The Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) is a credential from Scrum Alliance®; a non-profit organization that provides guidance on agile practices, principles, and values. The good news is you don’t need any prior work experience to become a CSM. I was still a full-stack web developer when I obtained this certification. All you need is a solid understanding of the Scrum framework and how it works. This includes understanding the roles, events, and artifacts that make up Scrum and I’ll also tell you where and how you can get that.

Eligibility Criteria

Now for the eligibility criteria, well there is none. Since there are no specific eligibility criteria for CSM certification, here’s how you can get one in just 3 simple steps:

Step 1 — The first step is to attend a mandatory 2-day about(14 to 16 hours) online or in-person Certified ScrumMaster course which should be taught by a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). I completed this training over the weekend, by dedicating just 8 hours per day on Saturday and Sunday. This is the training where you will get a solid understanding of the scrum framework and you will learn how to become a successful scrum master.

Step 2 — Once you complete the course, the next step will be to clear the online CSM® exam. This is a 60-minute exam and you will have 50 questions to answer in this duration. All the questions are MCQ type where you will be provided with multiple options and you will need to select one or sometimes more than one correct answer. The passing score is 74% this means that you will need to answer at least 37 out of 50 questions correctly within the 1-hour time limit to pass this exam and get the certification.

Step 3 — Once you pass the exam, the final step is to celebrate and collect your CSM certificate online. Now, from my experience CSM is a fairly easy exam to pass, therefore, some Certified Scrum Trainers even guarantee a 98% first-time pass rate. If you do the required 2-day CSM course diligently, you should be good for the exam. Honestly, I didn’t study anything else other than what was covered in my course and I appeared for the exam just 2 hours later my course finished which was on a Sunday. Me, I started my preparation on Saturday with the start of the course and I was a Certified Scrum Master by Sunday evening. True Story!

Cost of CSM Certification

Finally, the price for CSM certification and the course can range anywhere from $500 to $2,000, including the CSM exam fee(sometimes up to 2 attempts are included). Now, this price depends on a lot of factors, including of course the country you are taking the certification course. 

Is CSM Certification Worth It?

Now, this certification is totally worth it if you plan to or are working for a company that already uses Scrum principles, or if they want to move towards a more agile way of doing things and they want to adopt the scrum framework in the coming future. In this case, this certification may give you an advantage over other job applicants or even the existing employees of the company, as it shows that you have a thorough understanding of Scrum principles and methodologies. 

Also, if you want to start your career as an Agile Project Manager getting the CSM certificate is a good investment in yourself. This by the way was the case with me, I decided to obtain the CSM certification as I saw this gap in the company I worked for(at the time), where they wanted to transition from the Waterfall approach to the Agile way of doing things but they were struggling as nobody had the knowledge of Agile let alone the Scrum framework, so I stepped up, got certified and, took this opportunity to apply my newfound skills in a real-world setting. This is how I got promoted to the (youngest)Technical Project Manager of the company. Again, true story!