CITA-P Certified February 19, 2010
Posted by mdereszynski in Architecture, Certification.trackback
Late last night, I passed the board exam for the IASA Professional Architect Certification (CITA-P). Although the organization has been around, as a sort of user-group for architects, for many years – the certification is new. As such, I have the designation of being #5 in the world. I also carry the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA:Solutions) certification.
To some people this is an impressive feat. To be recognized by these organizations and peers as being an expert practitioner of IT architecture is in my mind an honor and a privilege. I think it is important to promote the consistency and integrity of the title if we are to grow respect for technology professions. Others see certification as just another slip of paper or plaque to hang on the wall, often criticizing, “Anybody can pass a test.”
I promise you that John Jakob Raskob didn’t select Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates to architect the Empire State Building by opening the yellow pages to Building Architects hoping to find one that he could find cheap. He looked for talent, proven ability, licensed and certified designers! Do you think that software architecture is any different? Sure if you are building an outhouse or two car garage you might not really care if you engage an architect, but if you are going to build a national electronic health record management system, I’m going to guess that the builders will want someone with proven experience and peer recognized talent.
I’ll write another time about the experience and provide some of my advice on how to get through the paperwork. Most of my blog entries are about becoming a better architect. This is exactly what is required to become ready to pull together your experiences.
[...] I’ve waxed poetic about this before as well, but finding and encouraging your organization to adopt a standardized method to judge the quality of your architects can help to identify gaps in your talent pool and building a plan for advancing the profession. Most organizations will have definitions for the profession, but relying on trusted industry certifications will make the job of finding and hiring talent simpler and more reliable. IASA is a great vendor/framework agnostic organization that is focusing on promoting the profession of architecture and has recently begun the process of certifying professionals that exhibit the very best talent in the world. What’s more, this organization can provide a social network of architects from which to choose when you look to expand or mature your EA team. [...]