The Career Path of a Scrum Master

A scrum master is the heart of the Agile world. The scrum team cannot function without a good scrum master. Anyone can become a scrum master after completing their Scrum master certification.

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But what dictates the career path is what comes after the course is completed.

Where does the path lead further after completing the scrum master course? Traditional jobs come with a pre-defined career path. For example, a salesperson will become a lead salesperson, then a sales manager, and finally a sales department head. The career path is clear, so there was no need for confusion or doubt about whether the future was considered.

But working in an agile environment means there needs to be clarity regarding your career path. Depending on how you perceive it, this can be a disadvantage or a massive advantage. It can open up all kinds of possibilities for a scrum master. They can take up any role they want in the organization once they have completed their scrum master certification and proved their mettle as scrum masters.

Who is a Scrum Master?

A scrum master is a person who makes sure the scrum framework is being followed while focusing on communication and collaboration between the team members to deliver the project successfully. A lot of people confuse a scrum master with a project manager. However, these two roles are equally important in a scrum team.

Scrum Master Vs. Project Manager

A project manager’s primary focus is on completing the project on time while maintaining the budget, timeline, and resources. In comparison, the scrum masters focus on the team members and design processes to encourage better communication and collaboration within the team.

Scrum Master Career Path

A Scrum Master’s typical career path begins with working with one team. As problems are fixed, and the team assumes greater responsibility for itself, working with that team consumes less time.

A competent scrum master will then look for new challenges. Working with many teams simultaneously or shifting from more demanding teams or products is frequently the logical next step.

Agile Coach

A coach has years of experience as a Scrum master and is looking forward to mentoring other scrum masters.

If you wish to be a coach/mentor, you have outstanding communication, people skills, and, more importantly, a thorough understanding of the Scrum principles. This career path is for individuals who have outgrown personal ambition and would like to help improve the skills of other scrum masters.

Before choosing this career path after finishing your scrum master certification and experience period, ask yourself whether you enjoy coaching and mentoring others. Teaching and mentoring would become an integral part of your day-to-day responsibilities. So you must be ready for that before going in.

Product Owner/Manager

Product managers are strategic thinkers and great leaders. As a scrum master, you would have a lot of experience working with project managers and owners so it won’t be a drastic change.

But to transition from Scrum master to product manager, you would have to switch your mindset first. As a scrum master, your primary responsibility was to focus on the team members and their perspectives regarding the project. But as a product manager, your main concern is the result. Therefore, you need to understand the business side of the project.

You will be more involved in the product than the product team as a product manager. That is a big shift but not a drastic one. It will bring you a lot of fulfillment as you will be more closely invested in the project management process than you were as a scrum master.

The development and revenue growth is great with this transition from scrum master to product manager.

Release Train Engineer or Solution Train Engineer

Leading a Scrum of Scrums and ensuring that all teams in the program are coordinated and providing value fall under the purview of an RTE or STE.

Excellent coordination, communication, and facilitation abilities are needed for this position.

Additionally, the RTE/STE needs to be well-versed in the values and procedures of Scrum. So, naturally, it’s a great fit for a scrum master!

A certification from a well-known institution can prove helpful in switching from scrum master to RTE, given that you have acquired all the necessary skills.

Transformation Consultant

If you are the encyclopedia of Scrum frameworks and know everything there is to know about the processes of Scrum and Agile, then the career path of a transformation consultant is the right next step for your career.

Helping organizations embrace Scrum and transform their businesses is the responsibility of a transformation consultant. Excellent facilitation, communication, and coaching abilities are necessary for this position. Additionally, it necessitates a thorough understanding of Scrum techniques and principles.

The transition from scrum master certification to Transformation consultant can be pretty smooth if you have handled multiple teams and stakeholders as a scrum team master. However, it’s a cross-functional role requiring a lot of negotiation, strategic planning, and communication.

Conclusion

For a Scrum Master, there are numerous possible career paths. There are a ton of choices if you want to change roles. Scrum Masters frequently transition into Agile Coaching, RTE/STE, or Transformation Consulting roles.

It all starts with a simple Scrum master certification, and from there, which way your career unfolds is completely on you!