Hard to believe that Animal House came out in 1978. I think it was the first R rated movie I say in my life, and I had to sneak in, the old buy a ticket for a Disney flick and switch theaters. Gezz, I hope the statue of limitations has run out on that one.

In any event, the best line from the movie:

"Otter: But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen! [Leads the Deltas out of the hearing, all humming the Star-Spangled Banner]"

Truth-be-told there are not a lot of people out there who really get SOA. Out of the many that I know I would say that there are less than a dozen who understand the value and the issues holistically. Thus, you could call them a small fraternity...the Sigma Omega Alphas (SOAs). Sweatshirts and beer steins on order now.

Two people certainly in my fraternity would be Jason and Ron at Zapthink, both of whom have been working in the SOA/Web services space for some time. Recently, they have launched a certification program for SOA called Licensed ZapThink Architect (LZA). Thus, you could have Ron and Jason whacking you with a paddle in no time, and "Is that a pledge pin on your uniform!"

Jason and Ron describe the program as:

"Are you an enterprise architect or an aspiring architect looking to get third-party backing for your SOA capabilities?

- Are you not finding what you want in self-serving, vendor-specific "certifications" that don't provide the credentials you need to advance your architecture skills, career, and future direction?

- What does it even mean to have SOA on your list of qualifications?

- Do you want to leverage ZapThink's brand, reach, reputation, and network to advance your SOA efforts?

If so, then the Licensed ZapThink Architect (LZA) program is for you."

What I like about LZA, or at least the notion, is that "Knowledge is Good," and that most aspiring SOA architects need to focus more on the basics, versus the management-by-magazine crowd that I run into these days. Thus, any program that will take you through the basis of understanding of your own issues, and how the emerging approaches and technologies map into that, is a good thing. Thus, LZA, or programs like it, that increase understanding of the holistic notion of SOA could save millions by reducing the number of bad decisions. Mentors and/or good knowledgeable SOA consultants are effective as well.

However, certification programs do come with some bad history and those were very discrete technologies, such as Novell and Microsoft certifications. I never found those with certifications that much more knowledgeable than others without the certification. In other words they could memorize information, but that's not really engineering. Same could be said for the project management certifications, software engineering certifications, etc.

Architecture is much more complex and far reaching, and thus it will be difficult long term to create a program that relates to all enterprise issues I'm seeing today. Those skills are obtained more through experience than classroom training and test taking.

This is not to take the wind out of the ZapThink sails, it's an interesting program and I'm looking forward to the data points from this in months to come. However, if you see them approach you with a large block of ice and a jar of olives, run.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on December 17, 2006 06:22 AM