Recommended certification for Agile development

Question

Always keen to enhance my CV, I've noticed a few job applications recently that specify that an Agile certification is desired.

Although I'm always skeptical of these sorts of things, I would be keen to get a certification in this particular area, if there is one that is actually respected.

Are there any recognised and/or established certifications in this field that anyone would recommend?

EDIT: I've found this course which looks remarkably like something designed to take your money. Although that could just be be being cynical.

http://www.waqb.org/forms/show/2187

Answer 1

That sounds like a fiasco to me. I'm not aware of Agile certifications, but even if there are some I'm not sure it would be at all useful. "Agile" means dozens of things to dozens of people. There's not just one way to "do Agile," and any certificate that claims such isn't worth the amount of time to get.

Much better to work in a job where they're employing some version of Agile. Experience always trumps certifications.

Answer 2

The Scrum Alliance will certify you as a "Certified Scrum Master", "Certified Scrum Coach", " or "Certified Scrum Practitioner" - if you pay them money and take their class and exam.

Don't expect it to be any less of a con than other certifications, but it might get you past the trolls that sift through resumes in the HR department.

Answer 3

I know one of my ex-bosses had a UML certification - but when actually asked what some parts of UML were, he said "Oh, we didn't learn about those - but you need to use it"... Certification tends to be a waste of paper in my opinion.

Answer 4

In tune with some of the other answers I would say, the best way to show that you are good with AGILE on your CV is to show it in your past experiences. I would really find it strange if your interviewer couldn't distinguished the best way to see someone understands AGILE is if they have worked with it, rather than just studied it. That said, the world is full of strange people..

Answer 5

In my eyes, such certificates arent even worth the paper they are written on. I would even go as far as to say that companies that prefer a candidate to have one is dangerously close to trying to apply a uniform model that can evaluate any programmer.

When looking for a job, pay attention to if the recruiter looks more at what you have done or the papers that you have accumulated.

I may be a bit off topic here but I think that this is what you were getting at.

Answer 6

While there are certainly technical aspects to what we do in Agile. Its mostly a human thing. We interact with customers, we have collaborative relationships with our co-workers. You can't have a certification for that any more that you could have a salesperson certification and have it be meaningful. Trust me, you can tell if someone is dedicated to agile. You don't need a cert to prove it.

Answer 7

I can not recommend enough the SCUM Certified Agile Master Certification Training:

Ambysoft, Scott W. Ambler

The cost is just about $1,395 to $1,995 per DUPE ;)