I was on a journey to know what skills I needed to become a Scrum Master. I needed something to encourage and motivate me. I needed more than just the 2-day class with a certification.
I started researching and I was not disappointed. I searched
- Who is a Scrum master?
- What does a Scrum Master do?
- How can a Scrum master be successful?
- What skills does a Scrum master need?
- Scrum master jobs
- Many more……
Even though I had done some research prior to deciding on being a Scrum Master, I strongly believe the 2-day class, gave me more to think about and more to research on. It made me know that 2 days was just not enough to have all the information I need. The more information I gathered, the happier I was. However, it was overwhelming. It was a ton of information. I was not sure on how to apply this. I was still missing information and had gaps. With each passing day, I gathered more knowledge, but each bag of information had rips in them. I was excited. I was happy. I knew I had ways to go, but the little information I was gathering made me confident that this is something I could do. Then I took the certification exam and passed it. Whoop. I was super proud of myself.
Then I read the Scrum guide. You would think I should have read this before even taking the 2-day certification. LOL.I did not know it existed until I saw it was mentioned during the certification exam. So, I took key bullet points from the Scrum guide to help narrow my research. Remember I mentioned my partner was in IT, but he is not a Scrum master. But I bothered him every night with questions around things I saw in the Scrum guide. We even had arguments about it. That was when I knew that there was a huge disconnect between the scrum Team and the Scrum Master. More about this later. I was on YouTube daily watching videos. I got some knowledge from the internet, but I was still behind. I knew I had no
confidence because my knowledge held no value. I decided to seek a mentor. Then I found out how much mentors cost. Triple what I spent to get the certification. I almost passed out. I could barely afford the certification; how do I afford a mentor. I kept looking for a mentor, but still kept studying. Eventually I found a mentor that was willing to work with me on the job search aspect of things. Since I could not afford the entire mentorship class and was self-studying, I figured I pay for what I could afford and if I was still behind, I would come back. I paid for that service and we got to work. I knew it was not much, but I prayed that it would help me in my search. I also knew that there was only so much a mentor could do, I am the driver in my journey and I cannot rely solely on her knowledge. I needed to learn and add my spice to build my personality and my acquired skills.
We met twice, she guided me and I started applying for jobs. I got a call from a recruiter and I was in shock. I was not expecting a call that soon. But I braced myself and spoke with confidence. We had a great conversation and he referred me to the hiring manager. I received an email that day inviting me for a panel interview. I almost passed out. A panel interview with 4 people with managerial roles. Can I do this? Should I accept this interview invite?
Check out Part 4