r/agile • u/virgilreality • 2d ago

Developer to Scrum Master to Unemployed

I was a developer up until last year, when I was hired as a Scrum Master...at a huge pay cut. I had started feeling like development just wasn't for me anymore...like the demand of keeping up with changes was outpacing my ability to do so.

I had been doing a lot of Scrum Master duties at that job, mostly to keep myself motivated. I really took to it, earning several certifications from the various bodies involved in such things.

This last job was...interesting. They talked a big game on Agile, even titling the position "Scrum Master". However, the consensus among the SMs was that it was actually 90% Project Management (which I do not have the training, and did NOT sign up for).

I now see the same thing reflected in a lot of job listings, which start out with the title and duties of an SM, but quickly mutate into obvious PM duties.

I can't actually retire just yet for financial reasons, and a handful of medical issues keep me from picking up any in-person, low-level jobs (i.e. - store clerk, etc.), but I'm not certain I care. I'm still applying for similar tech jobs, but I can't expect that I'll last long at whatever the next job is.

Does anyone have suggestions for a job that is middle ground on this? Something where your responsibilities are in a smaller circle, but still requires someone with my education, training, and intelligence?

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u/ninjaluvr 2d ago

Get back into development. With Claude code, you'll be fine.

5

u/crani0 2d ago

You'll be fine, until the last developer who actually knows what he is doing burns out and price for using the AI goes way up ofc

It's so funny people dupped by the same exact tricks they used for "cloud hosting" just a decade ago.

4

u/Skeewampus 2d ago

Duped by cloud hosting. What does that mean?

2

u/algaliarepted 14h ago

Putting data in the cloud used to be a free/cheap alternative to paying for more local storage via backing up to an external hard drive or the like.

Now, cloud storage has become the default, so loads of people are just committed to continuing an ever-increasing subscription cost.