YDS: How Do You Get Scrum Master Experience?

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Getting hired as a Scrum Master without experience can be tough. This question often pops up on TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter. But think about it, if you walked into a hospital and said you wanted to be a surgeon without any experience or education, they'd probably show you the door, right? It's the same situation here.

However, there are ways to work towards becoming a Scrum Master. Start by applying the principles and values of Scrum in your current job, even if it's not an agile environment. I did that in a company that followed a waterfall approach, which helped me gain some experience.

Another option is to volunteer for a non-profit organization. Offer to help them get organized and participate in their projects. It's a great way to gain hands-on experience and contribute to the community.

Keep in mind that being a Scrum Master is no piece of cake. It requires a wide range of skills and a lot of experience. Todd and I have been in software development for years, constantly learning and reading books. So, it's a long journey to get to where we are.

While we don't want to discourage you, it's essential to understand that being a Scrum Master is not an entry-level position. But don't lose hope! Take classes, read books, and do what you can to improve your skills and knowledge. And who knows, opportunities may arise along the way. We appreciate your question, Stephanie, and it gives us a chance to discuss these critical aspects.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

Todd and Ryan also co-authored a book - Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems.

For more information about Agile for Humans, visit:

#facilitation #facilitationskills #ScrumMaster #ScrumMasterTraining #Scrum #ScrumFramework #HowToBecomeAScrumMaster #ScrumMasterCertification #AgileForHumans #FreeScrumMasterCourse #FreeScrumTraining

[LateToThePartyFWIW]

Providing examples of how different folks got their first Scrum Master roles is a helpful way to respond to the question.

[marymiller]

Another way to consider is to develop skills that are transferrable to the Scrum Master accountability. Although, I would say that transferrable skills I have acquired have been through getting trained in say a 3-12 month long leadership program that also has one apply the class in one's life. Not Scrum related, but I actually landed a project manager role where I had the title of project manager for the first time.  

However, in that scenario, I had a lot of breadth in developing myself in leadership classes, coaching people, and managing expectations (10 years). I also took business classes. I also networked with mentors in my organization for a year before I went and did something else. I stayed in touch with my mentors. My former mentors had said that leadership and project management opportunities were opening up across the larger organization, and encouraged me to come back. One of my mentors let me know, the larger organization also had a culture of letting people try something new even if they didn't have years of experience. I went to the career fair and found out the the organization couldn't hire MBAs. So, anyone with some business related background and a tech background was like gold to them, and I was tentatively offered a Project Manager position on the spot (although COVID kind of delayed things a bit). They also checked out the mentors I mentioned. Fortunately, I was given an Agile-like project (vs. a pure Waterfall project). While there were some things that happened that were unworkable, I did gain a ton of experience.

While I was hired as a Scrum Master in my next job, I was stuck on more traditional projects that should be on someone's backlog. So I have "Agile-ized" my projects (as one Agile Coach called it). One can also create personal projects and apply Kanban and utilize Evidence Based Management.

One Certified Scrum Trainer uses Scrum to manage his family vacations.

In short: develop oneself in transferrable skills, network, and find ways to apply the knowledge. Take an action, any action even an action that one doesn't want to take (even volunteering!). Ideas for more actions to gain experience will then start to come up.

[poeticeclipse]

Thank you for being so honest! As a Tech Recruiter, I see people faking experience (and even certficiations) on resumes, thinking they can get away with it. Big companies that I hire for will be able to sniff it out, and I can too. Real world experience is required. Starting somewhere is tough, but it's possible. It's just you have to start from the ground up, and now lie your way into a job.

[mineshpatel]

😅yes I agree that scrum master work is hard and the 3 last ones are proof positive that everyone is not cut out for it. The last was a pmp certified, well he hard a lot of certifications.

[gopi]

This was nice video guys. I have a question that I have been asking this to myself a lot. “Should we time box retrospectives? If you can, how?”

[ClearFuture]

Hi in the Scrum guide it states that the developers are accountable for "creating a plan for the Sprint, the sprint backlog" question is 1. What does this ACTUALLY mean and 2. How would they do this ?

[WilliamHollister]

It would help to know what kind of entry level positions could lead to Scrum Master.

Basically, what would the career journey look like for aspiring Scrum Masters.

[ClearFuture]

There is a sentence in the Scrum guide that I just don't get it would be awesome if you guys can discuss it .. its " the Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete, only defining the parts required to implement scrum theory"

[MisterAwesan]

To flip the question: why would a company hire a person with no experience for X role? Typically the answer is "because there are not enough people doing X, and we can train them". For scrum masters neither of these are true. There are (1) more or less enough of them available and (2) very hard to train. So if you want to get in, you have to do it through a side-door.

[ausraduden]

Hi. I have a question for YDS episode. Scrum Guide says: "The moment a Product Backlog item meets the Definition of Done, an Increment is born." But... it doesn't sound correct for me. Because normally we pick several PBI during Sprint Planning & combined together they create one increment at the end of the sprint. That's why we have a Sprint Goal at the first place. Another way of saying it - if we planned 5 PBIs & finished 5 PBIs at the end of the Sprint, we will have 1 increment (not 5 increments) that will be added to already existing product that is getting bigger & better. Any thoughts?

[rebekah]

I’m having a hard time finding the difference between PMI’s Disciplined Agile Scrum Master certification and the CSM and PSM. Currently I am a project coordinator, and my goal was to become a project manager but I’ve been fascinated with the Scrum Master role since talking with a professor about how it is a servant leader role. It seems more of a fit. But I’m a little confused about the best certification to pursue and how to transition from my current path to one that leads to Scrum. Is the DASM a good certificate to pursue?

[kenmonroe]

Hey guys, what is your recommendation on starting scrum principles in a organization that is excited about it but I only have 3 PM’s in my section. None of them are CSM’s or PMP’s.

Furthermore, the projects that are on the table are overwhelming. There are 12 projects for 4 people to manage. My organization reuses the same developed for projects and there is a lot of burnout. I just started this position last week.

Please advise..

[JustAGrl]

I think you are being too crushing 😕Because at some point, you didn’t have experience being a scrum master, and from what I’ve been seeing you really need soft skills. Not a lot of software developers have soft or social skills. It shouldn’t take 20 years worth of tech experience to break into the scrum master role. I’m on my 3rd life looking to change careers.