8 best Product Owner Certifications to Rank Your Career

In today’s dynamic business landscape, effective product ownership is critical for successful Agile project management. As a Product Owner, you play a pivotal role in defining the product vision, managing the backlog, and ensuring customer satisfaction. To stand out in the competitive job market and enhance your skills as an Agile leader, earning a recognized Product Owner certification is a wise investment. In this blog, we’ll delve into the 8 best product owner certifications that will empower you to excel in your role and advance your career. These certifications are the most demanding in 2023. Thousands of candidates appear to take these credentials to furnish their skills.

1. Certified Product Owner Certification

The PMHQ Product Owner Certification Course appeals to aspiring product owners or existing product owners who want to broaden their knowledge of product ownership. There are over 70+ lectures, 20+ downloadable writing homework, and instructor feedback on your writing.

Who is the course designed for?

The course is best for you if:

  •         You lack a formal background or experience in project management, computer science, or software engineering.
  •         You aren’t confident that learning how to code and building a career in software engineering is right for you. Instead, you love the cross-functional skills of being a product owner.
  •         You aren’t sure if you want to spend 100% of your time in a customer-facing or a sales role. You want a hybrid role that includes the best of both worlds.
  •         The courses and bootcamps offered in the tech industry are either too technical or jargon-filled or lack sufficient depth.
  •         You don’t have insider tips or the right resources to stand out as a candidate in Product Owner interviews.

What will you gain?

         Fundamentals of agile product management

  •         How to create your business model
  •         How to validate your ideas
  •         Scrum foundations
  •         Team dynamics
  •         Stakeholder management
  •         How to answer product owner interview questions
  •         How to stand out in the recruiting process to land a product owner job

2. Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Certification (PSPO)

Professional Scrum Product Owners demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of Scrum, the Product Owner role and their ability to apply that knowledge in real-world situations.  The value of certification is intimately tied to the demonstration of knowledge needed to achieve it. By that measure, the PSPO assessments are significantly more valuable than available alternatives for Scrum Product Ownership. Those that pass the PSPO assessments will receive the corresponding industry recognized certification. There are three options for Professional Scrum Product Owner assessment: PSPO I, PSPO II and PSPO III. 

Who is the course designed for?

It is not mandatory that you take a Scrum.org Professional Scrum training class to take one of our assessments, although it is highly recommended. Certification is more than just a way to show that you attended a class and that is why Scrum.org Professional certifications are so highly regarded in the industry. Therefore, they make assessments available to anyone as a way for you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the role of Product Owner in detail.  Each Scrum.org training class includes a free attempt at the corresponding assessment.  Those that pass the PSPO assessments will receive the corresponding industry recognized certification.

What will you gain?

To be effective, Product Owners need to have a firm grasp on the value drivers for their product, and a keen sense of how to use agile practices and Scrum to maximize that value.  The Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) assessments allow people to validate and certify their understanding of the role of the Product Owner and how they would respond to real situations that would challenge them.

Read More: Benefits of getting IT Certifications in 2023

3. Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO)

 In a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO®) class, you’ll learn the framework, principles, and values that make scrum work, plus key skills and tools you need to be effective. You will discover how to juggle multiple stakeholders’ needs, get hands-on practice creating a product vision, and learn new ways to get to know your customers so that you can choose the right next piece of value to bring to market for them.

Who is the course designed for?

Anyone who enjoys (or wants to become more familiar with) the business side of projects can benefit from earning a Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®) class. CSPOs decide what the team will create, ordering the work to ensure that the most valuable, impactful products reach customers at a regular cadence.

What will you gain?

  • Expand your career opportunities across all industry sectors.
  • Learn scrum essentials and the scope of the product owner accountability.
  • Maximize the value of your team’s work and the resulting products.
  • Engage with a global community of agile practitioners committed to continuous improvement.
  • Access resources designed to help you succeed long after the class is done.

4. SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager

The SAFe® Product Owner and SAFe® Product Manager (POPM) course covers the tactical responsibilities of these roles in the Agile Release Train (ART). The SAFe POPM course will teach you how to adopt a customer-centric approach to building products, using the Scaled Agile Framework® to deliver more value, faster. Topics covered in this course include the daily role of POs and PMs; collaborating with engineering teams and business stakeholders; how to write epics, features, and stories; and how to design, prioritize, build, test, and deliver products with increased productivity and higher quality.

Who is the course designed for?

The course and resulting certification give you the guidance and tools to work effectively in remote environments with distributed teams. Learn how product owners and product managers should work together to achieve the best possible customer and business outcomes. 

What will you gain?

  How to perform the role of a PO and a PM on a daily basis

  •         How to put the customer at the center of your design, build, and test process
  •         How to prepare for and lead PI Planning
  •         How to decompose Epics to Features and Features to Stories
  •         How to collaborate with Agile teams to forecast work

5. PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)

PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® is one of the newest certifications offered by PMI and is expected to become the industry standard certification for agile over the next few years. In addition to preparing you for the exam, this PMI-ACP exam prep course is designed to teach you the principles and practices of agile, including Scrum, XP and Lean

Who is the course designed for?

This PMI-ACP exam prep course is intended for anyone who wants to learn the principles and practices of agile.

  • At least a secondary-level degree
  • 8 months of experience with agile project(s), acquired within the last 3 years
  • 12 months of general project experience accumulated within the last 5 years
  • 12 contact hours of training in agile

What will you gain?

  •         Agile Foundation
  •         Agile Fundamentals
  •         Agile Estimating
  •         Agile Metrics
  •         Agile Methodologies
  •         Agile Leadership
  •         Agile Communications
  •         Agile Contracts and Accounting Principles

Read More: 7 Topmost Project Management Certifications in 2023

6. Scrum Product Owner Accredited Certification™ (SPOA)

Your Scrum Product Owner Accredited Certification™ Program is a multiple-choice online test examination in which you can participate from your own PC from anywhere around the world. Your test contains 50 questions and you have 60 minutes in a single session to answer your questions. Your test and certification cost in total USD 99. No other hidden costs or fees involved. In order to pass your certification examination and obtain your Scrum Product Owner Accredited Certification™ you need to correctly answer at least 60% of your test questions. 

Who is the course designed for?

There is no fixed audience for this exam. Any candidate who wishes to become a certified product owner can opt to take this credential.

What will you gain?

It will be your Proof of Competence and up-to-date Knowhow in Scrum Domain.

  • It will be your Proof of Competence and up-to-date Knowhow in Scrum Domain.
  • It will help you become better than your competition and ultimately get hired for your next big challenge.
  • It will broaden your perspective. It will help you get more responsibilities and better career opportunities compared to your peers.
  • It will provide a brand new toolset that you can deliver great products and services that your customer will enjoy and love.

7. EXIN Agile Scrum Product Owner

EXIN Agile Scrum Product Owner tests a candidate’s skills and knowledge of Agile principles and Scrum practices specifically with the role of Product Owner in mind. This certification focuses on adopting Agile or Scrum in the workplace and taking on the role of Product Owner.

Who is the course designed for?

Agile Scrum Product Owner focuses on bringing value to the customer and value for the business, through Agile project management techniques. This certification is especially suitable for professionals working in the areas of project management, software development, IT service management and business management.

What will you gain?

  • Agile Way of Thinking
  •  Product Owner role
  •  Managing the Product
  • Backlog
  •  Complex Projects
  •  Adding Value

8. AgilePM Practitioner by APMG International

Agile Project Management course by APMG is designed for the practitioners who have to make their career in management. The exam is objective type. There are 4 questions. Each question carries 20 points. You need to gain 50% marks in the exam. It means that 40 answers must be right. The time for the exam is 2.5 hours. The exam is open book. You can use AgilePM during the exam. 

Who is the course designed for?

  • AgilePM Foundation Certified Professionals.
  • Agile team members who want to become Agile Project Managers.

What will you gain?

  • How to apply a variety of agile practices to a project, for example, workshops, the MoSCoW technique to define project priorities, iterative development and modeling.  
  • How to test, estimate and evaluate profit delivery in an Agile project.     
  • Facilitation and support mechanisms within an Agile project.     
  • The agile approach to manage and prioritize requirements.

Worth and Importance of Obtaining a Product Owner Certification

Gaining a Product Owner Certification would help you gain the following advantages:

  •         You can get an opportunity to serve in a reputed organization.
  •         You can earn a valuable salary range starting from $7,537 to $12,638 per month.
  •         A product owner certification acts as your skill badge to ensure that you hold all the necessary skills required by a scrum product owner.
  •         Skills without a certification are partially incomplete. A certification adds value to your skills.

Job Roles Open to Product Owners

The following job roles are open to certified product owner professionals:

         Architect

  •         Business Analyst
  •         Designer
  •         Executives and Other Leaders
  •         Product Manager
  •         Program Manager
  •         Project Manager
  •         Team Leader

Read More: Product Owner vs Scrum Master: Who Runs the Show?

In A Nutshell

As a Product Owner, investing in a recognized certification can significantly enhance your expertise, credibility, and career prospects in the Agile space. The certifications mentioned above offer a range of benefits, from mastering the Scrum framework to adopting Lean principles and excelling in large-scale Agile projects. Assess your experience level and specific career goals to select the certification that aligns best with your aspirations. Remember, continuous learning and hands-on experience are equally vital for your journey as a successful Product Owner in the ever-evolving Agile world.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification is the most demanding one. It has the most demanding skills to cater your professional needs.

The time taken to prepare a certification depends on your previous knowledge and your study material. The basic-level certifications may take a few weeks while the advanced level may take months. 

There are many courses that can help you to learn the core concepts of each course. You can use the practice questions from Dumpsgate to learn how to apply the concepts and to prepare in the shortest time. 

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Index