How to become a Scrum Master

Essentially, Scrum is a framework that supports teams to work together and complete projects at a fast pace. Scrum follows agile project management concepts and practices. The agile approach drives teams to work on projects faster and adapt to changes immediately. Know that Scrum Master is the one who implements Scrum practices in companies. By applying scrum practices, a Scrum Master organizes work, solves problems, and utilizes resources efficiently. This is the reason why ScrumScrum is not only embraced by IT companies but non-IT companies too. Consequently, there is hype for Scrum Masters in the job market. So if you become a scrum master, being hired by big companies with good salary packages is not a big deal. Are you wondering how to become a Scrum Master?

Don’t worry! It’s a simple process. This blog will properly guide you. In this blog, we will learn the scrum master qualifications, scrum master skills, and the step-by-step procedure to become a Scrum Master, tips for Scrum Masters, scrum master salary, and much more.

How to Become a Scrum Master: Table of Content

What is a Scrum Master? What does a Scrum Master do? How to Become a Scrum Master? Prerequisites to Become a Scrum Master Scrum Master Skills How to Improve Scrum Master Skills Types of organizations hiring Scrum Masters Scrum Master Salary in India and USA Top Companies Hiring Scrum Masters Scrum Master Tips Scrum Master FAQs

What is a Scrum Master?

Before jumping to see how to become a Scrum Master, it is essential to glance at what is a Scrum Master and what they do.

Scrum Master is a professional who implements scrum practices in product development processes. The critical thing is that they complete development projects at a fast pace. Also, they seamlessly work on projects adapting to the changes in internal and external situations. Mainly, the Scrum Master organizes daily team meetings, smoothens out team interactions, removes roadblocks in the development process, and more. Also, they coordinate with multiple teams to streamline the information flow between the teams and optimize the development projects.

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What does a Scrum Master do?

The vital responsibility of a Scrum Master is to constantly drive product development team members to work efficiently with zero hassle-tussle. To achieve this, they apply scrum practices in product development projects. Also, they hold daily meetings with team members, constantly remind them of the goals, resolves issues among team members or various teams, and so on.

Scrum Masters demonstrate scrum practices to teams and tend to leverage them in their tasks. In short, they create a vibrant energy among teams, establish a positive work culture, and hence boost the productivity of the development projects.

Well! Now you have gained some light on what is a Scrum Master and what they do. Next, we will dive deep into how to become a Scrum Master.

How to Become a Scrum Master?

Achieving a CSM certification is essential to become a Scrum Master. But at the same time, gaining a CSM certification alone won’t transform you into a competent Scrum Master. You should enrich your knowledge of Scrum principles and practices in addition to gaining the CSM certification to become a skilled Scrum master. To help you out, we offer you a step-by-step procedure as to how to become a Scrum Master. If you follow this procedure, it will transform into a competent Scrum Master, undeniably.

Let’s walk through the step-by-step procedure right away!

#1. Understand Scrum

First and foremost, you must get familiar with the agile project management concepts and the Scrum framework. It will help you to implement scrum practices in development projects effortlessly. It would be better if you joined the network of Scrum Masters and Agile teams. As a result, you will gain a good knowledge of scrum practices and agile project management. Not only that, you can get strong career advice from the experts who are in your network.

#2.Garner Technical Stuff

You must thoroughly understand the technical nuances of the product development process. It will help to apply scrum practices and easily remove roadblocks. It would be better if you gained good exposure to project-tracking tools like Asana, Jira, etc. The tools will help to simplify the product development process.

#3. Choose the correct Scrum Certification

Completing a Scrum Certification is a must to become a Scrum Master. In this regard, you can complete the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certification. It is a 16-hour training program. This certification will provide sound exposure to Scrum concepts and agile project management. You will also get thorough with the roles and responsibilities of a Scrum Master in a detailed way. As a certified Scrum Master, you can make a great impact on development teams and the successful completion of projects. Once you complete CSM certification, you will undoubtedly get hired by good companies in no time.

#4. Crack the CSM exam

The CSM exam has over fifty multiple-choice questions. The important thing is that you should take the exam within 14 days of CSM course completion. It is important to note that after achieving the certification, you must renew the certification regularly.

#5. Sharpen Leadership Skills

Earning the CSM certification is insufficient to become a capable Scrum Master. But you must sharpen your leadership skills to lead your team members and collaborate with other teams. A scrum master should be capable of understanding the needs of their team members and swiftly responding to them. They must ensure that the projects are progressing in the right direction at the right pace crossing the milestones at the right time. That’s why sound leadership skills are critical for scrum masters.

#6. Improve Coaching Skills

You must hone your coaching skills sharply since it is one of the must-have skills of Scrum Masters. You must coach teams about scrum practices and encourage them continuously to reach their goals. A Scrum Master should be capable of identifying the pluses and minuses of every team member and guiding them based on that.

#7. Develop Problem-solving Skills

It’s a given that No road is straight. No task is completed without overcoming a single roadblock or issue. On this note, every development team will face many issues and roadblocks due to multiple factors. Generally, the issues can be solved by the teams. If not, Scrum Master needs to interfere as a negotiator and offers solutions in everyone’s favor. That’s why scrum masers must develop their problem-solving and analytical skills.

Related Article: Scrum Master Roles and Responsibilities

Prerequisites to Become a Scrum Master

Before you start any task, you must acquire the relevant skills and knowledge entirely. It is the successful formula for completing tasks on time. To understand it better, if you want to become a skillful Scrum Master, you must learn the scrum master prerequisites and comply with them strictly.

Let’s take a look at the scrum master qualifications in the following:

• You must have a Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or business administration. Though it is not mandatory, most companies prefer to recruit only graduates as Scrum Masters.
• A valid professional Certification in the Scrum framework. It means you must earn Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certificate to become a Scrum Master.
• Exposure to product development life cycle
• Proficiency in Agile project management and scrum principles.
• Sound leadership, motivational, and business analysis skills.

Scrum Master Skills

Luckily, all the big companies with over 10k employees hire Scrum Masters in huge numbers. According to the statistics of Zippia, around 45 percent of scrum masters work in big companies. So, if you plan to make your career on Scrum, it is a worthy idea for a hundred percent. But simultaneously, you must hone the relevant scrum master skills to emerge as an able Scrum master.To become a talented Scrum Master, you must strongly have the following Scrum Master skills.

Let’s have a look at them below:

• Sound problem-solving and analytical skills
• Ability to adapt changes in the development projects dynamically
• Always being energetic and solving problems tactfully.
• Excellent communication skills for collaborating with various teams and stakeholders.
• Should inspire and motivate team members positively
• Strong organizational skills to arrange and conduct team meetings, prioritize, and utilize resources to their maximum.

How to improve Scrum Master Skills as a beginner?

If you are a beginner, no doubt you must put in some extra effort to become a Scrum Master than others. The following strategies will help you to embark as a Scrum Master in a good company in a better way.

Let’s address them now!

#1. Implement Scrum practices personally

As a beginner, before implementing Scrum practices in development projects, you can leverage them in your personal activities such as organizing events, home renovation, and so on. This approach will help to get familiar with scrum principles and practices in a profound way. As a result, the scrum tool will come in handy, and you will breeze through the development projects.

#2. Attend training programs

It doesn’t matter what degree of interpersonal skills you have. It is highly important that you must go through solid training programs and workshops to hone your Scrum Master skills. Mainly, you must attend training programs to improve communication skills and team management.

#3. Build a strong resume

Once you have completed the CSM certification and acquired the relevant skills, you must devise your resume ideally. Highlighting all your skills and strengths in your resume is highly crucial. Add your communication, organization, and motivational skills to the resume. You should design your resume in such a way that it must impress recruiters at a single glance.

#4. Make an intense job-hunt

The next step is to go for job-hunting. The main thing is that when you apply for a job, you must tailor your resume to the job you are applying for. For instance, you should highlight the most-essential skill required for that position. Before attending any interview, thoroughly research the job role and company. Read through the interview questions before sitting for the interview.

Following the above-mentioned strategies will allow you to enhance your scrum master skills and pursue a confident career in Scrum.

Learn Top Scrum Master Interview Question and Answers that help you grab high-paying jobs

Types of organizations hiring Scrum Masters

Although Scrum Masters play key roles in IT industries, even non-IT companies also employ Scrum Masters to implement Scrum practices to execute their product development projects.

All the Fortune 500 companies, technology, and finance companies hire Scrum Masters in significant numbers than other companies.

When it comes to IT Companies, Scrum Master works along with product owners and software developers tightly. They encourage everyone in the team to adopt scrum principles and ensure the consistency of the software development processes.

When it comes to non-IT companies, a Scrum Master works with the project team and other internal teams to complete projects at a fast pace. Scrum Masters are widely employed in financial services, advertising, marketing, construction, event management, etc., to apply scrum principles in their companies.

Scrum Master Salary in India and USA

Scrum Master Salary is inevitable when discussing scrum masters and how they leverage scrum principles in companies. Following are the glimpses of scrum master salaries in India and the USA.

In India, the average Scrum Master salary comes to around 16 LPA. Additionally, they get cash compensation of around 1 LPA.

In the USA, the average Scrum Master salary comes to around 1.15 Lakh USD per year. Additionally, they get cash compensation of around 9500 USD.

Top companies hiring Scrum Masters

In India, top companies like TCS, Accenture, CTS, Capgemini, IBM, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, and FIS are recruiting Scrum Masters in huge numbers.

In the USA, the companies like Capital One, Bank of America, AT&T, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Walmart, and other top companies employ Scrum Masters in big numbers.

In these companies, Scrum Masters play many roles, such as entry-level Scrum Master, coach Scrum Master, senior Scrum Master, and even product manager. As said earlier, the scrum master salary in these companies is enormous.

Scrum Master Tips

As you know, achieving the Scrum Master certification and acquiring the relevant skills makes you a proficient Scrum Master. Over and above, if you read through the tips outlined here, it will help to polish your scrum master skills.

• Implement scrum practices with high energy and enthusiasm. Learn from mistakes, and improvise the development processes non-stop.
• Pass your feedback to team members regularly. Point out to them the areas where the team is progressing and where attention is required. Also, collect feedback about yourself from your teammates and elevate your skills based on that.
• Understand your team completely. Identify the strengths as well as weaknesses of your teammates. Strive hard to bring out the best in the team.
• Always engage in positive communication with your teammates. In other words, communicate with them direct and to the point. First, listen to what others speak carefully. Address the issues of your teammates swiftly.
• Have a strong relationship with your product owner. A product owner is responsible for bringing up the final product satisfying all the client or user requirements. Remember, consult with the product owner while making critical decisions and work together to bring up the best final product.
• Always be people-oriented. Help your team members to the maximum.
• Conduct retrospectives effectively. Retrospective is the final event of every Scrum. Be open and Collect constructive feedback from team members, making the next Scrum more effective.
• Have all the business details, processes, products, and specifications at your fingertips.
• Only focus on completing projects. Do not look for perfection. Completing projects meeting the product specifications within the planned schedule is essential.

Scrum Master FAQs

1. How long will it take to become a Scrum Master?

It will take around 2-3 weeks to become a Scrum Master. This is because you need to complete CSM training. It will take 1-2 days. After that, you must sit for the CSM exam within 14 days from the day you have completed the training. Totally, it will take 2-3 weeks to become a certified Scrum Master.

2. Can freshers become Scrum Masters?

Of course! Even freshers can become a Scrum Master. Along with the CSM certification, freshers must develop the necessary scrum master skills and be familiar with the scrum framework.

3. What qualifications must I have to become a Scrum Master?

Completing a bachelor’s degree in IT, computer science, or business administration is expected. But it is not compulsory. If you gain mastery over Scrum Master Skills without a degree, you can become a competent Scrum Master, undoubtedly. Of course! Skill is always counted on.

4. Is it tough to become a Scrum Master?

Not at all! If you go through intense Scrum Master training, you will easily crack the CSM exam. That’s why becoming a Scrum Master is very simple.

5. Which Certification is better – Scrum Master or PMP?

It depends on the individual. Professionals who work in the IT industry prefer to choose both PMP and Scrum certifications. Those who work in non-IT companies prefer to choose Scrum certification. When it comes to cost and duration, completing a Scrum Master Certification is the best choice.

6. Is coding skill required for Scrum Masters?

No! Scrum Masters do not need to have any coding skills. They organize product development processes, leverage scrum principles, and facilitate teams to reach goals within deadlines.

Conclusion

We are confident that this blog might have shed light on how to become a Scrum Master. Following the step-by-step procedure described in this blog, becoming a Scrum Master is not a big deal. The important thing is that you must gain a CSM certification and pass the CSM exam. Besides, the information given in this blog regarding the scrum master salary and scrum master qualifications must be helpful to you. More importantly, if you go through professional training on CSM, then cracking the CSM is a cakewalk. If you wish, you can reach out to MindMajix, which offers Scrum Training courses for aspirants of Scrum Masters. This course will be a stepping stone to enhance your scrum master skills and become a potent Scrum Master.