An agile certification refers to the type of certification which are used to level up the career of an individual in project management and helps to bring Agile practices into the work environment. Agile certification is mainly recognized as an expertise in the Agile concepts and signals to the employers who have taken time to study and also earned a credential. Therefore, in this article, a comprehensive guide has been provided about the Agile certifications and the top 10 Agile certifications to build up the career.
What are Agile Certifications?
Agile Certifications are the certifications that primarily focus on the broad Agile principles, whether it is specific to Scrum or the other methodologies.
- These are mainly used to help project management professionals gain knowledge about Agile principles to make them better leaders.
- Therefore, agile certifications can help individuals to expand in career opportunities and maximize the value of the team.
Top 10 Popular Agile Certifications
Multiple Agile certifications are available to boost individuals’ careers as these certifications help bring all the specialized knowledge of different project management practices to a place. Some of the top 10 agile certifications are mentioned below:
1. PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
PMI Agile Certified Practitioner certification is good for professionals, who want to validate the practical and conceptual understanding of Agile techniques and principles. Therefore, to earn this PMI Agile Certified Practitioner certification, an individual needs to pass an in-person 16-hour course in which a certified scrum trainer teaches.
Details of the exam: The PMI exam duration is 3 hours and it consists of 120 questions.
PMI-ACP Requirement: 1500 hours of working on the Agile methodologies or projects, 2000 hours of experience in project management, and 21 contact hours of Agile practices.
2. Agile Scrum Foundation from EXIN
Agile Scrum Foundation is one of the popular certifications recognized in scrum and agile credentials, this certification is managed and administered by EXIN. This certification comprises in-depth knowledge of Scrum practices and Agile principles. This certification course completely focuses on both Agile principles and Scrum framework and this certification is mainly good for professionals who are working in domains such as software development, business management, IT service management and project management.
Details of the exam: 1 hour with 40 multiple-choice questions.
Agile Scrum Foundation Requirements: Training of an EXIN-accredited Agile Scrum foundation.
3. Agile Project Management (Agile PM) from APMG
Agile Project management (Agile PM) training course is a popular agile certifications for Agile project management. This agile certification is mainly important for the professionals such as Project managers and the agile team members who wanted to become Agile project managers . Therefore, this agile certification focuses on helping the project managers and the agile team to deliver the projects effectively. This Agile PM course is to test the philosophies and Agile principles.
Details of the Exam: 40 minutes duration to complete 50 multiple choice questions.
Agile PM from APMG Requirements: There is no requirement.
4. Certified Scrum Master (CSM) from Scrum Alliance
CSM is one of the in-demand agile certification, which validates the ability to learn to think in terms of the Scrum values and also, helps the scrum team to perform best. This CSM certification is designed to prepare the individuals to become a scrum master and is suitable for the professionals such as Program manager, Product owner, Iteration manager and other managerial positions.
Details of the exam: 1 hour duration to complete 50 multiple choice questions.
Requirements: To attend a 16 hour training session.
5. Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
CSPO is one of the most demanding Scrum certification offered by Scrum Alliance in the field of program management and product ownership domain. This certification is designed for the Project managers, project team members, business analysts and others, who are willing to deliver a high quality product, want to lead the scrum groups and effectively coordinate with the stakeholders and maximize the ROI.
CSPO certification consists of only a training course without an exam and an individual passes a CSPO course before enrolling.
6. Professional Scrum Master-I (PSM I)
PSM Certification is one of the famous Agile project management certifications from scrum.org and by gaining this certification individuals gain in-depth knowledge about the scrum framework and its applications. PSM I certification is generally for the project managers, testing team, QA team and IT managers, who want to take this certification exam to showcase their expertise.
Details of the exam : 1 hour duration to complete 80 multiple choice and multi answers questions.
PSM I Requirements : There is no specific requirement.
7. SAFe Agile Certification from Scaled Agile
Scaled Agile framework certification which provides a large variety of role based certifications and courses, which helps in uplifting the career of the individuals into next level, it helps to prepare the individual to prepare for the role of Certified SAFe Agilist (SA). This certification is taken by the professionals, who want to be a part of lean agile transformation which includes the Agile coach, Portfolio manager, scrum master, project managers and many others.
Details of the exam: 90 minutes duration to complete 45 multiple choice questions.
SAFe Agile Certification Requirements: Needs to attend 21 hours training course.
8. Certified Agile Project Manager
Certified Agile Project manager certification is offered by the International Association of the Project Managers (IAPM), which includes using the agile methods to plan, organize and implement the projects. This certification showcases the skills, experience and versatility in Agile. These certifications not only showcase the ability to work in agile but also it shows that the individual has interpersonal skills.
Details of the exam: 80 minutes duration to complete 120 questions.
Certified Agile Project Manager Requirements : There is no requirement.
9. Agile Scrum Master (ASM)
Agile Scrum master is another popular certification which assesses the individual ability to be a facilitator and the coach for a cross functional team. This ASM certification combines the practical assignments and teaches the Agile methodologies and this particular certification course suits the IT professionals in the project management or the other managerial roles.
Details of the exam: 1 hour duration to complete 40 multiple choice questions.
Requirements: Training of an EXIN-accredited agile scrum foundation.
10. ICAgile Certified Professional
The ICAgile Certified Professional certification course is provided by the International Consortium for Agile and is suitable for the Agile users. The studies involve the cross-functional team strategies and continuous feedback and also adapting and inspecting the culture. By taking this certification individuals get an understanding about the Agile methods.
Details of the exam: It doesn’t require passing the examination, individuals just need to complete a 16 hour training course to earn this certification.
Top 4 Benefits of Agile Certifications
There are multiple benefits of having an agile certification in the era of advanced technologies as these certifications provides different advantages in the career of an individual. Some of the top 4 benefits of Agile certifications are mentioned below:
- Career advancement: These agile certifications consist of different training and knowledge during the course time period and when an individuals gain these certifications, they can get more opportunities depending on the certification.
- Improves communication skills: The agile team mainly work together internally and by collaborating with the other departments regularly which helps the agile teams to focus on the communication skills.
- Increases knowledge: Due to the change in market demands and technologies, candidates needs to upskill themselves by learning multiple technologies, taking courses or certifications to grow in their career.
- Improves Credibility: By having certifications in agile candidate improves their chance and credibility in the eyes of their hiring managers.
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Conclusion: Popular Agile Certifications in 2024
Agile certification plays a major role in the career of an individual as these certification courses help the person and benefit the individual career through the increase in IT industry as the demand of technologies increases, the professionals with more understanding and knowledge in agile or software development increases. Therefore, in this article a detailed knowledge has been provided about the Agile certifications and the top 10 agile certifications.
FAQs: Popular Agile Certifications in 2024
1. What do you mean by Agile certification?
Agile certification refers to the certifications which recognizes the candidate’s expertise in the agile concepts, principles, methodologies and the signal to the employers who have taken time to learn, study and earn this credential.
2. How useful is Agile certification?
Agile certification provides candidate a well contextual knowledge, which needed to contribute in the Agile teams, these agile certification helps the candidate to qualify for the additional responsibility and better jobs.
3. Who needs Agile certification?
The candidate who wants to upskill their career in Agile management needs Agile certifications. Therefore, software engineers, developers and the programmers who are looking to master agile practices and principles needs this certification.
4. Name some of the best Agile certifications.
Some of the best agile certifications are – PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) , Agile Scrum Master (ASM), Agile Scrum Foundation from EXIN, SAFe Agile Certification from Scaled Agile, Certified Agile Project manager and so on.
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