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With summer only halfway behind us and many professionals scrambling to fit in vacation time, you might think this is an odd time to contemplate going back to school. I beg to differ. It is always time to think about continuing professional education. Being successful in your trade means staying well informed of the most recent developments and changes that unfold within your field. Continuing professional education is important because it provides validation of an individual’s knowledge and skills.
Professionals–such as those working in the medical, legal and financial fields–are required to be consistently up to date on new standards, in addition to being refreshed on the knowledge they may have obtained previously. Continuing education ensures to patients, clients and licensing agencies that professionals are qualified to handle the responsibilities that affect people’s lives. Even if someone’s life is not at stake, any customer paying for your product or services wants to be assured that they are hiring knowledgeable experts, so similar expectations should apply to any corporate setting as well.
In many organizations leadership teams rely on their enterprise architects to help chart a successful course for the business. According to Wikipedia “Enterprise architects work with stakeholders, both leadership and subject matter experts, to build a holistic view of the organization’s strategy, processes, information, and information technology assets. The role of the enterprise architect is to take this knowledge and ensure that the business and IT are in alignment. The enterprise architect links the business mission, strategy, and processes of an organization to its IT strategy, and documents this using multiple architectural models or views that show how the current and future needs of an organization will be met in an efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable manner.” Quite a mouthful!
With the breadth of the enterprise architects role and the rapid advancement and development of new technologies, continuing professional education is critical for the Enterprise Architecture (EA) professional. Unfortunately, today most of the non-degree professional education in EA takes the form of EA related certifications. While certifications are fine, they typically focus only on one framework or perspective and are mostly training oriented.
There are few continuing education opportunities for mid and senior level people that focus on broader strategic issues. Creating leaders that think and act strategically is crucial for a position with the responsibility of aligning business goals, strategies, people and technology. With so much at stake, it’s good to see that some programs are being developed to offer EA professionals an opportunity to hone their strategic analysis skills.
The Center for Enterprise Architecture at Penn State University is taking a leadership role in defining and offering these programs for mid and senior level EA leaders. That’s one of the reasons Troux is excited to support their program (Troux Donates $4 Million in Software to Penn State University). Two goals for the Penn State Center for Enterprise Architecture are to help EA become more of a mainstream academic discipline and assist in the evolution of EA into a “real profession” – on par with established professions such as accounting and engineering.
As the EA profession continues to evolve, the importance of continuing education will only become more significant. Perhaps the time is now to get this part of your professional development started. Perhaps this is the time to go back to school. Don’t be late. The school bell is about to ring.
For more information about the Penn State Center for Enterprise Architecture and their executive programs please see:
http://www.pennstateexeced.com/ET070213-1.html
