CTA (Certified Technical Architect) and CMA (Certified Master Architect), are currently the most prestigious certifications you can achieve in the ServiceNow ecosystem. In addition to asserting your ServiceNow expertise, they will help you more easily achieve your professional goals. If you are an independent ServiceNow consultant, you will find it easier to secure new engagements with prestigious clients, and if you are an employee, you will receive a higher salary and have access to better projects.
Below in this article, you’ll find the replay of a live session with 3 ServiceNow CTAs and 1 ServiceNow Expert Training Program. For almost an hour, they answered many questions. If you’re interested, scroll down to watch it now.
ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect and Certified Master Architect: what are the differences?
CTA or CMA? Before making a choice, it is important to properly position the two certifications within the ServiceNow ecosystem:
The two certifications are at an expert level. With them, you will be able to manage complex projects and establish yourself as a seasoned professional in ServiceNow.
Certified Technical Architect:
Price: $6,000
The Technical Architect is described by ServiceNow as:
Responsible for analyzing and translating business information and technical requirements into architectural plans. They propose solutions to achieve complex business objectives. The certification holder provides guidance on technical governance processes, contributes to their implementation, and participates in them.
Becoming a CTA requires less experience:
- Minimum of 3 years of experience
- Ability to transform business needs into ServiceNow applications
Then, two mandatory certifications:
- Certified System Administrator Certification (CSA)
- Certified Application Developer (CAD)
And finally, two Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) certifications of your choice (ITSM, CSM, HR, SecOps, ITOM, etc.).
source: https://nowlearning.servicenow.com/expertprograms?id=snpx_home&type=CTA
Certified Master Architect :
Price: $15,000
The Master Architect is described by ServiceNow as:
A trusted technical advisor and valuable partner in the digital transformation journey with ServiceNow. They are skilled in guiding clients in technology strategy and governance, as well as in designing and architecting tangible solutions.
To obtain this certification, you will need to meet the following requirements:
- Minimum of 5 years of ServiceNow consulting experience
- Experience as a technical lead in over six client ServiceNow implementation projects (mainly large-scale, complex, and global)
- Experience partnering with technical program managers
- Experience presenting to large audiences
In addition to these various experiences, you must also possess the following 3 certifications:
- Certified System Administrator Certification (CSA)
- ITSM Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS-ITSM)
- Certified Application Developer (CAD)
You must also have two other ServiceNow certifications of your choice (CIS in CSM, HR, SecOps, ITOM, etc.). Finally, it is recommended to also obtain an ITIL Foundation certification (v3.0 or v4.0).
In summary, you must possess a minimum of 5 certifications (3 mandatory and 2 elective) and at least 5 years of experience before becoming a Master Architect.
source: https://nowlearning.servicenow.com/expertprograms?id=snpx_home&type=CMA
Which ServiceNow certification is right for me?
Master Architect (CMA) and Technical Architect (CTA) are two prestigious certifications. Depending on your experience and career goals, both can be beneficial. The choice will mainly depend on your experience and personality.
To this question, Christopher Crefcoeur, a Technical Architect and member of our community of ServiceNow expert freelancers, responds:
The CTA guides technical architects while the CMA convinces business decision-makers, targeting a higher level of management and defining a roadmap for the company. Therefore, the CTA remains at a lower level than the CMA, which is positioned higher in the hierarchy with the executive level. It is worth noting that a CMA must meet more criteria than a CTA, making it more challenging to maintain. Thus, by definition, a CMA would be above a CTA.
Choosing to become a CMA means positioning yourself on more strategic and less technical aspects. The final choice will depend on your aspirations and, most importantly, what you enjoy doing.
Real ServiceNow experts to answer your questions
During our last LinkedIn live: “ServiceNow professionals: the best ways to become a ServiceNow CTA”, 3 CTAs and a ServiceNow Training Program Expert came together to answer questions from many ServiceNow developers and consultants. Discover the replay and transcription of the questions asked with their answers:
FAQ about ServiceNow CTA and CMA programs
Not that much. You can count around 10 hours a week. But if you want to get the most value you can from the program, maybe you’ll need more hours. Our advice is to schedule around 2 hours a day.
You get two scenarios and you need to build one presentation for each, and it should last for 30 minutes. You will be evaluated by CMA and CTA alumni, playing two personas as reviewers. So you’re doing your presentation live for them, and then they have a rubric that they fill in, looking for specific things and asking a few questions to validate if you have the knowledge or not.
It’s totally possible. At ServiceNow, we don’t say you can’t do it. You just need to remember that if you’re living in EMEA and register for the US version, for example, then it will be in the US time zone. So you’ll need to attend the live sessions, meet up with the groups, and things like that. It means that you will have to wake up really early in the morning, like 4 AM, just to be able to attend the sessions and perhaps meet with the groups. So, that’s almost not going to work unless you’re a night person.
To maintain the CTA certification, you must do several things. First, you have to maintain the underlying certifications (CSA, CIS, CSDM, etc.) and then you have to respond to three scenarios with your own knowledge. The main difference between the normal deltas and the CTA delta is that you can’t find answers in the docs. So it’s a little bit more complicated than a regular ServiceNow delta exam.
Yes, it’s included, no additional fees to pay.
Yes, ServiceNow has started what they call the CTA Alumni webinars, where they get speakers both internally and externally who have knowledge and experiences to share. It’s all recorded, so if you become certified now, you can still go back to watch a recording from the webinars that have already existed.
No, you should keep in mind that the CMA program is not above the CTA program. CMA and CTA are totally different roles. A CMA will speak more to the C-suite level, getting to understand what the business wants and what the requirements are. The CTA is the one that gets the requirements, the insights, and thinks of the best way to build the solution. Some people like being both as well!
