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TPBOK26 October 20264 min read

What is the TPBOK? The Technical Practitioner Body of Knowledge, explained

The TPBOK, the Technical Practitioner Body of Knowledge, is the written standard behind every IICTP exam. It describes what a technical practitioner is expected to know and do, so that a credential means the same thing to every candidate and every employer who reads it.

In this post
  1. The five domains
  2. How it relates to the exams
  3. What it is not
  4. Sources and further reading

The five domains

  1. Architecture & Systems Design
  2. Engineering Governance & Agile Delivery
  3. Applied AI & Emerging Tech Integration
  4. Infrastructure & Security
  5. People Leadership in Engineering

Each domain has its own post in this blog, starting with architecture decisions that are expensive to undo.

How it relates to the exams

Exam questions are written against the domains, and each credential weights them differently. The exact numbers for every credential are published on the exam facts page, and the standard itself is on the TPBOK page.

What it is not

The TPBOK is IICTP’s own standard. It is not an ISO standard, and IICTP is not ISO/IEC 17024 accredited. It is also vendor-neutral by design: it describes practice, not a particular company’s products.

Not sure where you would start? Use the eligibility planner.

Sources and further reading

  1. IICTP. TPBOK. iictp.org/standards/tpbok.
  2. IICTP. Exam facts. iictp.org/certifications/exam-facts.

IICTP is a new independent credential and is not ISO/IEC 17024 accredited.

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