ASPE Free Web Seminars

Web Seminars for Industry Professionals

From quick information-packed insights on the next generation of technology innovation to learning new ways to handle old problems, ASPE Web Seminars are a resource to our customers to stay on top of the curve. Each hour-long session is free, so sign up for as many as you like. Experience the ASPE advantage: proven technical professionals who can teach. Click on the seminar you are interested in attending and fill out the attached form. You will be confirmed into the session instantly. ASPE will follow up your registration with an email detailing how to log onto the seminar within 48 hours of the seminar start date.

Current Web Seminars:

• Core Professional Skills: a 60-Minute Primer - May 14
• Agile Marketing Primer - May 23
• Test Driven Development - May 30
• PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) Primer - June 4
• Criteria for a Successful Agile Implementation - June 6
• Federal Agile in 2013 - June 6
• Agile Adoption: The Organizational Change Dilemma - June 11
• Millennials Rising: Critical Success Factors for Leading and Empowering Generation Y - June 13
• Introduction to Kanban - June 18
• Identifying & Mentoring High Potential Employees - June 18
• The SharePoint Business Analyst - June 20
• Big Data World Primer - June 20
• Hadoop Unplugged - June 27
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) - June 27
• Active Listening for Understanding - July 9
• Agile Certifications Options Primer - July 17
• The Top 10 Ways to Deal with Nasty & Difficult People - August 22
• Agile Certifications Options Primer - October 16

Core Professional Skills: a 60-Minute Primer

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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

In the business world, we hear a lot about technology and disruption, and their many challenges. But we're also starting to hear more about pitfalls related to the human side of business…gaps in the "soft skills" that are equally critical to successful people and companies. Although many of these skills gaps are nothing new, they are more relevant than ever, and in some cases have been made worse by disruption. Without core professional skills like communication, initiative, leadership, and etiquette, no team can be truly great and no professional can be truly successful. You probably deal with the consequences of "soft skill" deficits every day: communication breakdown, misunderstanding, conflict, and damaged morale – just to name a few.

These are productivity killers, and the root causes are broad. There are rising cross-generational differences, a growing lack of interpersonal skills, differences in personality and culture, and erosion in consensus about what constitutes professional behavior. The good news is that there are teachable skills to address these challenges, and accessible techniques to overcome them. In this free one-hour presentation, we'll take a look at some of the most common "people problems" in the mainstream business world, and how we can start dealing with them. Key topics include:

• How to communicate effectively
• Overcoming generational and cultural barriers
• Leveraging emotional intelligence in the business environment
• Encouraging self-awareness while building a team mentality
• Keeping action and culture tied to productivity

Although these needs aren't new in the business world, even seasoned veterans are beginning to see the need for a "reloaded" approach to developing these skills. This will be a high-level conversation about how to navigate these soft skills as we face continuing changes in business landscapes and a rising new generation of professionals.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Agile Concepts for Management and Leadership Success

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Agile principles are dominating the discussion in software development. As it goes mainstream, software practitioners in almost every vertical are utilizing what Agile offers. It is only a matter of time before other professional disciplines begin to incorporate Agile for professional and organizational success. Radical Management is one such incorporation. Started by Steve Denning and chronicled in his book The Leader's Guide to Radical Management, it uses the foundational values of Agile and develops specific principles and practices for managers and leaders.

In this web seminar, you will initially look at the foundational values of Agile and discuss how and why they can be interpreted and utilized for managers and leaders inside and outside software development. Then dive into the specifics of Radical Management, the fundamental rationale for it, the defining principles and how those principles are acted upon. There is NO doubt Agile values can be used by managers and leaders. The challenge for them is the struggle to redefine themselves and their place in a business world that is rapidly going Agile. However, if they can cross this "chasm," the business opportunities on the other side in

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Agile Marketing Primer

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Rapid, scalable, flexible, collaborative: words that all marketers strive for to achieve real-world success in their creative process. And beyond the marketing world, business leaders everywhere are realizing that the new economic paradigm rewards speed, flexibility, and response to change.

If you've read The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, you know how FAST economic disruptions now move through the world economy. Some disruptions are flashes in the pan. Others bring about marketplace revolutions that none of us have the tools to entirely predict, or even catch early indicators regarding the direction they will take.

So in the face of this reality, marketers need to look at work values, principles, and processes that enable the nimbleness required to "catch a black swan". In search of practices which enable this success, creative leaders in marketing fields are looking to their brethren in another profession which is high-stakes and project-based: software development. They are finding that the foundational values (and the practices associated with them) of highly successful software development philosophies such as Agile can also be leveraged to bring speed, quality, and flexibility to processes which yield fantastic creative.

This is Agile Creativity: the fusing of the software world's Agile values with the creative initiatives of marketing. In this web seminar, we will discuss in detail the core values of Agile work, then look at the practices and principles being implementing to fuse marketing needs with those values. The outcome is a powerful structure for quickly bringing ideas to life, rapidly developing iterations that increase quality, and incorporating feedback and input earlier in the creative process.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Test Driven Development

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

As teams constantly develop small incremental features by adding, modifying, re-factoring, and re-designing existing software, many challenges emerges with each and every iteration. Among these challenges is ensuring previously delivered functionality is still correct and newly created functionality works as expected within a single iteration. Test Driven Development (TDD) can help address these issues with greater safety and confidence while supporting the team to create better quality software and simpler designs. TDD is built on a set of values that testing and quality are paramount, change is expected and both are constantly embraced.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) Primer

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

It is here. Testing for the pilot PMI Agile Certified Practitioner finished last December, and the exam has been in place for a year. With ASPE's leadership position in both Agile and Project Management, ASPE-SDLC feels uniquely qualified to provide this primer session to help you prepare yourself to obtain this certification. Many of our instructors have taken and passed the exam.

Overview:

• Application Requirements
• Fees
• Exam content overview
• Domains and tasks for Agile Certification
• Training options
• Where this certification fits with the Scrum Alliance certifications
• Q & A

Presenter:
Bob Clarke

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Federal Agile in 2013

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

As Agile grows, people who learned about it at a 5th, 6th or 7th degree of separation from the "founding fathers" of Agile sometimes see it as process or a science type method. That sentiment about Agile isn't 100% incorrect, but the reality is that Agile is much more at its core. It is based on a core perspective from which process/methods flow out. It is about seeing the world, conducting yourself, working in a team, and doing actual work the Agile way.

Sounds like a cult, right? Well, in some cases it is. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. If a "utopian" work environment is something you are looking to be a part of, Agile can possibly take you there. Remember the four basic values:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

If done right you can gain high morale and develop a highly productive work environment (maybe even utopian depending on your perspective). The interesting thing about these values though, is that they pretty much run counter to how we currently conduct business, and how human beings naturally think, act and react.

In this presentation you will learn about the methods around these four basic values and learn about the change management challenges that come with agile adoption. We will touch on what Scrum means, how to conduct an iteration, what is a task board, how to do a proper retrospective, and how planning is handled in Agile. On top of that we will review government adaption of agile and use our experience with the VA as a semi-case study on Agile in government. Finally, the topic of certification will be reviewed with a detailed discussion of both Scrum Alliance certification programs and the new PMI-ACP credential.

This session will give you a working knowledge of agile and allow you dig deeper into its methods and practices with a solid, foundational understanding. We will also discuss Federal government policies and procedures and how those are impacted by agile deployment.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Criteria for a Successful Agile Implementation

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Simply applying an agile approach does not guarantee success, as it is not a silver bullet. Agile requires many components to be in place and effectively managed in order to yield the benefits promised by this iterative approach. This web seminar reviews what criteria should be considered before starting your agile project to provide the greatest possibilities of a successful outcome.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Agile Adoption: The Organizational Change Dilemma

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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Agile at its foundation is a way of conducting work governed by a set of principles. Agile has been "productized" (different Agile Flavors) for specific work needs, and special practices have been established to get the work done. With all this said most organizations feel they just need to teach their team the practices and get to work. This is a major mistake.

As a way of working, Agile is a monumental transformation. It requires the worker to engage in their work with a completely different mindset. It requires organizations to monitor and measure its-self differently. Finally, it requires managers to practice a completely new set of skills when it comes to "managing" their teams (the reality is you don't manage your team any longer in Agile).

This 1-hour web seminar discusses the transformational challenge Agile presents to an organization. It will go over organizational change strategies necessary to make the jump, as well as cover different start-up models instead of complete enterprise adoption. The goal of this presentation is to properly prepare an organization for the "human" challenges associated with the decision to move to agile

Presenter:
David Mantica - ASPE President

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Millennials Rising: Critical Success Factors for Leading and Empowering Generation Y

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Thursday, June 13, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

The newest generation to hit the workforce goes by many different names. The basic birth year bracket for this generation is 1982 – 1995 or 2000, depending on your source. The names include Generation Y, Millennial Generation, Generation Next, Net Generation, Echo Boomers and even the Peter Pan Generation.

Here is the kicker, this generation is HUGE and is needed to ensure continued economic growth. The Baby Boomer Generation is around 120M the X Generation is around 90M. We just don't have enough X Generation professionals to fill the leadership void being created by the Baby Boomer push to retirement. The Millenials will be quickly pushed into leadership positions over the next 10 years to fill this void.

This sounds much easier in writing than it is to actually do. This generation has a very specific demographic and motivation. In order to get the most out of your High Potential Millennials, you must have a detailed understanding of the characteristics of this generation and how best to support, motivate and lead this group to ensure they achieve their maximum potential.

David will review and provide point / counter points on the following topics related to Millennial talent management:

• Very detailed look at Millennial characteristics including pros, cons and dispelling certain stereotypes
• Motivating Millennials in the work place, including issues on compensation, benefits, work/life balance
• Critical success discussion around empowering Millennial success through task assignment and work empowerment
• Finally a frank discussion of issues around discipline, corrective action, and feedback circles with Millennials

Whether you are a business analyst, project manager, IT manager or director, business manager or executive, you must understand how to properly drive the growth and development of your high-potential Millennials. Based on the significantly different characteristics of this generation, a detailed understanding is necessary for success. Or, as this generation is very willing to do, they will quickly leave and find something that does fit who they are.

Presenter:
David Mantica - ASPE President

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Identifying & Mentoring High Potential Employees

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

DISCOVER YOUR HIDDEN ASSETS...IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR HIGH POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES (HPE) In today's cut throat environment, finding your company's competitive edge can be quite challenging. While many companies focus only on their products and services to achieve this goal, an equally important area to focus on is your people. Many times your existing employees can be more important to your success and they are already in your organization.

Identifying and developing high potential employees (HPE's) is extremely important and this webinar will help you understand the value of this type of program in your organization. ASPE offers two high powered coursed that will help you not only identify your HPE talent, but to train them with the skills necessary to be a successful future leader. These classes are dynamic and interactive with the use of labs and role playing to drive home the main objective of employee development.

Presenter:
David Mantica - ASPE President

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Introduction to Kanban

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

As companies work to migrate their software development approach from Waterfall to Agile, they often begin to discover that the limited set of tools offered by the Agile (or Scrum) framework alone do not satisfy organizational needs. Larger projects, more teams, and limited resources are often the hallmark and impetus to implement a Lean development approach where value streams and waste elimination drive the creation of better products, more profitable efforts, and fully utilized resource teams. In this web seminar we will discuss the process, function, and benefits of utilizing Kanban and Lean to streamline your efforts.

Presenter:
Mark Fuchs - Davisbase Consulting

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

The SharePoint Business Analyst

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Sometimes we wonder how Microsoft ever came up with SharePoint. While SharePoint is the perfect enterprise integration platform, Microsoft is a transactional product focused marketing company. It just doesn't fit. This is a primary reason for the poor adoption and use of the most powerful business application on the market, SharePoint 2010.

The reality is, that for a large enterprise to gain the competitive advantage and efficiencies SharePoint can provide, it must look at how, and more importantly, who is driving adoption. This is why the SharePoint BA is so critical. It isn't about governance or basic administration. Yes those things are important but you're putting the chicken before the egg. The egg is USE!!! We are right in the middle of the transformation of power in IT systems, moving from geeks to the users because the users are becoming geeks. SharePoint is the pinnacle of user enabled IT power.

This web seminar will discuss the vast potential of real world applications for SharePoint. From there we will dig into the traditional role of a Business Analyst and finish off by discussing what the roles and responsibilities would be for a SharePoint Business Analyst. The goal of this seminar is to provide details on how organizations can increase the use of SharePoint in the enterprise, saving a significant amount of time and money, leading to quicker time to market.

Presenter:
David Mantica - ASPE President

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Big Data World Primer

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

As far as buzz words are concerned, "Big Data" is the new "SOA". A term that is over used and often misunderstood, how does one define the landscape and differentiate between reality and the hype? Join us as we explore what's real and what's possible. Gain a better understanding of "Big Data" and what you need to know in order to make informed decisions.

Hadoop presents a major shift in the fabric of IT data. It will change the way we process and store data as well how it's managed. Understand the main components of this complex and often confusing architecture and why every major vendor has either implemented or will be implementing some type of integration with Hadoop. NoSQL technologies are gaining popularity with a wide audience, solving problems differently than traditional RDBM systems. Bu why are there so many flavors of NoSQL and what problems are they solving? Differentiate between major NoSQL vendors and understood the advantages applied to various use cases.

Join us in this 1 hour web seminar to understand the current technologies that are generating all this excitement. Let us help you bring some context to the role that this new wave technology might bring to your next project and how the technology will change the way you value your data.

Presenter:
David Streever

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Hadoop Unplugged

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

The concept started out as a file system, then grew into a processing platform. Now Hadoop consists of several Open Source projects under the Apache umbrella building upon each other to provide a platform that scales to 1000's of nodes.

Understand how these components fit together and how it's going to change the way we process data. Cheap storage to grid computing, Hadoop as a platform can solve complex processing requirements on massive amounts of data, regardless of the format.

Presenter:
David Streever

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

The PMBOK represents the project management professions best understanding of standard terminology and guidelines for planning and executing a project. Almost as important, it is the standard from which questions are drawn for the PMP certification examination, so therefore, it is also for aspiring Project Management Professionals (PMPs). The Fifth Edition of the PMBOK Guide represents the latest efforts of the Project Management Institute (PMI) to keep this body of knowledge up-to-date and germane to practitioners.

This seminar will provide participants with an overview of the major differences between the fourth and fifth editions of the Guide as well as some inferences that can be drawn concerning the PMI philosophies behind these changes.

Presenter:

ASPE instructor Dave Caccamo, PMP, has more than three decades of experience in engineering, economics and project management. Dave has demonstrated time and again his ability to make complex business and engineering concepts understandable to executives, managers and technicians through his fundamental modeling of subject matter.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Active Listening for Understanding

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

It is estimated that as few as 25% of business messages are understood the first time they are sent. Given all the issues that can arise when two parties try to communicate, it may seem surprising that that number is anywhere near as high as it is! When it comes to face-to-face communications, one of the keys to overcoming communication issues is mastering the "active listening" skill set. Active listening involves the listener joining the speaker in taking responsibility for the proper understanding of the message and although many of us are born with such innate skills, for most of us they are learned traits. This seminar will provide an overview of the communications model, with special focus on identifying where things can go wrong, introduce the participants to the essential skills involved in active listening, and, finally, suggest implementation strategies to make using these skills second nature.

Presenter:

ASPE instructor Dave Caccamo, PMP, has more than three decades of experience in engineering, economics and project management. Dave has demonstrated time and again his ability to make complex business and engineering concepts understandable to executives, managers and technicians through his fundamental modeling of subject matter.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Agile Certifications Options Primer

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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Agile has made the leap and is now mainstream. The reality is, once something becomes mainstream, hiring needs to happen. When this happens, hiring managers need a baseline to judge applicants. In comes certification. The agile certification market has grown extensively over the last two years with both large and small organizations entering the market place. In this one hour web seminar we will discuss what the components are for a traditional certification program, one that will gain respect and recognition. From there we will discuss the value of certifications from an employer prospective and an employee prospective. The reality is they are not mutually exclusive. Finally we will detail the top Agile certification in the market place and give details on steps to achieve each certification, including thought on the best certification based on needs.

In this seminar you will learn:

• Difference between certification and certificate programs
• What the elements are for certification programs
• How employers use and value certifications
• How employees use and value certifications
• Scrum Alliance certification stack
• IC Agile Certification stack
• PMI Agile based certifications
• Other Agile certifications (Flavor based and holistic)

Presenter:
Tom McGraw has over three years of experience working in the B2B training industry, with an emphasis on IT and SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) training products and services. Tom is an active contributor to the ASPE blog, writing on topics including Agile, Project Management, SharePoint, and more. As VP of Public sales at ASPE, he works directly with clients in various locations to develop training solutions to resolve challenges they face with their current processes or products. He works closely with the Training Advisors to ensure that any customer who contacts ASPE can immediately receive advisement from a qualified, knowledgeable member of our staff. Tom received a degree in Psychology from Duke University in 2009, prior to entering the training industry. He received his Certified Scrum Master (CSM) designation in 2011.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

The Top 10 Ways to Deal with Nasty & Difficult People

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Thursday, August 22, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Ask 10 people to define a nasty and difficult person and you will get 10 different definitions. There are many types of difficult people. Do you get frustrated and don't know what to do with whiners, braggarts, negativity, passive aggressive behavior, or people who are on emotional roller coasters? If you answered yes, then this web seminar is for you.

Everyone encounters difficult and nasty people, but it's how you deal with them that makes the difference. Ignoring these problem behaviors will only make things worse. In this web seminar, discover the top 10 ways to deal with nasty and difficult people and how you can bring out the best in people.

Presenter:
Kelley Bruns

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.

Agile Certifications Options Primer

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

12:00 pm Eastern Time  |  11:00 am Central Time  |  10:00 am Mountain Time  |  9:00 am Pacific Time

Seminar Description:

Agile has made the leap and is now mainstream. The reality is, once something becomes mainstream, hiring needs to happen. When this happens, hiring managers need a baseline to judge applicants. In comes certification. The agile certification market has grown extensively over the last two years with both large and small organizations entering the market place. In this one hour web seminar we will discuss what the components are for a traditional certification program, one that will gain respect and recognition. From there we will discuss the value of certifications from an employer prospective and an employee prospective. The reality is they are not mutually exclusive. Finally we will detail the top Agile certification in the market place and give details on steps to achieve each certification, including thought on the best certification based on needs.

In this seminar you will learn:

• Difference between certification and certificate programs
• What the elements are for certification programs
• How employers use and value certifications
• How employees use and value certifications
• Scrum Alliance certification stack
• IC Agile Certification stack
• PMI Agile based certifications
• Other Agile certifications (Flavor based and holistic)

Presenter:
Tom McGraw has over three years of experience working in the B2B training industry, with an emphasis on IT and SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) training products and services. Tom is an active contributor to the ASPE blog, writing on topics including Agile, Project Management, SharePoint, and more. As VP of Public sales at ASPE, he works directly with clients in various locations to develop training solutions to resolve challenges they face with their current processes or products. He works closely with the Training Advisors to ensure that any customer who contacts ASPE can immediately receive advisement from a qualified, knowledgeable member of our staff. Tom received a degree in Psychology from Duke University in 2009, prior to entering the training industry. He received his Certified Scrum Master (CSM) designation in 2011.

Registration is open     Register for this FREE web seminar

Attendees will receive 1 PDU for this web seminar.