CAP – How to become a modern-day analytics journeyman

Certification has roots in medieval craft guilds, which established standards, set ethical guidelines for practice and functioned as professional associations. The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the largest professional society in the world for analytics, operations research and management science. INFORMS’ Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) Program is an effort to establish standards and set guidelines. Certainly the practice of analytics is a craft, requiring special skills in its execution. Let me explain, and maybe by the end you’ll be interested in getting certified yourself.

Practicing Your Craft in the Middle Ages

In the high Middle Ages, learning a craft began with apprenticeship, whereby teenage boys worked for a master craftsman in exchange for room, board and training. Apprentices could only practice their craft in their master’s workshop until they became journeymen, which required several years of experience and the production of a high-quality piece of work in that craft. However, once reaching journeyman status, skills became portable, an journeymen were granted letters or certificates that allowed them to travel to other towns to practice their craft, earn wages and learn from other masters.

After more years of practice and production of a masterpiece the journeyman becomes a master, if other masters agreed. The new master was then free to set up his own workshop. Guilds promoted their craft, set its norms or standards, and maintained a code of ethics related to its practice. They offered practitioners a portable credential that could signal their skills to those who wanted to do more than just take their word. The travels of the journeymen had the added effect of disseminating new ways of practice, since they brought their accumulated knowledge to each new location and workshop.

INFORMS, a Modern-Day Guild?

INFORMS is certainly not a medieval guild, but it is a global organization of 11,000 members, of whom 50 percent are academics, 30 percent practitioners and 20 percent students. Members are highly educated – 96 percent have or are earning an advanced degree, and 51 percent have Ph.D.s. INFORMS has taken on the championing of analytics in many ways, including establishing continuing education programs; an analytics maturity model; engagement with industry, government and academia; and certification.

The Institute’s decision to establish a certification program shares goals with the guilds: to advance the craft by introducing standards of quality, identify individuals with breadth of knowledge and encourage continued competency. While guilds were quasi-governmental in requiring membership to practice that craft (akin to governments requiring licenses for certain professions today), certification is a voluntary credential granted by a non-governmental body.

INFORMS conducted a job task analysis study by a panel of subject matter experts to define the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to effectively practice analytics. They identified seven domains: business problem framing, analytics problem framing, data, methodology selection, model building, deployment, and model lifecycle management.

What is Required for Certification?

There are five “Es” of the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) program: education, experience, exam, effectiveness and ethics. The education and analytics-related work experience combination required is three years for those with a master’s degree (any guess where that term originated?) in a related discipline (e.g., statistics, mathematics, computer science, etc.), five years with a bachelor’s degree in a related discipline and seven years with a degree in an unrelated discipline (waivers of the educational eligibility requirements will be considered on a case by case basis). The exam tests skills and knowledge in the seven JTA domains with 100 multiple-choice questions that must be completed in three hours or less. Computer-based testing is available at 700+ locations worldwide.

Analytics requires more than technical skills and knowledge, so a confirmation of effectiveness in the area of soft skills by an employer or client is required. And, CAP requires agreement with the code of ethics. For more details on applying see the CAP Candidate Handbook and the Complete CAP Study Guide.

Why Get Certified?

The target group is early to mid-career professionals, or “apprentices” seeking to become “journeymen,” although thankfully today apprentices are paid! Those advanced in their careers may have a resume whose mastery stands on its own, but early career professionals may find the differentiation offered by a portable, independent, third-party validation of knowledge of certain standards helpful. Not unlike the journeyman certificate or letter, in this era of increasing demand for analytics professionals certification attests to knowledge and skills beyond a person’s own word. It demonstrates commitment to career and to craft and adherence to accepted standards. It can increase earnings potential and provide the personal satisfaction of achieving a milestone. INFORMS and CAP benefits will endure for years to come.

For more on the CAP program, click here.