The new Microsoft Certified Architect program establishes a new standard at the high end of Microsoft's certification program. Aimed at experienced IT personnel responsible for the overall design of software or systems, the certification is not based on tests, but requires candidates to be approved by a board of current architects. Although the certification focuses on a significant need—planning critical service-oriented architectures with multivendor systems that offer numerous opportunities for failure—it will take some time to establish its value. Among other limiting factors are an emphasis on hard-to-measure "soft skills" and the certification's association with one vendor.

Role of the Software or Systems Architect

Although some individuals have been working as architects since the IT industry began, efforts to formalize the term are new and definitions vary. Furthermore, the architect community is subdividing itself into IT or systems architects (who focus primarily on infrastructure, such as network design), and software architects, responsible for the high-level design of specific applications. Some groups add a higher layer for enterprise architects, who combine those roles, and a lower one for associate architects, people who typically have strong technical and IT design skills but have yet to prove themselves on other dimensions of architecture, such as project management, communications, or budgeting.

Even the definition used by Microsoft's own architect strategy team leaves plenty of room for interpretation.

That team defines an architect as someone who, among other characteristics:

• Defines software or IT design principles that apply throughout a business unit or company, and not just for one project; for example, the architect might dictate that all new applications will include a Web services interface
• Has been in a high-level technical position for a long period, typically for at least 10 years
• Spends roughly half of his or her time on business issues, such as budgeting, rather than technical concerns
• Is influenced by industry architecture consultants and trainers such as Grady Booch, Roger Sessions, or John Zachman.

Because the definition of an architect is somewhat inexact, the number of practicing architects depends on who is doing the counting. The Microsoft architect strategy team estimates the number of architects in the United States alone to be about 300,000 people. The Microsoft Learning group, which is developing the new credential, is aiming at a smaller group: it says only about 80,000 of those are full-time architects, and only a few thousand of those are expected to achieve the Microsoft Certified Architect designation.

The architect's role has taken on added significance and importance as new technologies, such as service-oriented architectures, which link disparate systems with Web services, have gained momentum. Because they cross vendor and organizational boundaries, such systems require careful design from the outside to ensure that they are secure and stable, achieve the sometimes competing interests of multiple partners, and can be maintained.

The biggest boost to the architect concept may have been Microsoft itself. When Bill Gates, who could take any title at the company he wished, chose to define himself as Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, the role gained elevated status. Microsoft also courts architects (and would-be architects) with its architecture strategy team, and it publishes a quarterly journal called the Microsoft Architecture Journal.

Why a Certification Program?

By creating the architect credential, Microsoft gains a higher profile among architects, who frequently exercise significant control over major projects, including the technology used, the vendor offerings chosen, the schedule, and the budget. The company also guides potential architects along a Microsoft-defined path that is likely to ensure that they are familiar with its offerings.

Participants could gain many practical benefits as well, such as higher salaries and benefits, more responsibility, assignment to the most interesting projects, and a credential that sets them apart for other applicants when looking for jobs. Consulting firms are likely to charge higher hourly rates for architects, and integrators might be able to use the prestige of having certified architects to win engagements.

However, Microsoft is not the only game in town: other organizations that offer membership, and sometimes special credentials, include the International Association of Software Architects, the Worldwide Institute of Software Architects, and the Zachman Institute.

A Different Kind of Certification

Just as the definition of an architect is a judgment call, Microsoft's certification program for architects will involve a good deal of personal judgment and debate.

Unlike its other certifications, Microsoft's initial architect certification program does not require candidates to pass a standard exam. Instead, candidates will undertake a significant architecture project (or use a recent project) and subject it to in-depth examination by a review board made up of current architects.

Microsoft says technical skills will account for only about 25% of a candidate's score in this review. The other 75% will assess the candidate's leadership, technology depth, technology breadth, strategic thinking, grasp of organizational dynamics, tactical abilities, process understanding, and communications skills. Although the review is expected to be intense, Microsoft says it is a reasonable approximation of "the stresses and strains that many architects experience when they have to justify their work to senior management."

Staged Rollout

Given its design, the program faces a small initial hurdle: who certifies the people who certify the first architect? Microsoft is inviting high-profile individuals with acknowledged skills in architecture to serve on the initial review boards. Once the company has an initial pool of people who it believes are qualified to review the credentials of others, it will open the program to a broader nomination process, likely starting in 2006. Over time, the program will develop other resources for budding architects, including mentors for those accepted into the certification program (but not yet certified).

Microsoft recommends that candidates have at least 10 years' experience in the field and be familiar with operational frameworks, such as The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). They should also be familiar with principles of project management and software project budgeting, among other skills.

Microsoft will initially recognize two types of architect, the infrastructure architect and the solutions architect. The company plans to review the need for other levels of certification, such as for enterprise or associate architects, at a later time.

Resources

Microsoft's architect credential is explained in more detail at www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/architect.

The architecture strategy team was covered in "Team Aims at Software, IT Architects" on page 30 of the May 2005 Update.