Looking for a career that pays well above the average, offers international travel opportunities, involves exposure to a wide range of technologies, plugs the most strategic level of organisations, influences the direction of organisations, and bridges business and IT?
Anyone with those career objectives should consider a career as an enterprise architect because they do all those things and more to provide organisations with competitive advantage, slash running costs, improve business processes, and help organisations allocate resources effectively and appropriately. They also make sense of legacy IT investments and future-proof current IT investments.
Globally, including SA, demand for enterprise architects exceeds supply, driven by organisations that understand that enterprise architecture is the only way to build, maintain and manage an organisation.
Larger corporations - especially in the financial services sector - are increasingly seeking and appointing enterprise architects, and there are clear indications of its acceptance in other market sectors.
Additionally, CobiT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology), the body driving IT governance, recommends the appointment of a chief architect with suitable roles, responsibilities and accountability. Internationally, standards are being set, a clear indication that the market is maturing.
Where to begin
A young person can start just about anywhere in an organisation; obtain practical experience in a specific domain such as IT development or business analysis and then move on from there.
A fully qualified enterprise architect will likely have been in business for 15 years, but, as with all journeys, becoming an enterprise architect has a starting point. There are a number of domains in enterprise architecture that young IT professionals would start to work in that will grow them over time into enterprise architects.
The ideal attributes of an enterprise architect are extreme, and most need to be something of an all-rounder to succeed.
Stuart MacGregor, CEO of Real IRM Solutions
They could, for instance, start with business process modelling and over time build the skills to do solutions modelling in UML, the Universal Modelling Language. Or they could start with solutions modelling, and grow into a business modeller over time.
The modelling process is critical, as the ability to render a large organisation visually is paramount to understanding its processes and supporting applications. Over time, an enterprise architect begins to grasp and have input into the disconnect between business and IT.
Given that it is unlikely for any one person to have all the skills needed for an enterprise architect, it is common practice to form a team of people with complementary strengths and competencies on IT and business.
These team members can then mentor each other. But be warned: The ideal attributes of an enterprise architect are extreme, and most need to be something of an all-rounder to succeed. Attributes of enterprise architects typically include:
* The ability to explain complex IT concepts to business people in business terms.
* Good inter-personal and networking skills.
* The ability to conceptualise and develop abstractions.
* An innovative and analytical mind.
The Open Group is the body globally responsible for driving business and IT standards. It has created TOGAF, The Open Group Architecture Framework, which prescribes standards for devising and deploying enterprise architectures. It has also created ITAC, the certification programme for IT architects.
Anyone considering a career as an enterprise architect would be well advised to become well-versed on TOGAF, and acquire ITAC certification. It would also be advisable to join the Open Group forum, especially for the networking it offers.
International research has shown that companies are much more eager to hire enterprise architects with these competencies, as it gives them the assurance of a baseline of quality.
While there are few limits to the earning potential for experienced, well-rounded enterprise architects, it should be noted that enterprise architects have usually been practising for at least 10 years before they are considered `experienced`. Most enterprise architects in South Africa today have more than 15 years` experience.
International travel prospects are also excellent, as demand for enterprise architects is strong offshore, notably in the US, where the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 made it mandatory for all federal agencies to have an enterprise architecture in place.
So, anyone embarking on a career in IT should consider becoming an enterprise architect: it could be the best decision ever!
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