7 Popular Certifications for Solutions Architects

If you’re exploring a career as a solutions architect or if you are working in a similar role currently, you can find a variety of certifications that can help you validate your skills at different stages of your career. For example, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification is an appropriate credential for a professional with at least one year of experience working with cloud-based AWS solutions, while the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert is a capstone certification that you can work up to by earning other certifications first. Other certifications, like the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) or the Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), help you develop specialized skills and direct your career into the areas in which you want to focus, such as cloud security with the CCSP certification or project management with CSM. 

Explore seven certifications for a solutions architect, including the skills the certification will validate, the exam cost, and the requirements you’ll need to begin. 

What is a solutions architect?

A solutions architect helps design and build IT solutions and infrastructure, considering the complex needs of organizations and implementing technical solutions to support and improve business processes. This can include considerations like cloud computing, security, efficiency, automation, performance, and cost. 

Complex IT systems, such as those that support medical devices, robots, or satellite systems, often have a team of solutions architects implementing and building solutions. In this role, you will collaborate with other professionals to determine what IT solutions and infrastructure your company or client needs, then develop robust and scalable systems to help them meet their goals. 

What qualifications do you need to be a solutions architect?

Most solutions architects have a bachelor’s degree (66 percent) while many also hold a master’s degree (24 percent) [1]. Popular areas of study include computer science, business, electrical engineering, and computer engineering.

7 popular certifications for solutions architects

Seven certifications for solutions architects to explore include the AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Associate, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Professional, the Google Professional Cloud Architect, the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF): Enterprise Architecture Practitioner. Learn more about the requirements and costs of each certification. 

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Associate

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a variety of certifications for professionals working with AWS services, including the AWS Certified Solutions Architect at the Associate and Professional levels. At the Associate level, this certification demonstrates your ability to design and create solutions using AWS services. 

Requirements: You will not have to complete any prerequisites before taking this exam. AWS recommends you have at least one year of experience working with AWS cloud-based services, or one to three years of IT experience paired with time spent preparing for the exam. AWS recommends that individuals who want to take this exam but don’t currently have IT or AWS experience start with AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, a foundational-level exam validating fundamental AWS skills. 

Cost (US): $150 [2]

2. AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Professional

After you earn your Associate level or gain experience working directly with AWS services to design cloud solutions, you can consider earning your AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Professional credential. This certification validates your ability to design and manage complex solutions and to optimize for security, cost, and automation. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Professional certification covers topics in four domains: designing solutions for organizational complexity, designing new solutions, improving existing solutions, and facilitating workload migration/modernization. 

Requirements: AWS recommends that you have two or more years of experience building and implementing cloud solutions using AWS services prior to taking this exam. 

Cost (US): $300 [3]

3. Google Professional Cloud Architect

The Google Professional Cloud Architect certification demonstrates your ability to design and build robust, scalable solutions leveraging Google Cloud services. This certification covers topics like designing and planning cloud-based solutions, managing solution infrastructure, designing for security, optimizing processes, and managing the implementation of the solution. Google offers seven other certifications at the Professional level for individuals working with cloud services, including Cloud Database Engineer, Cloud Developer, Cloud Security Engineer, and more. 

Requirements: You do not have to complete any prerequisites before taking this exam, but Google recommends that you have three or more years of experience with cloud architecture, including at least one year of experience working with Google Cloud. 

Cost (US): $200 [4]

4. Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)

The Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) offered by ISC2 demonstrates your skills and knowledge of cloud security best practices. The ISC2, a member association for professionals working in cybersecurity, provides advocacy, research, training, and certification. The CCSP covers topics across six domains: cloud concepts, architecture, and design; cloud data security; cloud platform and infrastructure security; cloud application security; cloud security operations; and legal, risk, and compliance. 

Requirements: To qualify for the CCSP, you will need at least five years of professional experience in IT, with at least three years of experience in information security and at least one year of experience working in one of the six exam domains. You will also need to maintain membership with ISC2. 

Cost (US): $599 [5]. The annual membership fee for ISC2 is $135 [6].

5. Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

The Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert validates your expertise and experience administering and developing Azure solutions and the DevOps process. To earn this certification, you will need to pass Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, which covers topics such as designing solutions for storage; business continuity; infrastructure; and identity, governing, and monitoring solutions. 

Requirements: To qualify for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, you will need to first earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate credential.

Cost (US): $165 [7]

6. Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)

The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) offered by the Scrum Alliance is a credential that demonstrates your ability to work in and manage Scrum projects, as well as your understanding of leadership principles and impacting organizational change. Scrum is a project management process under the Agile framework that helps teams organize their work in cycles of feedback, improvement, and value delivery to customers. To earn this certification, you will complete a learning program covering the core concepts of Scrum and pass a certification exam. 

Requirements: You do not need to complete any prerequisites prior to taking this exam. The certification is a learning program as well as an exam, so you do not need to have prior knowledge of Scrum to be successful. 

Cost (US): The individual service providers who administer this certification set their own prices, creating an available range between $250 and $2,495 [8]. This price range reflects a difference in the format, location, and specific offerings of individual programs. 

7. The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF): Enterprise Architecture Practitioner

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF): Enterprise Architecture Practitioner is a certification that demonstrates your expertise in the TOGAF Standard, an industry-standard methodology for enterprise architecture. After gaining expertise in the TOGAF approach, your job opportunities, industry credibility, and effectiveness in your role will most likely increase. You will demonstrate your ability to apply TOGAF techniques and methodologies to enterprise change management. The exam for this certification is split into two parts.

Requirements: You don’t have to complete any prerequisites before taking this exam. However, if you’ve earned the TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Foundation certification, you only need to take Part 2 of this exam. If you have not passed these certifications, you will need to complete a learning component prior to taking your exam. 

Cost (US): $395 each, $595 bundled [9]

Earn a solutions architect Professional Certificate on Coursera

Earning certifications for solutions architects can help you demonstrate your experience and abilities to potential employers as well as build skills to help you specialize in your career. You can prepare for your AWS Cloud certification while earning a Professional Certificate, such as the AWS Cloud Solutions Architect Professional Certificate on Coursera. This Professional Certificate can help you make informed decisions about when and how to apply key AWS services for compute, storage, database, networking, monitoring, and security components of a system. You can also learn to design architectural solutions, whether designing for cost, performance, and/or operational excellence. Prepare for the certification exam, identify your strengths and gaps for each domain area, and build strategies for identifying incorrect responses.