We often hear the questions (mentioned below) when someone decides to start the agile journey or look for more valuable Agile and Scrum Certificates.
There are only 2 major certification authorities available but don’t worry there are many fake as well. In fact, PMI also provides certification but they are confused by their own certificate.
Scrum Alliance is the first organization started offering quality training and now accepted across the world. Most popular in countries like USA, UK, Singapore and India. Attending training by an approved trainer is must in order to earn the certificate and there are no exams for certification apart from CSM (Certified Scrum Master).
The only problem they don't have any foundation course and all start with role-based training. Many participants come to a workshop to understand what is agile & scrum and haven't decided which role they wanted to play going forward. Good if Scrum Alliance launch the similar program to Professional Scrum Foundation (PSF) by Scrum.Org
Be careful while choosing the Scrum Alliance workshop because some of the trainers are not rated well. Below parameters can be applied while choosing.
Which one to choose? Scrum Alliance or Scrum.org?
Personally, I like Scrum.org courses but if you look at the market demand then Scrum Alliance makes sense. You don’t need to explain anyone about Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) and Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) because these are well-known certificates and even recruitment team understand very well.
Scrum.Org course like Professional Scrum Master (PSM-I), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO-I) or Professional Scrum Developer (PSD-I) also known but not as popular as Scrum Alliance especially in the market like India but very popular in Europe.
You are working Scrum Master, Process Consultant or inspiring to become any of these 2 then join Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or Professional Scrum Master (PSM-I) is a good choice. The 2-day workshop is mandatory followed by the exam for CSM. I have not seen anyone failing in exam so don’t worry. Training is not mandatory for PSM-1 but passing PSM-1 assessment with 85% is not easy so advisable to attend the workshop.
CSD is the 5-day workshop and there is no assessment but you can choose 3 day CSD workshop if you are already CSM. PSD is assessment-based and you have to pass with 85% marks. Training is not essential for PSD but recommended.
Oh, you are looking for leadership, organization change, agile coach or change agent then better to look for Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) or Nexus Framework.
You wanted to demonstrate scrum knowledge and experience then you may think of becoming Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) as well. No workshop but some processes with pre-requisite.
Note: - I have not mentioned anything about Scrum Study, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Lean Kanban or Discipline Agile Delivery (DaD) because I am not yet sure about it or don't have much information about these.
This is a personal view and it may differ from the individual.