During my 28 years in IT, I have predominantly held positions as a consultant or non-employee. Because of this distinction, things like training and certification were frowned upon for non-employees. I understand the reasoning behind this. In an ideal world, employees are long-term assets and sinking money into expensive training can be acceptable since the company is enhancing their long-term assets. I stated before that this is understandable in an ideal world, but in today’s turbulent economy we all know that long-term employment is a hope, not a reality.

As a consultant I can’t count the times when new technologies, applications, processes, and many other things required training if the company wanted to adopt any of these in their enterprise. Consultants were almost always never approved for expensive training due to their status as short-term assets. This required the, hopefully, higher-paid consultant to get the training on their own however they needed to.

As a science, SOA is an evolutionary trend that has now been defined and recognized as a definitive specialty of the IT industry. As the result of evolutionary process, there is nothing significantly new under the SOA umbrella. What has happened is standardization. Tools and understanding have evolved into the creation of this specialty and it can now be widely recognized, categorized, and used very successfully.

Until recently, the term SOA has been loosely used to define methods for integration and application development. Anything using a IP address that served up logic was considered a web service, or a SOA implementation. The use of XML to exchange data between environments was considered SOA. The list of pseudo-SOA implementations is extensive and this is not the place to cover them all. While all of this was happening, tools and understanding have matured to the point where when we apply the label SOA, there can be an explicit  and industry approved set of technologies, principles, patterns, and solutions that validate the label. The point is that in it’s purest sense, SOA can be now be defined with a common understanding that, with enforcement, provides all of the benefits desired. Training at the higher label of SOA now has value instead of just training at the lower levels of a specific technology, methodology, or implementation. A complete understanding of SOA will allow the technologist to bring together all the collective knowledge and create something that is standardized and reap all of the benefits that SOA promises.

What is SOA? The answer will depend on who you ask. That alone creates confusion. Experience shows that when we all speak the same language with the same level of understanding the results are greatly magnified. My work experience gave me one perspective of SOA that I found was lacking. I also wanted to capitalize on the trend for everything SOA. This prompted me to explore the world of SOA training and certification. Without corporate sponsorship the costs were on me. Of course this led me to make sure that my money would produce the greatest benefits.

There aren’t yet a plethora of courses or programs for SOA training and certification. Most are centered around a given vendor solution such as Oracle, WebMethods, J EE, etc.. I have nothing against this bias except that it is bias. If I worked in an Oracle shop and that was our primary tool for implementing SOA solutions, it would make some sense to take their training. There is also an inherent perspective bias that  a given vendor would build into any of their training programs. As a consultant, I can’t be sure what vendor solutions will be used in future client environments. This forced me to look at the available training with an eye toward an agnostic approach to SOA.

I found SOA Schools on the web. These programs are all based on the writings and experience of Thomas Erl the founder and president of the company. I won’t go into his resume here but he is the author of the most successful books on SOA topics. If you take a cursory look at his background and contributions to the industry in regards to SOA you will see that he is a predominant figure in defining, exploring, and documenting SOA as a specialty. Thomas Erl can easily be considered a front running expert on SOA and to some extent Cloud Computing, He has published a dozen or so books on all aspects of SOA and is a contributing member of.the predominant SOA governing organizations.His company offers a wide range of classes and programs on SOA and Cloud Computing along with a variety of certifications such as a SOA Architect or SOA Analyst. There products are reasonably priced but are they worth it?

If I was a full time employee in a shop committed to using Oracle’s SOA suite I would more than likely be initially inclined to take Oracle’s training and certification over the competitors. As an employee I would more than likely be expected to take the training and come back to work to apply and share my knowledge immediately on specific projects. There is nothing wrong with this and it certainly helps with job security. I, however, have no idea what vendor or technology will be used to implement SOA for any future clients. This would also limit my overall understanding of SOA as Oracle-centric. I wanted the most agnostic perspective allowing me to concentrate on fundamentals instead of any given product, language, process, or business specific solution.

The majority of the courses and programs offered are by vendors of SOA technologies such as an ESB or Orchestration platform, Their emphasis is understandably biased toward the usage of their perspective products. I wanted knowledge and understanding of SOA as an overall enterprise solution architecture that didn’t focus on any one vendor implementation over general SOA principles and  guidelines. SOA is an evolutionary embracement of advancements in technology across the board, and one of the most fundamental reasons for adopting SOA is the long term ROI derived from avoidance of implementation lock-in due to reliance on a specific vendor or approach. Due to the extensive amount of differing technologies, solutions, languages, business scenarios, and much more, no single answer can definitively address SOA and simplify it. However, it can be distilled at its higher levels with a specific set of principles and guidelines that allow the technologist to govern SOA adoption to maximize and leverage the excess of all things labeled SOA. This can allow them to deliver a solution that embraces the best of breed from all that has been learned in the last several decades.

After careful review of the limited programs available, I chose the courses required to obtain certification as a SOA Architect and SOA Analyst. offered by SOA Schools. For my purposes, Thomas Erl’s training and certification through SOA Schools fit. They provide programs for various SOA titles such as architect, analyst, consultant, and developer. All of the training is based upon Thomas Erl’s published titles and current industry standards.

For all of their courses, SOA Schools offers classroom lectures, self-study kits, and the exams. The program for certification as a SOA Architect is comprised of five classes. I  decided to take the classroom led training for the architect certification and I’m glad I did. Had I simply opted to use the self-study kits only I would have lost out on the excellent knowledge of the instructor, Paul Buhler. This gave me a comfortable level of context and understanding of the materials, how they are presented, and the goal of the training. Classroom training isn’t required to prepare for the associated exams and labs. The self-study kits and exam preparation books are sufficient to pass the exams with a good knowledge of the materials that you can retain, not simply memorize. Actually, without the self-study kits, I’m not certain that I would have been able to pass the exams. For me, the classroom training alone was not sufficient enough to prepare me for the exams. For those not opting to take the exams and certification, the classroom sessions still provide a strong level of understanding. My need to use the self-study kits may have just been an indication  of my level of expertise and basic knowledge. I can’t punish SOA Schools for this. The lecturer, materials, and presentation were all excellent and the exams were not simply about rote information to be memorized today and forgotten tomorrow. The exams require you to have a solid understanding of the materials and I don’t think that this can be adequately obtained without studying. Homework is still the best way to go. The exams are not easy but reflect all of the information presented in the classroom and self-study kits. Additionally, the self study kits organized around each module are some of the best self-study materials I've encountered. They are professionally designed and come with lecturer CD’s, exam preparation CD’s flash cards, course books, and exam preparation booklets. Some of the self-study kits also come with a hard-back copy of one of Thomas Erl’s textbooks on the module topic. .

If your intent is to gain a solid overall level of knowledge with the associated title (i.e. architect, analyst, consultant, i.e.) then I highly recommend the certification offered by SOA Schools as a very good option. If you need enhanced expertise in a SOA product or language, training offered by the associated vendor may be a more beneficial option.  However, simply gaining knowledge on how to use a specific tool or language may deprive you of the higher level understanding of SOA and the principles and guidelines that make it the evolutionary breakthrough that it is. Regardless of your level of expertise, job requirements, or immediate needs, the training and certification offered by SOA Schools and Thomas Erl will provide you with a solid understanding and base for truly adopting a Service Oriented solution.

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