CITA Foundation
January 16, 2025 2025-01-27 10:12CITA Foundation
The Certified IT Architect – Foundation (CITA-F): Early stage architects describe a period of learning about the foundations of the field. The BTABoK describes these as understanding ‘The Red Thread’ or learning the basic set of competencies of an architect (The 5 Pillars). This introductory period is followed by a long period of working to deeply understand these primary skills and deliverables. The Foundation architect is often described as an intern/resident or similar inside of employers. Depending on the length of their experience in another role/job such as programming or product management, they may advance more quickly or slowly through this level.
Is 'Foundation' right for You
Path to Certification
No formal pre-requisite certifications are required for existing practicing architects. We highly recommend the IASA Aspiring classes for individuals transitioning to Architecture for the first time. We assume individuals are practicing architects with a basic level of knowledge and experience in software development and understanding of business concepts. We recommend all students become familiar with the BTABoK prior to taking CITA-F level courses or sitting the certification exam.
CITA-F Core – The Core Training Program develops a clear pathway and defined baseline for successful IT architects. The flexibility, quality, changeability, scalability and durability of a system depends on the underlying architecture. And a good architecture is based on the correct foundation work. Lack of architecture work not only results in costly and ineffective solutions, but also in long-term issues that get stuck in the activities that the solutions will support.
The Certified IT Architect – Foundation (CITA-F) credential is awarded to those who qualify based on a combination of criteria including education, experience and test-based examination of professional knowledge of architectural skills and management. The CITA-F credential is awarded by achieving 70% or higher on the CITA-F examination. The exam consists of 75 multiple-choice/true/false questions.
The Foundation exam is available online, via Iasa’s Learning Management System and students will be given 2.5 hours each to complete the open book exam.
The Iasa Continuing Education Program exists to ensure that architects are continually learning new skills and keeping up-to-date with state of the art practice. The Certified IT Architect – Foundation (CITA-F) level requires individuals to maintain an active Full Iasa Membership. Credential holders are also required to collect at least 80 hours of CEU’s (Continuing Education Units) the equivalent of two work weeks, bi-annually. In combination with obtaining CEU’s, the credential holder is also required to have worked as an architect for a period of at least 16-weeks. All CEU’s can be submitted at one time or at your convenience within that period. More detail can be found through the links below.
Certification Details
- Multiple-Choice Exam
- Exam Time: 150 minutes
- Critical Areas of the BTABoK
- Exams deployed online and onsite
- Core Ideas and Language
- Over 5,000 Certified Students
- More than 200 organizations trained
Which certification is right for you?
Iasa certifications are the first global industry architect certifications that are completely vendor independent and run only by practicing architects. Iasa provides four levels of certification which describe the major milestones in an architect’s career.
Regardless of where you are in your career Iasa Global has a certification for you. The Iasa Certification Program delineates a four-tier certification path designed to level-set architects based on a combination of criteria including education, experience and test-based examination of professional knowledge of architectural skills and management.
Explore our other Certifications
Certification Highlights
- Written by architects – vendor agnostic
- Knowledge and experience based
- Multiple levels – Foundation through Professional
- Exams deployed online and onsite
- Multiple review board options
Instructor-led Training
The Iasa community is at the forefront in providing the most current skills training, best practices and business development strategies. Our courses and certification examinations are lead by the Iasa Board of Education, which is a volunteer, member-based board of certified architects who are responsible for setting our global curriculum, certification and education policies.
