CITP - New Certificate of Continuing Competence!
I first earned Chartered IT Professional status (CITP) in 2010. Back then, although the bar to entry was very high, it was primarily assessed via peer review. In the last ten years or so, the CITP was refreshed to include a formal rigorous examination (with a focus on business knowledge), assessment against a strict rubric for a variety of SFIA skills as well as a live peer review with two other existing CITP holders. These changes actually made the application process for the CITP more rigorous than for becoming a Chartered Engineer (CEng).
A bigger change though was to tie a Certificate of Current Competence (COCC) to the CITP that requires revalidation every 5 years. This provides a formal way for assessing CPD over that time as well as experience gained in the profession. This is generally a very good thing and has been part of many industry qualifications for a long time (such as those from CISCO and Red Hat). As our field changes so quickly, it can be easy to get left behind.
When the new CITP was introduced, those with existing CITP status were exempt from the COCC process. However, it was still recorded that they did not have a valid COCC even though they were still CITP. This caused some confusion with dealing with other entities (such as ITP NZ) as they assumed that a COCC was required for a CITP to be valid. Although I didn't need to apply for the COCC, I did want to ensure I was following best practices and was keen to see how the process had evolved over the years.
I applied a couple of months ago and I'm happy to report, my CPD was considered sufficient to be issued with a COCC. The most visible changes are that I now have a tick next to my name on the CITP Public Register:
and I received a shiny new membership card. I didn't realise CITP holders had a different membership card, but I guess they were issued as part of the refreshed CITP and so I never got one. Although it's just a card, it's a nice reflection of the time and effort that goes into earning and then re-certifying.
For those that haven't taken the plunge to transition their "classic" version of the CITP into the current version, now is definitely a good time to look at doing that!
Peter Membrey is a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Chartered IT Professional and a Chartered Engineer. He has a doctorate in engineering and a masters degree in IT specialising in Information Security. He's co-authored over a dozen books and a number of research papers on a variety of topics. These days he is focusing his efforts on creating a more private Internet, raising awareness of STEM and helping people to reach their potential in the field.