The Job Hackers

Attended the course remotely from New York. While there are no homework, project or group assignments, there is a substantial reading list to prepare for each class.

Even though as a remote student, the vibe felt like a physical classroom. Class es were... Read More held from 10:30 AM until 12 noon by video conference twice a week for 6 weeks. Students could ask questions during class via chat. The instructor, Larry is an excellent teacher. His explanations are very clear and concise.

At the end of the course, you will receive a "certificate of completion" and the ability to post it on your LinkedIn Profile. This course is designed to prepare students to take the "Professional Scrum Master I" certification exam which is proctored by an external testing organization and is the industry standard. Before taking the real exam, Larry provides useful information about automated test preparation websites.

This course is highly recommended for anyone interested in Agile software development.

I didn’t want this training to end! Glad I will be an Alumni of The Job Hackers now!
After our 2nd day (12 total) I had our main HR at my office listen to my Agile introduction presentation. She and our cloud enterprise director liked it so much - we... Read More started our weekly lunch and learn and it’s been couple of weeks now! :) Taking this training was for sure Win-Win!
Thank you Larry - I learned a lot and got inspired to learn more and teach others about Agile and Scrum!

Honestly, my expectations were low as this is a free course. So I was pleasantly shocked when the instructor turned out to be exceedingly engaging.

I would recommend attending in person if at all possible; the ability to ask questions in person and discuss... Read More with other participants would have added another level of depth to my understanding of the material. It was quite difficult to have discussions with people online - frankly I was too shy to attempt it.

I would also recommend completing all the reading as soon as possible; preferably in advance of the course. There is quite a lot of reading.

The job support and meetups seem excellent; I wish I lived closer to be able to take better advantage of both.

Besides providing experienced professionals with the tools and principles of the Agile Methodology, The Job Hackers' twice weekly (for six weeks) sessions goes beyond textbook information. Instead, it exchanges and challenges participants to think beyond... Read More the obvious. Counter to assumption, Agile is not confined to the Information Technology sector. Each week Larry Apke (Founder and CEO), Lecturer-in Chief, draws from over twenty years as practitioner of Agile in Scrum Master and Scrum Master Coach roles, to deliver practical and market-ready information. At the end of each session, participants take with them knowledge and skills they can use to further their career at current jobs or one they wish to secure.

The weekly sessions are well-structured, delivered with engaging and rich content inviting active assessment by participants. These 90-minute sessions tend to fly by quickly. A syllabus is provided weeks prior to the start of a new session; included are a list of published articles and textbooks by industry notables and practitioners, Agile practice exam questions and certification sites. Following each session, lecture materials are uploaded (on to Slack), where the interaction between teacher and participants continues, until the next session. The average session size is 30; this includes online and in-person attendance. Larry is never at loss of answers or energy; this is evidenced by the eight channels on Slack. No question is too small or irrelevant. Larry always responds in short order.

The Job Hackers is designed to support all types of job role and profession, and industry. As a founder of tech companies, I believe the start-ups should embrace and instill Agile Methodology and Principles, at the onset. The Job Hackers participants are a talent pool of experienced individuals, who upon completion of the program bring with them enhanced abilities to job - able to support many business situations and challenges. By engaging Recruiters (Placement Agencies), through orientation events (Meetups) individuals tasked with helping companies find experienced competent Human Capital are able to the hidden value proposition in every participant to prospective. Something that is not is short supply at The Job Hackers.

I recommend sending your employees to one of their sessions or consider graduates from this program for employment. You will not be disappointed.

I take Agile, Scrum, Kanban and Project Management training several times a year. These training sessions are very tech book and always help you prepare for a related exam. But they rarely cover real world experiences, they cover text book perfect experience.... Read More The real world is not at all like the text books. It's one thing to learn the ideal everything, it's another to apply that ideal training. The experience and discussions on real world situations and years of experience shared in the sessions helped me to get a new Agile Scrum Master role. I believe my ability to communicate my experience and training helped me to land a new job, and I believe I was better able to communicate because of the workshops I attended from The Job Hackers.

Thank you to Larry Apke for inviting me. I can't wait to attend another one!

-Larry Lee
Agile Scrum Master

The class and group is centered around agile principles and the Scrum framework along with communal support for job searching for those that need it. This is an excellent way to not only prepare for a PSM or CSM exam, but also gain a considerable amount... Read More of knowledge behind the principles that drive those frameworks. Many classes focus on the mechanics of the Scrum framework, but this is one of the few instances of a deeper drive that I have seen.

I would highly recommend this to others looking for knowledge to support a career in management of day-to-day product development or software engineering.

It was a chance meeting at a Meetup event that I met Larry who casually mentioned his workshop. I was stalled and struggling in my job search and floundered in an interview when I forgot key agile terms I've known for years. When Larry mentioned the Agile... Read More Scrum class, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to shake off the cob webs and try to discover where my knowledge gaps resided.

On the first day, I was surprised to find that Larry was volunteering his time specifically to help those in the middle of a job search, using a skill he was passionate about.

From this class I not only reinforced what I already knew, but learned so much more. The icing on the top was the opportunity to exercise my project management skills, network with others of same and varied situations. I also appreciated the guest speakers.

As fulfilling as the opportunity was, some things on my wish list would be some exercises to demonstrate the methodology. There was one about weighing story points that I found helpful and would have liked to have one or two others.

Because of the format of the class, having alumni come back on the last day to share what they have done to progress in their job search and application of what they learned in class.

The coupling of meetup with TJH opens up opportunity to futher networking with those looking to further their professional goals.

Lastly, I wish there were follow up courses or engagement to continue after the workshop is completed.

Thank you Larry for all your effort

I've been practicing Agile for about 10 year and became Certified Scrum Master in 2010. The Job Hackers class that Larry Apke conceived and is teaching plays a significant role in my deeper understanding of all that's behind the methodologies and technics... Read More of Agile and the manifesto of Scrum. Anyone who wants to excel in leading in the explosive innovation markets of today and well into the future, MUST attend this class to maintain her/his competitiveness in the Knowledge Workers markets of AI, Self Driving Cars, Drones, Medicine and Industrial Internet of Things.

A deep understanding of how teams should be self organized, how intrinsic motivation is key to building successful teams and how business and technology need to collaborate is what the class is bringing to the students.

I'd recommend the class to anyone I'm connected with.

I was one of the students from Larry's starting classes, and did not miss even one day because it was very extensively informing and eye opening. It helped me improve my strategy in searching for jobs, and interviews. With that advanced strategy, my interviews... Read More were more interactive and productive. Larry Apke and the job hackers will bring a difference to the job search solutions with the Agile/Scrum class. Project managers should take his class definitely.