Agile and Scrum Master Certifications

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Agile and Scrum Master Certifications

(For those of you not familiar with agile, you might want to read this first or look up Agile in Wikipedia)

From my research, I've found that there are 3 popular Agile certifications:

1. PMI ACP : Agile Certified Practitioner offered by Project Management Institute
2. Certified Scrum Master - offered by the Scrum Aliance
3. Professional Scrum Master - Offered by Scrum.org

There are others too, but from what I see, these are the ones that are most popular.

I have used various Agile frameworks/methods for many years, but haven't been certified. I did receive an Agile Practitioner badge as a result of spending many hours in 3 comprehensive IBM Agile courses. I really learned a lot from them. I wanted to go further in Agile training.

I was trying to decide which path to take, so I read the information at the following sites:

• Scrum.org vs Scrum Alliance: How to Train in Scrum - a somewhat detailed look at both and some info on training
• CSM or PSM - which Certification to choose? - This post gives a comparison table and speaks about the tests themselves. It has a somewhat detailed analysis of both. 
• PMI ACP vs CSM Comparison: Which One Is Better? - This post takes a comprehensive review of both. It goes into depth about: what they are, who offers them, why to select one over the other, Eligibilty requirements, certification process, exams, pros and cons of each. This article is a very comprehensive one. I recommend reading it.
• PSM Vs. CSM : Note: this is a discussion at scrum.org (PSM), so it may be biased, but I see folks commenting in support of both sides.
• Top 6 Agile Certifications in 2018 - This post mentions CSM and ACP and doesn't even have PSM on the top-6 list.

After reading them all, I decided to go for the PSM first. I do put a lot of value on the ACP, but I saw lots of job postings asking for agile and scrum and thought that going for the PSM might be the best one to start with. 

I found the following links that I have been using to study for the test:

• Suggested Reading for Professional Scrum Master™ - This page suggests where to get the Scrum Guide, books, videos, courses and more for training. The Scrum guide is important to know and the Scrum Open Assessment can be taken many times.
• Scrum Training Series - These free video courses are great. There is a test of several questions at the end of each lesson which have references to reference material to let you know why the answer is the correct answer. This aids me in learning.  There are also links to documents and videos that I found helpful.

I'll come back here to update this as I progress in studying. 

If you have any thoughts on the certifications, the path, or any questions, please comment. I would like your input.