Software Curriculum @ Siemens — The Architecture of a Training Program for Architects

Abstract

Siemens established a company-wide role-based qualification and certification curriculum, focusing on the topic of “architecture”. Architects play a central role in the product lifecycle of the complex systems that Siemens offers. Since the curriculum's start in 2006 with the “senior software architect” program, we have added programs for software, system, and test architects. This curriculum is meanwhile broadly established throughout Siemens and Siemens Healthineers and other associated Siemens companies. We meanwhile have almost 700 certified architects in almost 20 countries. This industrial experience report describes the curriculum briefly but will focus on how the “architecture” of the training program for architects enabled us to evolve and extend the curriculum over time. The evolution covers not only additional roles, but also keeps the technical content up to date and adapts to modern learning formats as we strive to achieve the most impact in the available time. Our experience may be a blueprint for other key role curricula.