April
24th, 2006: Certification
The word certification
is used in many ways, today. One of them is to get certified if you
get a certificate from a training, course or education program. The
fact someone passed an exam afterwards and got a certificate would mean
this person is certified. Another way to get certified is to undergo
a personal evaluation based on a number of criteria. Such an evaluation
usually is repeated after a certain period of time.
In the information-
and IT-sector the following certification institutes are known (status
july 2006):
- Certification
based on Knowledge, Skills/Competence/Ability and Personal Aptitude
and Being:
- Certification
based on specific training:
- Zachman
Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF).
- FEAC
Institute. Washington based. faculty with instructors (currently
practitioners) with experience in Government and the private Sector.
Students take an Enterprise Architecture comprehensive written
Certification Examination that qualifies them as Certified Enterprise
Architect (CEA) with a specialty in either the FEA(F) or DoDAF.
- Certification
based on psychological analysis, followed by training based on the
results:
- ERIA. Dutch
operation supported and promotoed by Capgemini. Repeats every 3
years
- Certification
for a certain method or way of working based on training:
- TOGAF
certification. The Open Group is a vendor- and technology-neutral
consortium, mainly formed by IBM, HP, Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC and
Capgemini. TOGAF is the Architecture Framework of The Open Group.
- Certification
based on knowledge and skill on specific kinds of technology:
- Microsoft
certification. Repeats every 3 years.
- J2EE certification.
- The Human
Interface Group - Amelior certification.
- many more...
Necessity
of Certification
Certification should
have 2 main purposes:
- To enable a
professional to see what professional and personal level (s)he is
on. To enable this professional, based on this certification, to get
ahead professionally.
- To show comparable
professional ability based on a reliably managed and maintained set
of rules etc. This comparison is mainly interesting for employers
and marketplace.