ArticleMay 14, 2012

TOGAF® to be the Prerequisite Certification for Architects

At EA Learning we interview a lot of Architects in the course of placing talent and building teams for our enterprise clients. In fact according to our records that’s something approaching 8000 over the last ten years. Doing the math – this means around 15 per week – and that excludes the CVs received from those that we are unable to meet. That gives us a fair perspective on trending data on both the demands of clients and the capabilities and qualifications of applicants.

Today the majority of candidates we interview still do not hold an acknowledged certification in enterprise architecture, but I believe we are at the tipping point in terms of market expectation and competition.  Many enterprises are now stipulating TOGAF certification as a prerequisite for new hires. At least one client has stipulated TOGAF as mandatory for all FTEs working within the Architecture job family framework.

On the other side of the equation are the number of applicants now having TOGAF certification. Five years ago TOGAF certification was an anomaly and largely irrelevant in qualifying a candidate for a role. Today we are seeing over a third architect applicants stating TOGAF certification and this is growing.

In a world where anyone who is tired of cutting code, has a lot or war stories to tell and prefers to draw interconnected boxes in PowerPoint for a living can call themselves an architect, there is no doubt that those with TOGAF certification demonstrate a fundamental appreciation of what sound architecture really is within our rigorous interview and assessment process. In a world where good positions are scarce and competition for the roles is fierce, lack of TOGAF certification is starting to become a deal breaker.

As it is with ITIL for Service Management and Prince2 or PMBOK for Project Management, TOGAF is now destined as the prerequisite certification for architects.

What is TOGAF®?

TOGAF®, The Open Group Architecture Framework, describes the standard practices, methods and processes for delivery and management of enterprise and solution architecture.

TOGAF® 9 is the dominant industry standard framework for enterprise and solution architecture with more than fifteen thousand certified practitioners worldwide and more than 80 per cent of Global Fortune Top 50 companies globally adopting the TOGAF® standard to develop enterprise architectures.

Author
Mac Lemon