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Forget the MCSE, IT architect certification might be the next big thing – if you can make the grade
19 comments- IT TOPICS:Careers, Enterprise Software & Services
It’s an open secret that most technical certifications siphon hundreds – or thousands - of dollars from aspiring IT professionals in training courses while delivering little value to trainees or employers. The worst offenders are product-specific certifications, which emphasize product knowledge over basic skills. That knowledge quickly becomes worthless as products evolve. (Anyone need a Windows 98 MCP?)
“There are too many certifications out there today that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on,” admits Tony Redmond, vice president and CTO at Hewlett-Packard's HP Services unit. But that hasn’t dissuaded him from proposing a new one for IT architects.
Redmond also heads up HP's Advanced Technologies Group. We chatted last week about why he feels so strongly that the world needs a new certification.
Why IT architects? The problem, he says, is that no consistent definition exists. Meanwhile, everyone and his brother is hanging out an IT architect shingle. HP alone has more than 1,000 people on staff that fall into the IT architect category and there are about 200,000 that use the title worldwide, he claims.“There are so many people out there calling themselves IT architects and there’s nothing we can do to say they have the background to take that title,” he says. Redmond describes the IT architect position as “somebody who takes the responsibility for bringing together all of the different strands of technology that are required to meet a business need.”
Unlike programs like Microsoft’s MCSE where “you can do a two-week boot camp, take six exams and become an MCSE,” Redmond believes in approaching IT architect certification just as other professional associations would. His ideal model combines a minimum field experience requirement, a grueling examination that includes a presentation in front of a professional board and a continuing education requirement. Candidates should not be able to just sign up: they should be nominated by other professionals who already carry the certification. He points to the CISSP security certification as a model. “It’s based on experience. You have to have 4-5 years of experience and you have to demonstrate practical knowledge,” he says.
HP is backing two initiatives in this area. The Microsoft Certified Architect Program, set to debut in the second half of 2006, and the Open Group’s IT Architect Certification Program (ITAC).
The irony that Microsoft, which created perhaps the biggest paper certification program in the industry with the MSCE, should create a serious IT architect certification isn’t lost on Redmond. But he says Microsoft has been forced into it. “Microsoft realized they had a huge problem. When Microsoft sold technology to customers they said ‘send me along an architect who will do the job and deploy the technology.’ Microsoft had 450,000 MCSEs but there is nothing above that. So you have a paper certification and then nothing.”
The new program, launched in June, will be far more rigorous. Candidates go before a review board of practicing IT architects, present project work they have completed and are questioned. Each candidate presents for 30 minutes, is quizzed for 40 minutes and the board then deliberates, probing weaknesses. The candidate then comes back in and does a five-minute wrap up. Three out of four board members must pass the candidate or certification is not granted. “This is not a paper stamping exercise. It’s really, really tough” says Redmond, noting that only 9 of HP’s 1,000 architects are certified so far.
There’s just one problem: the certification is Microsoft-centric. Redmond supports the Microsoft certification, but acknowledges that a broader certification is needed. “A professional association or other guiding body should clearly define the IT architect position and it shouldn’t be vendor-specific,” he says.
ITAC presents a more open certification that’s not based on any one vendor’s technology. “It has the potential to be the long-term industry standard for vendor neutral certification, Redmond says. About 1,300 people have been certified through Open Group’s ITAC program. That’s a start, but there are about 200,000 people worldwide whoshould be certified, including positions that fall into subcategories such as software architect, operations architect and technology architect, says Redmond.
He hopes the Open Group and Microsoft will work together to develop a common set of requirements. Without a common standard, Redmond says HP is left to review resumes and call references. “There’s nothing we can test against. We absolutely have to solve this problem,” he says.
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