CSM Certification Vs SAFe Certification

Every time we provide articles in our site from reader’s point of view. Yes, you visit our site or particularly this page with some intent in mind. Whether you searched for CSM certification in India or wanted to know the benefits of SAFe training courses and landed in this page. Irrespective of the search you carried in the search engine, we are sure you are looking for some support regarding your career.

And we decided to help you. Wondering how? In this page, we will explain about two important agile scrum master certification namely the certified scrum master (CSM) and scaled agile framework (SAFe).

Both CSM Certification and SAFe Certification are not just career-oriented training program for beginners but for experienced professionals as well. So we will throw some light on both these certifications including who must do, where to get trained, how to obtain certification, certification cost, etc. We will also help you decide which one to choose to move up your career hierarchy quickly.

Read till the end and there we have given the final verdict of which is best and for whom. Trust us, there is no beating around the bush but a clear decision provided for all those who have embraced agile scrum in their projects.

Before, you start with the details we would want to tell you how we have structured our content. This input will prepare your mindset to go through the details. After all, among the many scrum master certification requirements, the mindset takes the first seat. So tune your mind in the agile way to make a great career.

Coming back to the point, this content will provide you with the details about what is CSM certification, CSM certification benefits, the governing body, cost, pre-requisites, exam details, and renewal policy. In the end, we have made a table with these details for a better interpretation. Before we close, we have also concluded about the right course for you to choose.

Also Read: Role of Scrum in The New York Fintech Industry

CSM Certification

Scrum development projects have a certain discipline and it is good if developers, testers, and business analyst can get CSM certification from which they can understand the concepts, principles and best way to implement the agile methodology. They will know how to work on small releases and the best way to interact with the customer. Knowledge of Scrum framework is well taught in the CSM Course.

Stay Certified, Stay Competitive – Complete Your Scrum Master Certification Renewal Today!

What will you get from the training in terms of perks is the next question in your mind. Well, we read that and don’t worry as you make a great difference when you complete the CSM certification course. Yes, people with certification can get a salary between 12 LPA to 15 LPA. In case, you have experience of minimum 8 yrs but no certification then you earn between 8 LPA to 12 LPA. Therefore with the same experience, your salary will be as high as the least salary of a person who has not done the certification. This means that you can see a leap change in your annual salary by clearing scrum certification exam online. Be a great facilitator in your organization and remove obstacles by becoming a certified scrum master. Here are the Top 10 Reasons to get Scrum Master Certification.

Among the other scrum master certification body, Scrum Alliance, the CSM certification body created awareness among IT industry the need for a certification program. They insisted on a set of criteria to appear for the Scrum certification course

Read Our Impactful Scrum Case Study

This included that the scrum master certification without training stands nullified. Therefore, people started looking for scrum master certification weekend courses and scrum master certification courses. Keeping this in mind we wanted to suggest all details related to scrum certification requirement. This will include the following.

How to get a certification?

You need to attend 16 hours in-person training program to qualify for the scrum master certification online exam. The training institute will charge for both the exam and the training. They will provide you with scrum master certification study material, give you classroom training with practical examples to implement agile projects using Scrum framework. Explain about sprint planning, review, retrospective etc. You can master agile scrum principles, burn down charts, planning poker etc. At the end of the training, you can opt to take the test and clear the same to get certified. You can also take time till 90 days to prepare but must give the exam within 3 months else you need to take the training again.

Also Read: Scrum Master Checklist

Training pre-requisites

Having said that you will get 2 days of classroom training and the fees include the training, study material, online exam, certification, and the food during the training program. What is expected from you is, you need not have any experience as a scrum master or hold any special qualification. If you can understand the basics of software projects, then that will suffice and you can apply for the training program. The only pre-requisite is to attend a 2-day training program for giving the examination.

Cost for obtaining the Certification

The CSM certification fees for getting certified is not separate as Scrum Alliance registers you only through an authorized training institute. You need to look for an institute that offers the CSM certification study material and coaching to help you understand the concept as well as clear the examination. The optimum scrum master certification cost in India is INR 24999 + taxes. This may vary from institute to institute. There is one tricky thing which you must notice here, in case you fail the test in 2 attempts, then you need to pay an additional USD 25 to appear for test the third time. You don’t have another chance if you fail the third time and you have to start from the training program again.

Also Read: SAFe Agile Certification Cost

Examination Details

The CSM certification online exam is conducted with 50 Multiple choice questions and you will have 60 minutes to complete the test. The difficulty level of the exam depends on the knowledge you acquired in the training. Choose the right training institute to understand scrum concepts thoroughly and practice scrum master certification questions to clear the exam easily. Minimum of 37 questions must be answered correctly to pass the examination.

CSM certification renewal policy

After clearing the exam you must complete the online registration with Scrum Alliance to apply for certification. You will get the certificate and 2 years membership from Scrum Alliance. The CSM certification validity can be extended beyond 2 years for another 2 years by paying the scrum master certification renewal cost of USD 100 in the Scrum Alliance website using your login credentials.

Scrum Master Certification levels

CSM – Certified Scrum Master

ACSM – Advanced Certified Scrum Master

CSP – Certified Scrum Professional

SAFe Certification

If you feel that your company is already moving into a larger enterprise and lean portfolio is empowered, then you must consider doing SAFe certification training. It is because SAFe agilist training program will teach you to implement and deliver significance through ART (Agile Release Trains). Also, you can lead the lean agile transformation in your organization. Further, you can learn to build the delivery pipeline without interruption, as well as the DevOps culture.

Again to know about the returns you will get from investing in SAFe training and certification program is the hike in your salary. Yes, you will be eligible to get paid between 16 LPA and 24 LPA based on your experience. That is certainly a motivating fact to enroll in SAFe certification in India and become an agile leader. Here are the Top 10 Reasons to get SAFe Agile Certification.

Scaled Agile is the governing body that issues a SAFe agilist certification for successfully completing 2-day classroom SAFe training and pass the online examination. The governing body has made the training program mandatory to let all individual understand lean agile transformation in the right manner.

How to get a certification?

Enroll for the SAFe certification course with the reputed institution and learn the agile values and practices at an enterprise level. This training will be classroom training for 16 hours. At the end of the 2nd day, you can opt to appear for the online test and clear the examination to get certified.

Pre-requisites for training

The SAFe training can be taken by all those who have at least five years experience in software development. Basic working knowledge in Scrum framework is required to learn the lean-agile process at the enterprise level.

Certification Cost

SAFe Agilist certification cost includes the 2-day training, SAFe agilist certification exam dumps, online exam, one-year membership with Scaled Agile community, digital badge, and food. All inclusive, SAFe agile certification cost in India will be INR 50K. If you do not take the test within 30 days of completing the training then you need to pay an additional USD 50 to appear for the test.

Examination details

The online exam will have 45 objective questions under 9 subheadings including the top 3 namely the lean portfolio, ART, and SAFe. One must answer 34 questions correctly to pass the exam. Nothing is difficult if you can get trained by professional trainers and with the help of SAFe agilist certification exam questions and answers pdf you can crack the exam easily.

How to renew the certificate

The certificate obtained after clearing the exam is valid for one year. To extend the validity for another year USD 100 must be paid online on the Scaled Agile website using the same login credentials created for giving the examination.

Difference between CSM Certification and SAFe Agile Certification

	CSM	SAFe
Prerequisites	Even a fresher with basic knowledge about software development methodology can attend the course and get certified.	An individual with a minimum of 5 years experience in software development can attend the training.
What you will learn?	You will learn about the Scrum framework, agile principles, roles, artefacts, values, iteration, planning, and executing.	You can understand lean thinking and embrace agility Learn to implement ART, construct a portfolio, and build a SAFe enterprise.
Certification body	Scrum Alliance	Scaled Agile
Who can attend?	Developer Tester Project Manager Business Analyst Architects Team Leaders QA Managers	Architects (Solution, Technical, and System) DevOps Practitioners Executive Leaders, Directors, VP’s and such high ranking professionals. Process lead, PMO, and Portfolio Managers Product Owner (PO) and Product Manager Program Consultants Program Manager and Project Manager (PM) Release Train Engineers Scrum Master (SM) Software Engineers
Exam Procedure	Mutiple Choice Questions type of exam. 1-hour duration with 50 questions	Mutiple Choice Questions type of exam. 1-hour duration with 45 questions
Exam pass percentage	37/50 answers with a pass percentage of 74	34/45 correct answers with a pass percentage of 75
Exam difficulty level	Easy with training	Difficult – Training and practice required
Training and Certification Fee	INR 24999	INR 50000

As promised in the beginning, we would now like to help you identify the best certification for you. And here you go with our recommendation. All those who want to understand the basics of scrum framework, must register for CSM training and get certified. In case, you want to understand and implement Agile and Scrum at the enterprise level, then opt for SAFe Agile certification.

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