The Semiotics of Job Ads for Enterprise Architect Roles
I’ve run a lot of TOGAF training courses over the years. Why do people attend TOGAF training? Because they want a better job. A lot of students have asked me for advice on:
“How do I get a job as an enterprise architect?”
This has caused me to become interested in what employers define in their job announcements as the “enterprise architect” role — and other roles that overlap with the enterprise architect role. Because these job announcements define “the real world”. This is what “the market” wants. Employers are implicitly shaping the role of enterprise architect.
Whoa. Think about that.
So regardless of what I think, or what TOGAF thinks, about “enterprise architecture” — these job ads are implicitly telling us how organisations perceive their goals, their challenges, their strategies, and how they propose to manage their “transformation journeys”, if you will.
But — if you will — we’re talking about what TOGAF calls “Architecture Partitioning” and “Skills Framework”. Those of you who have attended my brilliant and funny TOGAF courses over the years will have recognised this. Right? You did, didn’t you?
Clearly, there is a cyclical nature to this system. Job ads define the role, but then people working in the role will hopefully get a chance to re-define — and improve — the quality of position announcements for the enterprise architect role. Evolutionary change will happen over time in the market place, but it’s happening a bit too slow for my liking.
The amount of thought and effort companies put into the wording of their job ads also tells us a lot about that company, doesn’t it? Some companies do a great job creating job ads. Other companies don’t put any effort into it at all. Who would you rather work for?
Some companies toss it over the fence to a recruiter, who writes the job ad. And that’s almost always a disaster. A lot of recruiters can’t tie their shoe laces, let alone find the handle on grammar and spelling. Very few recruiters actually know the difference between an enterprise architect and a barista. I know a few recruiters who were baristas immediately before they became recruiters. No jokes. So expecting a barista to write the job description for an enterprise architect role? Hang on. That may actually work out okay, now that I think of it.
And — you may agree with me here — it’s an absolute kabuki drama out there in the real world. The way job ads describe the enterprise architect role are all over the place. It is immediately obvious to the most casual observer that there is zero common understanding in the market about what an ‘enterprise architect’ is — or does. So these job ads are sometimes a source of bemusement, if not absolute face palm.
The semiotics of job ads.
And you thought they were just job ads, didn’t you?
Sometimes one sees some terribly misguided job announcements for enterprise architects. I’ve been collecting some of the best and worst over the years. I should pull them all together and post them so that we can all comment. And have a laugh.
I have a theory about this. And here it is:
“The more intelligent, insightful, and well-written the job ads are — the more likely it is that that company will achieve success at whatever it is they think they want to do.”
Anyway — the job ad below popped up recently. It’s not for an enterprise architect role — but it explains how the Business Consultant role will collaborate with the enterprise architect role — which is just as important and illustrative of how smart this company is:
And I think this company is on the right track. This is absolutely good. We’re going to have business consultants working hand-in-hand with enterprise architects. That is totally going to work. Ten out of ten.
This job ad is from New Zealand. New Zealand has a lot going for it. If New Zealand ever decides to invade Australia — and they should do this immediately — I for one, will welcome our Kiwi Overlords of the Rings.
Jacinta Ardern can become ANZAC Prime Minister for Life. It’ll be good. Trust me on this.
