How did the first open meeting of IT architects in Astana go

In the spring of 2025, our website The Tech published an article about the profession of an IT architect. The material gathered hundreds of views and responses — and showed that within Kazakhstan's IT community, there was a growing demand for a meaningful discussion about architecture as a strategic function.

On May 22, the first open meeting of IT architects in Kazakhstan took place at the BTS office in Astana. Specialists who design complex digital systems, integrations, and platform solutions gathered there — from telecom and FinTech to government agencies and the extractive industry. Representatives from Kazatomprom, Freedom Telecom, NCOC, BBC, the Center for Electronic Finance, government bodies, and consulting firms were present.

Laura Salamat, initiator of the article and one of the organizers of the meeting, IT architect and CDTO of NNEF
We thought there would be at most 10 interested participants, but in the end, more than 60 people showed up. We simply opened the topic — and it turned out that it had long been waiting to be spoken aloud.

The format was informal: coffee, pizza, and lively conversation. But essentially, this was the first architectural meetup of a new format — not focused on tools, but on the meaning of the profession.

Discussions at the meeting covered:

1. Architect roles: from EA to Cloud

What types of architects exist, how they differ, and where the responsibility of one ends and another begins.

2. Pain points and challenges of the profession

The lack of architectural culture in companies, unstructured roles, and difficulties in communicating with the business. Today, an architect is often an "invisible pillar" for an organization, yet without formal authority.

3. Certifications and real knowledge

TOGAF, ArchiMate, IT4IT, AWS, Azure — what actually works and what remains just a "checkbox."

The presentation by Dauren Dosymbek, chairman of the Kazakh branch of the Association of Enterprise Architects — an international association that promotes TOGAF, ArchiMate, and IT4IT architectural practices in over 140 countries — drew particular interest. The main outcome of the meeting was not just discussion, but the launch of the ArchConnect KZ community — a platform where architects exchange case studies, discuss real-world challenges, share tools, ideas, diagrams, and mistakes.