Start of the iSAQB® Certification for the Certified Profes­sional for Software Architecture Expert Level (CPSA‑E®)

With this blog post, we are giving you the oppor­tunity to apply for the CPSA‑E®. Our website is currently still in the making. Until then, appli­ca­tions and all information will be provided by e‑mail, newsletter or our blog.

The CPSA®-Expert Level

The CPSA®-Expert Level is the highest certification level in the iSAQB’s CPSA program. At Expert Level, you collate your experience from the Foundation Level and Advanced Level training courses and from your many years of project work and supplement it with additional expert knowledge, research, and exchange. You will work together with other candi­dates in a thematic working group to develop a joint result on a selected topic related to architecture. Through publi­ca­tions at specialist confer­ences or in specialist journals, you will also actively contribute to the dissem­i­nation of expert knowledge and the improvement of software quality in other projects. A topic moderator provides advice and support throughout the entire process. Two independent testers approve the result at the end.

Exam objectives

• You will demon­strate that you are an expert in a specialist area of software architecture.
• You develop new knowledge with other experts and process the experience from your pro-jects.
• You demon­strate the ability to work in a team.
• You exchange ideas with other experts and thus build a network for your profes­sional fu-ture.
• You present the results at confer­ences or publish them in specialist journals.
• You make your experience as an expert available to a broad public.

Prereq­ui­sites

• You must have success­fully completed the CPSA®-Advanced Level.
• You have many years of project experience and in-depth knowledge in your chosen software architecture topic, which you would like to work on with a topic working group.

The CPSA‑E certification in 7 steps

As an Expert Level applicant, you would like to obtain the iSAQB Expert Level (CPSA‑E®) certification. Let’s go!

1. Select topic

Choose a topic from the topic repos­itory and register your interest by sending an e‑mail to expert@isaqb.org. If there is no suitable topic, you can submit your own topic. This is also done at the same e‑mail address.

2. Select a topic working group

The Expert Level certification is team work. Once enough appli­cants (4–7 people per topic working group) have regis­tered for your desired topic, you can get started. You contact the other appli­cants. As a topic working group, you choose a training provider. The training provider will guide you through the following steps. The list of training providers will be sent to you by e‑mail.

3. Select a topic moderator

The training provider will provide you with a topic moderator. This moderator will accompany and support your thematic working group as a content and organi­za­tional coach until certification.

4. Create a roadmap

The thematic working group draws up a roadmap and thus defines the content and timetable for its work. The workload for each person will be around 15 working days over a period of 6 to 9 months. You define the outcome of the topic working group. One article and at least one freely selec­table result (e.g., example code, guide­lines, etc.) are mandatory. The iSAQB recom­mends also planning publi­ca­tions at confer­ences or in specialist journals. Your topic moderator will review the roadmap and provide feedback to the topic working group on the next steps.

5. Work out the topic

Now it’s time to get started! The topic working group works on and discusses the topic, produces results, publishes specialist articles, plans presen­ta­tions at confer­ences, etc. Your topic moderator will accompany you throughout the entire process and help you stay on track. When you are finished, your topic moderator will check the results for formal criteria. If every­thing fits, they submit the results to a certifier licensed for the Expert Level.

6. Certification

The certifier appoints two auditors who now review the content of the results. The auditors contact the thematic working group for follow-up questions or improve­ments if necessary.

7. Publish results

You have passed! All members of the thematic working group receive the iSAQB Certified Profes­sional for Software Architecture Expert Level certificate. The iSAQB will publish your results.

Appli­cation

To apply for certification, please send an e‑mail with the following information to expert@isaqb.org:

1. Your name
2. E‑mail address
3. Phone number/mobile
4. Subject
5. Advanced Level passed (yes/no)
6. List of projects in which you have experience on the topic
7. Your publi­ca­tions on the topic
8. Forwarding of contact details for members of the topic working group (yes/no)
9. Consent that the results of the thematic working group may be published and utilized by the iSAQB. (yes/no)
10. Decla­ration of willingness to partic­ipate in the thematic working group (yes/no)

Submit a topic

Would you like to submit a topic? Please answer the following questions and send them to the e‑mail address expert@isaqb.org. After review and approval by the topic admin­is­trator, the topic will be published in the topic repos­itory and made available for appli­cation. We may make minor adjust­ments to sharpen and define the topic in consul­tation with you. As a topic submitter, you are not obliged to work on the topic yourself.

1. Your name
2. Your e‑mail address
3. What is it about? Brief description of the topic.
4. What challenges are associated with the topic?
5. Where does the problem occur in the market and who is inter­ested in solving the problem?
6. What contri­bution does working on the issue make? What will be better if this topic is addressed?
7. Optional information on links, liter­ature, refer­ences of all kinds.
8. Are you generally inter­ested in partic­i­pating in a topic working group for your submitted topic? This information does not oblige you to do so, but helps us to assess the topic potential: (yes, probably, maybe, rather not, excluded)
9. Recom­mended size of the topic working group: (min, max)
10. I accept the general data protection regulations.

Topic repos­itory

The topic repos­itory can be viewed at http://public.isaqb.org/topic-backlog-expert-level/.

Exami­nation regulations

The current exami­nation regula­tions are available at https://public.isaqb.org/examination-expert/.

Costs

The certification at Expert Level costs € 2,800 plus VAT.

If you have any questions, please send an e‑mail to expert@isaqb.org.