Software architect is an illegal job title in the UK
If you are working in the UK with the job title “software architect”, or styling yourself as such, you are breaking the law. Yes, you are committing an offense under: Architects Act 1997 Part IV Section 20. In particular: “(1) A person shall not practise or carry on business under any name, style or title containing the word “architect” unless he is a person registered [F1 in Part 1 of the Register].”
The Architecture Registration Board are happy to take £142 off you, ever year, for the privilege of using architect in your job title. There is also the matter of a Part 3 examination; don’t know what that is.
If you really do like the word architect in your job title and don’t want to pay £142 a year, you could move into another line of business: “(2) Subsection (1) does not prevent any use of the designation “naval architect”, “landscape architect” or “golf-course architect”.” I am assuming that the he in the wording also applies to she‘s and that a sex change will not help.
Do building architects care? I suspect not. Are the police going to do anything about it? Well, if they don’t like you and are looking for some way of hauling you before the courts, the fine is not that bad.
http://www.arb.org.uk/regulate-use-of-the-title-architects-act ”… we wouldn’t take any action in these cases.”
@Stephen Gower
The Architecture Registration Board only get to decide whether to report an infringement to the Police, who decide whether to forward a case to the Crown prosecution service. The police have been known to prosecute cases which appear to many people to be, shall we say, making up the monthly numbers.
There is nothing preventing anybody reading this blog post reporting an infringement to the Police. In fact they might even make a citizen’s arrest.
From the Architecture Registration Board’s website:
“Context
The name ‘architect’ is sometimes used in a way that isn’t connected to building and design, for example, ‘software architect’ or ‘systems architect’ in the IT industry. We take the commonsense view and accept that no one could be misled into thinking this has something to do with the design and construction of buildings, and we wouldn’t normally take any action in these cases. “
Gah, sorry – missed the other two comments.