One man team
Hi All,
I’ve worked in two jobs my entire life and I’m now 40 years of age. Both jobs have been me working as the IT guy In two small companies. Roles included managing severs on a basic level, building designing / testing Wordpress website for the company, implementing new ideas and working with developers in India to have my designs or projects completed to my requirements. Prior to that it was multimedia which involved video editing / dvd / blu Ray authoring which now is out dated.
Both jobs I’ve worked solo so I’ve self taught myself and never had any formal training or qualification but managed to make a decent income. My issue now is I want to become a more skilled person and be able to earn more. I’ve been told to look at scrum for certificates but having looked it all I have no idea where I would fit in. I don’t know how to code as it’s never been a requirement I can design but never worked with skilled ux designers so I can’t call myself a ux designer.
At this stage of my career I don’t want to study and pay ££ for a degree, learning how to code at 40 is something which will take me 5 years + and I would end up earning less than I am now. I feel I am great at working with product owners and then communicating with developers to deliver requirements so with that in mind can anybody suggest a new career path I could follow and gain more skills.
Hi Peter,
I was in a similar situation, but coming from a completely different industry to IT. The way I went was to do my PSM 1 certification and then to look for an internship where I could learn on the job and get hands on work experience. It worked for me, and I have been pushing to make this more wide spread, but it doesn't seem to have been getting much traction outside of people who are looking to be Scrum Masters.
https://www.scrum.org/forum/scrum-forum/33261/scrum-mentors-and-scrum-i…
Having said that, I suggest the best way to learn Scrum is to do Scrum, and maybe try to find an experienced Scrum Master who is willing to take you on so you could learn.
Just my tuppence worth, keep us posted about how you are eating on. Good luck!
Hello Peter,
If I quote you : "communicating with developers to deliver requirements". Although you aren't an UX-designer, this sounds very much like a product owner's role. You could go for PSPO I, to start with.
Then, it's a good thing to understand Scrum Master's role alongside Product owner's. So in second place, you could go for PSM I as well.
if we Apply some agile principles to this situation, considering Scrum is emperical meaning décisions can only be based on what is passed, since this is what we sure about. I would start studying both and figure out whichever I prefer based on what I get from my studies.
As far as I am concerned, after looking at both roles, my tastes are clearly leading me towards the Product Owner's roles. But that's me !
I hope this helps
Hello Peter,
I can imagine your conundrum - it is understandable to begin losing confidence in front of a Goliath like Scrum. But giving it enough time will help ease you into the groove of working within the whole nine yards. Think of these Agile solutions as principles, rather than directives. Get behind the philosophy - and I'm sure you'll find the niche you are looking to settle into.
~Sanjeev Nanda
"At this stage of my career I don’t want to study and pay ££ for a degree, learning how to code at 40 is something which will take me 5 years + and I would end up earning less than I am now. "
My advice would be:
1) You should be learning new things all the time.
2) You don't need a degree - you only need knowledge.
3) Learning how to code can take 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years, 20 years.... there's no cut off point - it's just acquisition of knowledge and if you know more today than you did yesterday, that's the progress you're looking for
4) There are no certain outcomes, so trying to guess what will be your earning power in 5+ years time is counterproductive to decision making and knowledge acquisition
Peter Smith, based on your explanation, I suggest PSPO certification(s). I think you will enjoy being a Product Owner.