Certified IT Architect, an attempt by The Open Group to raise the profile of this profession

The Open Group released a Certified Architect program, I learned about it on a recent blog post by Mike Walker. Since this is work from The Open Group, it’s going to spark reactions from friends and foes alike, depending on the side of the proverbial fence where people sit, it is either going to be dubbed “nice job!” or just “a completely skewed piece”. I don’t know, everyone’s entitled to his/her tastes.

By calling it IT Architect however, I am wondering if The Open Group intentionally limited the scope of what this entails. Professor Guido Dedene might have said that it should be more about Information Systems Architect, which is broader and more hollistic than just IT Architect. And I would agree with Pr. Dedene, because I think that mastering the technology alone isn’t sufficient to help solve business problems. If the mastery goes beyond Technology, then I would argue that IT is a reductive qualifer.

IT Certification may have gained some undue bad reputation because of some people misusing (abusing) the term. I have come across people walking around with all sorts of certifications yet you’d find that their knowledge and actual experience wouldn’t stand any proper scrutiny. I’ve even known people calling themselves architects when they didn’t have the faintest clue as to what the terms may signify. Those are certainly a few bad cases that shouldn’t be allowed to ruin the reputation of this profession. This is also not to say that certification isn’t useful, it clearly is a plus when walking to job interviews where the paper is what people value first and foremost.

Mike Walker’s blog gives a nice overview of The Open Group’s Certified Architect program, people starting up in the field would do well to get informed in this manner then chose their path diligently. Efforts of this kind are definitely a welcome contribution to the profession of Architect in Information Technology (IT) – I shall say Information Systems (IS) field.