Why interviewer asked scrum master for coding skills?

[ADEEL AHMED]

I am searching for a job as scrum master role , Most of the time employer asked me about the coding skills or testing skills. My question is that how much important for a scrum master to learn coding. In my personal opinion and learning scrum master don,t need a coding skills. 
What you guys thinks out there ?
Kindly give me a detail opnion on this?

[Craig Nodwell]

Hi @ADEEL AHMED solid advice with sound reasons made by @Bill Sheboy  and @Ash Yadav
My add here is I'm an SDLC optimization specialist focusing on automations, ci/cd, devops, and release management.  To achieve those the upfront needs to be aligned(Planning, Business, PMO).
I find it extremely valuable to have scrum masters on board understanding all this at least enough to see the vision, provide valuable inputs, reviews, and coach the teams they work with in those processes.  I attend enough stand ups to know that scrum masters who do not understand at some level what developers / data / testers / devops are talking about they can get lost in the noise.
Your career is up to you, keeping abreast of the requirements to allow growth is all on you.
Have faith in yourself and grow.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @ADEEL AHMED 

In my experience, the needs for a specific "scrum master" role depend upon the team's needs, the organization's needs, and how the job is defined.  I recommend reviewing any postings and asking questions to understand what is required versus desired, and ask to observe the team in action before committing to a role.

While non-IT teams wanting help from a scrum master may not need software development coaching, an IT team / organization can benefit from a scrum master with many different experiences, including people coaching, software engineering, process engineering / improvement, project management, business analysis, quality assurance, training development, practical experience with multiple different work-management approaches, etc.  Some employers specifically want scrum masters who have been on teams as a team member.  Others may want the scrum master to be a technical coach for people on practices from XP, TDD, CI/CD, mobbing, etc.  Having those skills can help to both empathize with the team and product owner, and to quickly observe and see areas to support the team.

As with many things, skills can be built over time.  So check the roles to see which are better fits for your interests at your current point in your agile journey.

Kind regards,
Bill

[ADEEL AHMED]

Thanks, Bill for detail explanation 

[Ash Yadav]

Hi @ADEEL AHMED 

While this isn't really a question related to Atlassian or it's products, generally speaking scrum masters are expected to have some form of understanding regarding the software development lifecycle which includes testing and to some extend, coding. 

You likely won't have to write any code but if you don't understand the software development lifecycle or the code, even at a high level, how can you expect to be a coach for your software development team? 

All the best, 

Ash 

[ADEEL AHMED]

logical point. Thanks