Architecture certifications

A certification won’t make you an architect, but the right one gives your learning structure and signals a shared vocabulary to employers and clients. Choose based on where you work, not on which badge is most popular.

Certifications by focus

Certification	Issuer	Focus	Best for
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate	Amazon Web Services	Designing systems on AWS	Engineers moving into solution design on AWS
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional	Amazon Web Services	Complex, multi-account AWS architectures	Experienced AWS architects
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert	Microsoft	Designing Azure solutions (exam AZ-305)	Architects in Microsoft-centric organizations
Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect	Google Cloud	Designing and managing Google Cloud solutions	Architects working on Google Cloud
TOGAF certification	The Open Group	Enterprise architecture framework and method	Enterprise and domain architects
ArchiMate certification	The Open Group	Enterprise architecture modeling language	Enterprise architects who model landscapes
iSAQB CPSA – Foundation Level	iSAQB	Vendor-neutral software architecture fundamentals	Developers becoming software architects
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)	CNCF / Linux Foundation	Running Kubernetes clusters	Platform and infrastructure architects
Salesforce Certified Technical Architect	Salesforce	End-to-end Salesforce solution design	Architects in the Salesforce ecosystem

Matching certifications to the roadmap

Senior engineer → solution architect: iSAQB Foundation for vendor-neutral fundamentals, then one cloud associate-level certification.
Solution architect: a professional or expert-level certification on your main cloud.
Enterprise architect: TOGAF, optionally with ArchiMate.

See the developer to architect roadmap for what to learn at each stage.

Detailed study guides for each certification are on the way.

Written and edited by Abhinav Taduka, enterprise software architect.