How to Get Hired as a Scrum Master
From Job Ads to Your Trial Day: Learn How to Pick the Right Employer or Client How to Get Hired as a Scrum Master details how Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches can systematically identify suitable employers or clients to avoid mismatches and disappointments at a later stage.
How to Find an Agile Organization Worth Working for
Too often, companies advertise open positions for Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches in a way that does not reflect the state of the adoption of agile principles correctly. This often unintended mishap can lead to mismatches which, sooner or later, will likely cause disappointments on all sides—employer, Scrum Master, and Scrum team. This book helps to avoid this outcome by providing a hands-on guide that allows Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches to figure out in advance or during the application process whether an organization is a suitable employer or client.
Who Should Read This Book?
No matter, if you are a product manager, a former engineer or a project manager: if you are looking to change your career and become a scrum master or agile coach this book will help you land a meaningful position. Becoming “agile” is nowadays on the top of the agenda of many C-level executives. Their world is dominated by a paradigm shift, by the thought that software is eating the world, and that the speed of innovation is ever increasing. Probably, a startup has already been founded that will disrupt their business in a few years. Hence, becoming “agile”— even when most organizations do not have an understanding what this means — is so crucial at the moment. And to do so, you will need to hire scrum masters and agile coaches, a trend that provides numerous job opportunities. "How to Get Hired as a Scrum Master” is a hands-on guide for everyone interested in finding a suitable position as a scrum master or agile coach at an organization that already is agile or at least has a chance of adopting an agile mindset successfully over time. The book covers all three phases that a candidate faces:
- Identifying a suitable employer or client — the principles of this book are equally applicable for freelancers —, and
- Preparing for and passing the job interview as well as
- Arranging for the trial day.
The book also points to sources of background information and includes large repositories of both interview questions (including answers) as well as anti-patterns to look out for. Additionally, I address what equipment you should bring to your trial day, and where to get real-time help from thousands of your peers.
About the Author
Stefan has worked many years as a product manager, product owner, and agile coach (Scrum, LeSS, Lean Startup, Lean Change). He’s founded multiple companies and has led the development of B2C and B2B software, primarily for startups, but also for other organizations — including a former Google subsidiary. He is a steward of the XSCALE Alliance and an XBA Exponential Business Agility Coach (XBAC). Stefan curates ‘Food for Agile Thought’ — the largest weekly newsletter on agile product development with more than 14,000 subscribers. He also hosts the largest global Slack community for agile people — ‘Hands-on Agile’ — with more than 2,400 members. (As of January 2018.)
