Recently there was discussion about “Value of CEC/CTC” in Scrum Alliance CST&CEC mailing group. CEC stands for Certified Enterprise Coach, CTC stands for Certified Team Coach. CEC used to be CSC (Certified Scrum Coach, in early 2010s). I shared my opinion in the group and I would like to post it here as well.

I came across two articles today. I want to use these to share my opinion. 

* Mimetic trap https://www.briantimar.com/notes/mimetic/mimetic/
* What you can’t say http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html 

I applied for CSC not because of monetary value. I heard of CSC when I co-trained with @Michel Goldenberg in 2009. I had done some coaching for some clients already and being the first CSC in my country seemed interesting to me. I started preparation in early 2010. The process of preparing for the questionnaire turned out to be an enjoyable learning journey for me. I got a much deeper understanding of the role. I still remember the email of “CSC Acceptance” from @Pete Behrens on May 13 2010. For myself, it is a recognition of my past/competence and that’s the value of CEC to me. I don’t usually expect more from such kind of achievement after achieving it, however there are always interesting benefits/outcomes/opportunities afterward. For example, I got chances to know, collaborate, and co-train a number of CSCs/CSTs. I was engaged in some global coaching engagements to support local teams in China. I didn’t want to apply for a CST then but later (2012) when I wanted to apply, being CSC made it much easier to get certified. I was able to be involved in organizing coaching retreats and CSC candidate application reviews via which I collaborated with many passionate agile community leaders and I stole ideas from many of them.

I keep only two certificates because these are useful to create a big impact in neighboring countries. And these two certs are enough.
* It is a kind of proof to attract attention when I try to expand my impact in a new country. Later on, when they knew me, I tried to make sure they came to me because of Awakening (CSM) and AHAs (inspiration, CSPO) from the courses.
* The reason I offer CSM&CSPO certificates to my course participants is because it is a gift for them and possibly they will have more options for their career. I don’t teach Advanced courses, leader courses and so on. I don’t want my students to fall into the same Mimetic trap to climb the certificate ladder just because there is a ladder. As a gift/option, CSM&CSPO certificate are enough. They are good enough to create awareness for them to start pursuing their own journey (instead of the ladder). 
Furthermore, I tried to educate my students that it is more important to iteratively and incrementally find out what they really care about, what really matters, and what their personal vision is.