 I am here, I was just catching up on the chat and thank you everyone for chipping in. We had several more European countries in particular, people in those, so France, Spain, Norway and the Russian Federation and that's as far as I got, I'm sure there are others in there. But anyway, in this session, so you've heard about the program overall, my profession's program overall. And now we're going to do a not deep dive, but a next level down on each of the component programs within the overall framework. So first up, we're going to start with the architects, open certified architect and a great person to talk to us about that. Paul Holman, welcome Paul. Paul is CTO for the industrial sector of IBM Services UK and Ireland. He's a distinguished engineer at IBM and Chief Technology Officer for industrial sector clients in IBM Global Services. He's responsible for technology, strategy and industry architectures for automotive, aerospace and defence, oil and gas, electronics, industrial products and construction industries. And in this session, Paul is going to discuss the value and recognition that the open group certified architect program or open CA, as it's often known, designate the value that the designation can bring to IT, solution, business and enterprise architects and the organisations that employ them. So a warm welcome from the open group, please. So welcome back, Paul Holman. Welcome Paul. Yeah, so yeah, hello from me. And so I'm going to make this very much a kind of user story and what open certified architect means for me. And hopefully people will be able to kind of translate that and get something out of it for them, you know, how that might resonate with them. Maybe they've got parallel experiences and bits and pieces. So just in terms of moving it forward, can I do that? Yeah, you have control, Paul. Excellent, I can. Excellent. Thank you very much. So yeah, quick, you know, my story a bit about me. So you kind of get where I am. Steve mentioned most of that. The other part, as well as being certified as the architect, is I'm a global architect, professional sponsor in IBM as well. So I get to see a lot of different user stories. So I think I'm just using mine, but maybe I'm stealing from a few people as well anyway. So this is the bit where I get to indulge myself and just talk about me. So a little bit of a run up, because I think this is relevant to my career and why I chose to be certified, what it means for me, what I get out of it and what I think it does. So I can go back quite a long way. Sadly, 1987 is not the year of my birth. It's the year they started work. And I started work at a little company called Lucas Aerospace in the UK that made airplane components. And the important thing was I started as a graduate alongside a load of other graduates. There were about 10 to 12 engineering graduates and an accountancy graduate and me in IT. I started in, well, we called it management services or data sciences, data processing. But I started alongside these graduates. Now, the engineering graduates were put on a two year training course. If you talk to them now, they'll probably tell you that was slightly longer than they would have wanted. But nonetheless, they went through a two year structured education and training program. And at the end of that ended up as professionally certified engineers. I, on the other hand, went on a two day programming course and was told to get on with it. Now, that kind of really bugged me because I felt that they were being set up for being professionals and I was just being a hired hand. And that was the kind of the start of my whole thing about why professions is important in the world of IT. As part of that, I also joined, it took part of my aggravation. I went and joined the British Computer Society, BCS. And for me, that was to sort of seek out that professionalism. And I got some things from that, but at the time, not enough. Not enough to be able to kind of say what it was I was doing. So it was a kind of a mixed piece at the time, going back quite a way, of course. And then I had the opportunity, I was very lucky at Lucas to do a master's course, an MBA at Warwick Business School, that taught me a load of things, but including strategy and architecture. That's where I found out about what architecture was. I took it back into Lucas, after a short while I moved to Royal Mail. And I started in Royal Mail UK post office in 1994, working at various different things. And I put in the label there is people were saying, can you just do this? Can you just do some analysis? Can you just do some team leader? Can you just sort out this IT problem, et cetera. So I was still doing a lot of different things. But I found out how I could apply some of the architecture I'd learned at business school and that kind of thinking to the projects I was working on at scale. And that's when the light bulb went on and when I found the open group. And I got involved in the open group shortly after that. And just kind of to learn and develop myself. And then a short while after that around just for about the year 2000, I became the chief enterprise architect for Royal Mail. And I did that for over six years. But I have to say it was still unstructured on a personal level. I was doing the job. I was being recognized and talking about it and getting involved, you know, in developing things like Togaf, et cetera. But I wanted, I still wanted that kind of professional recognition. And I left and joined IBM to be part of the IT industry. That was a career choice for me at the time. And actually knew beforehand that they had this open group certified program because of my group connections. I came inside and found I had an accredited program for architects and other professions. And I certified almost straight away using my previous experience at level two master certified IT architect in those days. And ever since, and then then basically I certified as soon as level a few years later, 2013. And I've been renewing that. And my latest recertification was February this year. So I'm still keen to keep it up to date even though it's something that sits in my back pocket. Now, that's quite a lot of ground. But the reason I share it is because I think I want to explain why open certification is important for me and for the industry and hopefully close around. So one, you know, it's very, very much about what are my reasons? One, that professionalism. I think James at the top of the sessions for those that would have heard it or if you're here in the replay talked about, you know, doctors and whatever. To me, I want to be able to recognize an architect. It is a profession. That is the architect. Yes, there are specialisms within that and disciplines and I think we all kind of move across. I'd like to see actually a combination of all those tribes and see that as one big professionalism that I can recognize. I recognize what an architect is and that there needs to be professionalism around that. That professionalism, that not only brings with it kind of like things like a code of conduct, whatever, but helps with a career structure. In my own personal experience, although I felt I was enjoying what I was doing and prospering from it, the structure felt a little bit vague. I didn't feel like it was organized and if I come back to my two days of programming course and get on with it, it felt like IT had some way to go to kind of help me think about my career. And the other part is, and I think this is maybe I'm being over personal, but maybe this will resonate with some is, you know, there are various points in time when we suffer from that imposter syndrome. You know, am I really up to this? Is anyone going to find me out? Am I suddenly going to get that phone call from my boss that says, pull off, suss you out. You know, what are you doing there? But actually, we all go through that. I think, well, maybe hopefully I'm not over sharing. But, you know, if you go through that, having validation that what you've got, what you do is actually recognized by others, by peers in particular. The peer recognition part is hugely validating to allow you to kind of feel good about it. Feel that you have something in that you can you can move on. So, you know, the second part, some of the best personal reflection and thinking time that I've ever had. Every time I've gone through, I've had to step back and think, what have I done in that area? What am I doing that I can talk about going forward in that area? And how do I evidence that? How do I actually show somebody that I've got something there who doesn't know me already? What do I need to do to be able to demonstrate that competency, that capability, and bring to life that story, that piece that I'm claiming to have? And actually, that reflection was not only helped me kind of think about that, but it highlighted to me the strengths that I had in the gaps. And I could think about the gaps and what I wanted to do about them. And I could think about the strengths and what I wanted to work on. And basically, it allowed me to hold that mirror up to myself. The whole process gave me a focus and a direction, because I could see some things that I did would be common to multiple futures, whereas other things were very, very specific. And I could then make a choice as to which ones I wanted to do and when, rather than just receiving instructions as to what I should be doing, I like to take control. And I felt the process of certification allowed me to feel like I was in control of that. It did provide me career guidance, because actually one of the things that happened is, through the process, and I don't think it's mentioned enough, but you work with mentors, you work with colleagues, and you get feedback and input. And actually, that career guidance is very useful to start building as a habit outside of just the certification process. But it helps bring that to the front. And then finally the outcomes for me, one huge pride. I'm very, very proud to call myself an architect. And that's certified. Very proud that my peers continue to recognize me as worthy of carrying the badge. And I carry that badge with pride. I mean, I won't pretend not to. I think the second part, the peer recognition is completely a major part of this, is that actually not just what you know, but what you've done, actually other people look at and kind of go, yes, I recognize in that person, a fellow architect. And that's really important to me personally. And I believe to many others as well. And then the last part is the connections. So through the process, you will, you know, talk with people, you'll be mentoring, you'll be receiving mentoring. And as part of the process, it helps you remember to do mentoring, etc. And that actually builds the connections. And in a world where there's so much going on and so many changes, connections are one of the few things that we need to kind of keep remembering to do, because that's the way we learn and how we share and how we develop as a professional community from that point of view. So just to kind of rattle through and finish off, what does it mean to me now? Well, advocacy is important. I certify not because my job requires me to per se in terms of what I do today. I think it used to because I was very hands on now. I think with a lot of the work that I do, you know, having the title of Distinguished Engineer allows me to get a number of different type of recognition if you like. But it's still important for me to advocate the profession and advocacy of architecture. So it's important for me, I want to show that I still value it and that the others I think should. I think the profession is absolutely critical. I'll come back to that in a minute. And the last one is about returning the gift. Many people I felt in hindsight, I hadn't realized the scale of it, but it's a gift to be helped through a career, to help through to different levels of professional certification and to have that peer review and have the recognition back. So I like to return the gift now and it enables me to do that as something that I can give back. So the last thing I'll just finish on is that professionalism part. And we came back around this at the beginning and looking back to what James was talking about at the top of the session. This is critical for me, not just because, you know, I felt somewhat kind of put out by some of my friends who were recognized as professional engineers or professional accountants. But IT is absolutely critical to what we do and what we need to do going forward. You know, we've seen how data and analytics and technology has helped address the big issues that we had last year. They continue to address all of our challenges. They have major parts to play in things like sustainability and climate change. You know, it affects our everyday lives. It affects our livelihoods and all the data behind that. So absolutely professionalism is key. And, you know, I think that this is a major way of advocating and returning the gift around it. Thank you very much for that. I can absolutely vouch for the fact that you're not an imposter. And what you do is recognized by others. So I appreciate the summary. And I know there will be, well, there are some questions coming in. And so please, please come back and join the panel shortly once we've heard about the other programs. In the meantime, big virtual round of applause for Paul Holman, please. Thank you, Paul. Thank you.