and prefer Scrum for our application development projects.

I've looked at Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org and many training providers offer course and exam bundles for around £795.

Having passed my PMI PMP however I now know that I didn't need to spend £1,000 on a classroom course to pass it. I found a £10 Udemy class that would have given me enough content and the learning certificate required to take the exam!

Any tips or advice on quality and standards etc would be greatly appreciated!

[Kat Warner]

Scrum.Org has a lot of great content on their website with learning paths for each course. You can also take practice tests which uses actual exam questions.

The value of the course is not just in whether it helps you pass the exam or not, I found it valuable from a professional development sense, as I heard about many real-world examples from the instructor and other attendees.

[Stuart Capel - London]

Thanks Kat,

I was leaning towards Scrum.org so good to get some affirmation for it. Absolutely agree about the course and real-world examples enriching the learning when in a group class. I wish I could do a classroom course. 

[Kelly Drozd]

Hi Stuart, 

You are on the right path with Scrum.org and the Scrum Alliance. I would also check out Mountain Goat Software. I 100% agree with Kat! I got my CSM about 2 years ago and the course was a really great experience and helped deepen my understanding of Scrum. I also started as you did with online classes (most Linkedin Learning - which is great!).

Prior to starting at Atlassian, I lead a team of Scrum Masters and prior to that I was a tech recruiter - while certifications do not guarantee someone's level of experience, I have seen that it's become more of a basic requirement (or really nice to have). 

In addition to training courses, I have founds that agile books and even podcasts have been a really great source of more real-world examples. 

Happy learning! 

[Stuart Capel - London]

Thanks Kelly,

Good to get another thumbs up for Scrum.org! Yes, I joined a webinar on user stories with Mike from Mountain Goat and it was really helpful. I'll go back and have another look.

[Kelly Drozd]

You bet! That is great to hear, Mike is awesome! I actually just hosted a round table with Mike and several other industry experts talking about story points and estimation in agile. I should be posting about it in the community with a link to the roundtable this week or early next week :) 

[Stuart Capel - London]

I'll definitely keep an eye out for that! Story points and estimation is something I want to work on.

[Bill Sheboy]

Greetings all!

Yes, and... to the suggestions about scrum.org over other providers.

When scrum.org created their level-based and supporting materials for different disciplines, the other providers moved in that direction as well.  The advanced tests (like PSM III) require much more real world experience to achieve, helping people see the need to learn/improve/evolve before just getting another badge for a profile or CV.

A note about training to support certification in these remote-working times...  Some instruction is very different now, with one instructor for 20+ people engaged remotely.  Unlike a classroom with multiple instructors there is little time for individual/small group breakout *with the instructor*.  Please consider asking about that before you buy.

Best regards,

Bill