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The differences between scrum masters and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a scrum master, becoming a product owner takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a product owner has an average salary of $97,070, which is higher than the $86,329 average annual salary of a scrum master.
The top three skills for a scrum master include jira, software development and agile scrum. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.
| Scrum Master | Product Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $86,329 | $97,070 |
| Hourly rate | $41.50 | $46.67 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 44,670 | 129,990 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 44 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 10 |
A scrum master is a job that's rooted in leadership. It is the scrum master's responsibility to ensure a scrum process over the development of a project. They are not directly involved in the decision-making but guide the team in completing the scrum process with their experience and expertise. Also, a scrum master must be adept at being agile in approaching a project and also be able to schedule meetings during the process. In addition, the scrum master acts as a coach as well, helping the scrum teamwork cross-functionally.
Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.
Scrum masters and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Scrum Master | Product Owner | |
| Average salary | $86,329 | $97,070 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $114,000 | Between $71,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | ICE Mortgage Technology | ORIX USA |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a scrum master and a product owner in terms of educational background:
| Scrum Master | Product Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between scrum masters' and product owners' demographics:
| Scrum Master | Product Owner | |
| Average age | 44 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 10% |