Salary Survey 2016: ScrumMasters and Agile Coaches

Here are the results of our 2016 South African salary survey. The survey included ScrumMasters, agile coaches and consultants. Take a look at the infographic below, and read on for our analysis.

Here is what we believe we can see from the data.

1. The title of ScrumMaster vs Agile Coach, seems to be more of an indication of how people work than what they earn. We think this is a good sign because it shows an understanding of the role difference rather than people just using an agile coach title to demand more money.

2. Looking at the data from last year to this year we see a massive growth (375%) in junior ScrumMasters and Agile Coaches. We believe this is because there is a huge demand for these skills as more companies and teams adopt agile, and there aren’t enough to go around. It’s fantastic that people are starting to grow these skills.

3. We also see a 200% growth in junior ScrumMaster salaries in the Western Cape from 10k per month to 30k. Obviously people are valuing this role much more and needing to make it attractive to grow skills. We also note that most people seem to get into the ScrumMaster role within their first year with agile. I guess either you think the role is interesting immediately, or you steer clear forever 😉

4. Trends for increases are very different in Gauteng vs Western Cape. In Gauteng we see no growth in Agile Coach salaries, but a healthy 16% growth in ScrumMaster salaries, particularly senior ScrumMaster. This is likely a market correction, based on a better understanding of the ScrumMaster role. Last year it looked like people needed to call themselves Agile Coaches to earn bigger salaries in Gauteng. In comparison there is little growth in the Western Cape in ScrumMaster salaries (except for juniors), however agile coach salaries have grown.

5. How people learn and connect with communities has remained fairly constant since we began the survey in 2013, with over 80% of respondents attending local events and 30% attending coaching circles.

6. We are excited to see that more than 57% of people indicate that they learn from pair working. Since pairing is one of the things we constantly model, we like to think we’ve helped this number become so high 🙂

Overall I think the survey reflects a very bright future for ScrumMasters and agile coaches in South Africa. People are valuing this skill and the demand is growing.

Of course all data is open to interpretation, so if you’d like to do your own data analysis, here is the raw data. If you would have any of your own insights from looking at the data, or have some suggestions for questions we should add to the survey in future, please leave a comment.

Note: We had a few people who were not in South Africa do the survey and we excluded those results. Similarly, those that did not call themselves ScrumMasters or agile coaches were also left off the results.
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If you’d like to earn more as a ScrumMaster, up your game by taking our new Advanced ScrumMaster course, available online.
 
 
 
 

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