The Microsoft Certified Architect Board Member Unravels the Process

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Instant Architect

Loud Sigh who just joined the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) Review Board wrote a great post on how to prepare for the review board, why you should do it and share his own experience going through the MCA certification process.

I do like how Loud points out that the certification isn't just an exam on specific data points it more about how you have handled situations that require years of experience and knowledge.

The key points to me are:

  • MCA is not only about you your technical skills but also your soft skills. How you handle situations, can you negotiate, do you demonstrate leadership, etc.
  • You have to go through your experience by demonstrating evidence and then talk walk through the architecture trade-offs
  • The board doesn't expect you to know everything but would like to understand if you know how to find the answer, if you can delegate or mitigate a concern.

It's worth a read if you are not familiar with the MCA process. Who knows, you may even want to take it after reading it.

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