Becoming a certified badass architect.
This month I studied for and passed both the TOGAF® Enterprise Architecture Foundation and Practitioner exams. This has been surprising to a few people that know me. Not that I passed, but that I decided to pursue certification through exams. I’ve always been the student who prefers to write a dissertation or do coursework than sit in an exam. I’m not a fan of exams, and historically they are not a fan of me! I made a decision that I wanted to challenge myself, demonstrate some of my architectural capability while also finding better coping mechanisms for going through exams.
Why did I choose to get certified? Why TOGAF?
These are probably the most common questions I’ve been asked since sharing that I was going to study for and complete these exams. There are a few reasons why I have now decided to get certified and why I chose TOGAF as a start.
Spoiler: I plan to do more certs soon.
1. To demonstrate expertise in a commonly accepted format.
Honestly, I personally don’t look to certification to demonstrate skill or capability. As someone who performs better in a more applied or coursework based setting I’ve never found they’ve been a good measure of my own capability. Since leaving university I have struggled re-entering classroom based environments, as they tend to trigger panic attacks. I’ve never done well in artificially timed settings and have actively removed myself from interviews which have required timed coding challenges.
This is amusing to me to some degree as if there is an actual crisis with time deadlines and real-life impacts: I’m the person you want in the room. In the real situations, I’m level headed, always looking to what can be done next to make the next increment of progress to resolve the situation. For some reason I’m still trying to understand, it is only artificial pressure I don’t do well under.
This is a long way of saying, from my lived experience as someone with multiple degrees (honestly not trying to humble brag), I don’t believe the certifications and qualifications truly represent where I provide value. Even when I started in the industry, I saw how those who had come up through apprenticeship and experience were miles ahead of me and my expensive piece of paper. That being said, I recognise the effort it takes to achieve those qualifications, and that my lived experience doesn’t represent everyone’s.
My personal, slightly self-deprecating, view aside; certificates and qualifications are a common way to demonstrate knowledge. They are an easy thing for people to look for in CVs, some are well known as being of a high value, and known to test specific knowledge. There is definitely value to them in this respect, and often the information that comes with those certificates can be useful as well.
2. Because of the industry I happen to work in.
I researched what qualifications companies desire to see someone in my role possessing. Particularly within Finance Technology. Through happenstance, a lot of my career has been spent in Finance Technology. This highly regulated environment is one of the older areas in technology and there is a culture surrounding it which is reflected in that. My research showed a lot of job specs have TOGAF listed as a desirable asset for architectural roles to have.
This is why I set my eyes on TOGAF to complete initially. I’m currently a Head of Architecture. I love working in architecture, and I adore leading teams and building up people. In my future career, I would like opportunities to lead larger teams and departments; building upon the skill-set I’ve developed and continuing to do work that I’m passionate about.
TOGAF as an architectural framework, has aspects I can utilise in my current role and the content is useful to me. Alongside this, I treat myself in my career as a product. As with any product I want to demonstrate I am keeping up to date in areas businesses consider important. I want to maintain my skill-set and be marketable as a product when it comes to the day I need to search for work again.
3. Unconscious bias.
I was debating on whether to share this as part of my decision process. I have tried to be as open and honest in this post as possible, and this was a big factor to my decision process; so I will reiterate, this is based on perception of my lived experience. Others may not have the same views, and that’s fine.
I am successful for my age, and I tend to be younger in appearance than I actually am as well (based on comments I’ve had). I am also multi-ethnic and female presenting. All this you can tell on sight, it won’t be news to any of you who have seen a photo or met me. Unfortunately, all of these can carry the risk of unconscious bias.
In this particular context, ageism has been the most visibly negatively impacting factor. Some of my other “diverse characteristics” have had some negative associations as well. People question how I’ve got to where I am at my age; especially if they have not had similar experience and opportunity. Is it nepotism? Have I failed upwards? Is it because I’m a diversity hire and a company needed to show D&I efforts? I have actually been asked these questions. Sad, but very true.
People have verbally doubted that I got to this position because I am genuinely qualified, capable and good at my job. I know I am all these things. That’s not being cocky, but I have to be aware of my own worth and build up my own confidence when I have to hear doubt from those who have never worked with me. I measure successes and learn from failures. I need to keep these metrics to honestly get an idea of where I am at and where I can improve.
One of the thing I find helps abate these early concerns is to have certifications and qualifications. Demonstrable, tangible, evidence that I know enough to pass an exam, and can point to.
4. For my own self confidence and mental health.
Despite the heading I think this point is a positive one. The role I’m in often has a long feedback loop. My success in my role often is demonstrated in the success of those around me. Sometimes that can be difficult to attribute back.
To combat this, I like to have small achievable wins. Scoped items inside or outside of work that I can complete, tick the box and get a rush of endorphins from a job well done. I know, it’s a bit daft, but it’s what I do.
Despite my slight rant early in this post, I take pride in passing exams. It’s something that isn’t easy for me, but that I can achieve in a short amount of time.
Training course
I signed up for a course by Advanced Skills. This was a four day, fully remote course which covered the content needed to take the TOGAF® Enterprise Architecture Foundation and Practitioner exams, plus extra reading and vouchers to take the exams.
This was the bit I was most nervous about. The last time I was in a classroom setting I had a panic attack. Luckily, it was a japanese course I was taking for “fun”, so there weren’t any huge impacts to this reaction. It was just after the pandemic, and was in person. All in all, I was throwing myself in the deep-end that time. I’m immunocompromised, and as such the pandemic was incredibly isolating for me. When we were allowed to socialise again I had severe social anxiety. Add on my discomfort with classrooms - honestly I don’t know what I was thinking.
Back to the TOGAF course, it was run by Krzysztof Grynienko and he was fantastic. At first I was very quiet, unsure, and nervous. He made it the classroom a very safe space, inclusive and set it up to encourage interaction (impressive for a fully remote and international class). Once it was clear that not only was there no judgement for incorrect answers, but also the value of being more involved, I participated to the level that I wouldn’t be surprised if I was borderline annoying to some of my classmates.
For me the course content was easier to remember and learn when it was being applied to actual cases people had gone through at work. We shared how we would apply the framework at work, where it would be useful, where it would need adapting etc. This turned a memory-by-rote exercise to instead be focused as applied learning. This really suits my learning style.
Krzysztof ensured everyone had room to be heard and to ask questions. The information was shared through text and visually with pictures, and regularly we had activities, questions or conversation to encourage the application of what had been learnt.
The unexpected benefit of this course was being introduced to others at the same stage of their career as I was in across different companies. I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to network like that and meet like-minded individuals going through similar challenges and growth. I’ve kept in touch with a couple of my course-mates since.
Certification
The first exam is “a closed-book, multiple-choice test with 40 questions, lasting 60 minutes, and requires a minimum score of 60% (24 correct answers) to pass”. The second exam is “a complex multiple-choice, scenario-based questions, with a 90-minute time limit”.
I’m not going to put any tips here, or mention anything about the content of the exam. Sorry, but it’s in the terms and conditions you sign when you take them! I chose to go to my local Pearson Vue center to take the exams. Honestly, clearing my office would take too much effort to do the exam remotely. There are a lot of books and nic-nacks in that space.
The first exam was pretty much what I expected. There was an aspect of the second the exam that surprised me; but chat to me after you’ve completed it and we can exchange notes on that one!
I did the exams within a week of each other. You need to pass the Foundational before the Practioner, and you get your results pretty much as soon as you complete the exam. I chose to do them separately rather than combined. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck doing exams for two and a half hours with the risk of failing the first one, so the second one being negated anyway! Turned out I didn’t have to worry.
Last notes.
Now I’ve ripped off the plaster, I’m going to continue doing more exams. I want to brush up on some of my technical skills, and have a demonstrable output for some of the knowledge I’ve gained in the last couple of years. This is a great way to do it. Next I’m considering some AWS certs, CIPT certification, PCI certification or maybe even some AI or security related qualifications. I’m not sure yet.
For the immediate future my goal is to get rid of the cold I caught after my last exam. As soon as I relaxed and the adrenaline wore off I caught the sniffles. Always the way.
Until next time.
J.
