Pega Lead System Architect Certification: Jimmy’s LSA Journey

The Pega Lead System Architect (LSA) certification is known as the most challenging certification within the Pega community. At the end of 2025, our colleague Jimmy de Jong officially achieved this well-known certification. In this interview, he shares his motivation, his journey, the challenges he faced and his next steps with the LSA certification in hand.

 

What motivated you to start the Pega LSA journey?

“The main reason was, of course, that I really wanted to obtain the certification. It’s not an easy one and that’s exactly what makes it valuable. Earning it genuinely means something in the market. But it wasn’t just about the certificate. I wanted to continue developing myself. During this journey, you get the opportunity to design a complete solution from scratch. That’s something you almost never do entirely on your own in client projects. Normally, you work as part of a team, with others reviewing your work or providing feedback. In the LSA journey, everything depends on you. You work through every aspect independently, without the option of having your work reviewed. That’s what I found most educational: proving to myself that I could truly do this completely on my own.”

 

Can you tell us more about the structure of the journey? What steps do you go through?

1. The LSA mission

“It starts with a specific mission in the Pega Academy: the Lead System Architect mission. This is comparable to the missions for System Architect and Senior System Architect, but at LSA level. You cover the same core concepts, but the focus is much more on design decisions. You are presented with multiple solution options for a given problem and are expected to clearly explain why one option is the best choice. You do this across all topics within the mission. After completing the mission, you move on to a theoretical exam consisting of multiple-choice questions. I passed that exam in 2024. At that point, I realized that while I understood the theory, I didn’t yet have enough experience to independently design and deliver a full application. So I made a conscious decision to wait.”

2. App Design & Build

“At the beginning of 2025, I started the App Design & Build phase. You receive a business scenario from Pega and first create a complete design for it. Once that design is approved, you are allowed to start the build: actually developing the application based on your own design. If that is approved as well, you pass the trajectory and receive the LSA certification.”

 

What expectations did you have when you started the journey? And what turned out differently than expected?

“I definitely didn’t underestimate it. I knew upfront that you need a substantial amount of knowledge to even be able to complete this journey. That’s also why I chose to wait before starting. My advice to others would be: only begin when you truly feel ready. You should already have experience designing solutions for clients and understand why you make certain design decisions. The journey is very intensive and if you fall just short because you lack sufficient experience, that’s a tough pill to swallow. Especially since you then have to start over. In the end, it turned out very much as expected. The theoretical exam is quite manageable with around three years of experience, but for the App Design & Build phase, I would recommend at least five years of hands-on practical experience.”

 

What are you most proud of during this journey?

“What I’m most proud of is the fact that I completed the entire application design and build completely independently. During the build phase, I ran into technical challenges and in those moments it’s important to stay calm and not panic. That went well for me. And that’s exactly what is expected from an LSA: not just having the knowledge, but also being self-reliant. Analysing problems, solving them and pushing through. That really defines this role.”

 

How did BPM Company support you during the process?

“I occasionally had a fellow LSA, Jan Jaap, as a sparring partner. The theoretical part was largely self-study. That said, there was room for in-depth discussion, as some design questions seem to have multiple valid answers. Before staring the design phase, I practiced with a retired Pega business scenario. These are old exam cases that are no longer actively used. I spent a few days working on one to test whether I could independently come up with a design. I did have this trial design reviewed by Jan Jaap and I incorporated his feedback into my final exam design. I completed the actual exam entirely on my own, as required by Pega. The support was therefore mainly in the preparation.”

 

What would you say to colleagues or others in the Pega community who are unsure about starting the trajectory?

“If you already have years of experience and regularly work on designs in your project, I’d say: just go for it. If you do have that experience but have done little design work so far, I’d recommend first gaining that experience with your client. Writing your application design is quite challenging and really something you only learn by doing in practice. Given the time investment, it’s wise to prepare yourself thoroughly first.”

 

Now that you’ve obtained your LSA certification, what are your next steps?

“I hope to apply this knowledge mainly in my projects, for example by creating high-level designs. Think of larger integrations and API-related challenges. In addition, I’d like to grow into a team lead role over time. The LSA certification primarily tests your hard skills. For a true LSA or team lead position, soft skills are also essential and those are mainly developed through hands-on experience with the client. Still, it feels good to have the certificate and to be able to demonstrate that the foundational expertise is in place.”

 

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