By Spencer Sheff, CSM
As a college student, the question, “What are you going to do when you graduate?” always seems to pop up. I tend to answer these questions with a variety of things that sound like something a student with a clear plan and plenty of opportunity would say, but what I always want to respond and what I always have in the back of my head is the question, “What can I do?”.
The number one problem I’ve run into throughout my college career is trying to find something I’m qualified to do by the time I graduate. In short, that search is HARD. I’m dual majoring in economics and applied math yet I find myself looking at job listings and feeling like I have no way to get my foot in the door despite my college education. As my research into the future goes, on I’m learning that as important as a college degree is, what’s more important is how I’ve proved I can apply that degree.
Before starting my internship with KAI Partners, I had no idea what agile methodology, Scrum, or even a ScrumMaster® was (funny now considering I am one). Throughout my first month here I’ve been introduced to agile methodology and I’m learning just how much opportunity there is in the workforce for people with knowledge on how to use agile methodology to run a project. PERFECT, this is the kind of information I’ve been looking for. Also, perfect for me is the fact that the KAIP Academy offers a class to earn the professional certification of Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM), and I was fortunate enough to be able to take the course recently.
The main reason I took the course was to be able to put a professional certification on my resume. Beyond just being able to put CSM on my resume, I took the course to learn more about project management and the different ways to lead people and organize/assign work to reach a common goal. The course is only two days long but it’s absolutely packed with useful information.
Over the course of two days my class of nine dove into Scrum and how to be an effective ScrumMaster® on a project. Our instructor, Certified Scrum Trainer Bernie Maloney, taught us by leading the class through our own project of building a LEGO city. The most interesting and informative part of the class was realizing just how effective self-organizing autonomous teams can be rather than having rigidly structured teams with specifically delegated work. By using Scrum methodology, he took our team from building a meek excuse for a city in ten minutes to building a Lego metropolis complete with a farm, pool, and even public art.
The biggest takeaway I received from this class was more than just a certification. I learned a unique way to organize work that can be applied to all facets of life from completing chores at home to tackling large and complex IT Projects. I specifically am going to try to introduce some of the things I learned in my everyday work as an intern. I considered myself fairly organized before, but now I can get my work done like clockwork using things like Kanban Boards and effective estimation tools that I learned from taking the class.
After taking the CSM class I can confidently say I’ve learned skills that are going to help carry me throughout my professional career. The skills I now have put me a step ahead of other students my age and will make starting my career that much easier when it comes time to go on the job hunt.
Interested in taking our Certified ScrumMaster®, Certified Scrum Product Owner®, or Agile Jumpstart courses? Visit our Eventbrite page to see our full schedule of upcoming courses!
About the Author: Spencer Sheff is an Intern for KAI Partners. He is a rising junior at Claremont McKenna College dual majoring in Applied Math and Economics. Spencer is also the captain of Claremont McKenna’s football team. In his spare time, he likes to play video games, lift weights, and go camping.