TOGAF Certification Explored and Explained

TOGAF stands for The Open Group Architecture Framework. It’s a detailed, highly elaborate methodology with a corresponding set of support tools used when developing enterprise IT architectures. It’s free for any organization that wants to employ it to build their own extensible enterprise architectures. The Open Group is itself a vendor- and technology-neutral consortium that seeks to develop and promote open, vendor-neutral IT standards and certifications. The latest version of TOGAF is numbered 9.1 and is described in a voluminous collection of documentation; see also the home page for this certification. According to The Open Group, more than 20,000 professional have obtained one or both of the TOGAF certifications currently available.

TOGAF certification comes in two levels: TOGAF 9 Foundation, and TOGAF 9 Certified. Both are supported with self-study materials (available through The Open Group’s publications offerings) that include a study guide and practice exam questions. Additional materials and training are also available. Overall these credentials seeks to promulgate a common body of core knowledge about the TOGAF methodology and framework that teaches best practices and principles of IT architecture in a vendor- and technology-neutral way. Although many vendors have their own architect level credentials — for example, Cisco, Microsoft, Brocade, and many others — the TOGAF is an excellent way for aspiring architects to learn the basics and establish their general competency in this high-demand field of IT expertise. I highly recommend digging into these credentials if you have any interest in working yourself into an architect level IT position at some future point in your career.