How to become a Technical Architect!!

Hello there !! I am walking through my carrier path as an example to show how one can become a Technical Architect from developer role!!

I am sure most of you who are developers having the haunting question on how to become an architect and what should you do for that? This blog is for those who aspire to become an Architect.

1. Java developer:

I started my carrier as Java developer with two years of various training & self learning programming experience primarily in Java, Oracle & Unix . I added full stack technologies t such as JSP, JS, CSS to my profile after started working in enterprise. Initial days I developed multiple Struts based web applications and SOAP based services for solving customer needs and collaborated with bunch of peer developers. The domain in which I worked was least influential of the technology stack. I had deep passion towards technology and I did not had any difficulty in understanding and implement using with above technologies. I also acquired three major professional certificates during this period SCJP (Sun Certified Java Developer), SCWCD (Sun Certified Web Component Developer),SQL developer which gave me confidence to face the industry. Along with Technologies I also learnt about the corporate work culture and importance of team collaboration.

I spent lot of time self learning new technologies and solving competitive programming. Over the period it helped me become an expert at what I was doing and I was able to deliver beyond the expectation as a Junior developer.

2. Lead developer

After two and half years of full time developer role, I moved to onsite. Different work culture and fast moving environment was different for me and it took some time to adopt to the new environment, I was performing very average during this time. it was not big surprise for me as I was learning various other things along the way. Eventually I brought back my previous consistency which I was working on developing multiple SOAP services and JavaScript based client application integration by spending more time closure to code and daily learning.

Onsite exposure helped me improve quiet a lot in my communication skill along with technical skill. I was able to articulate the problem clearly and convince any one with my idea. I still think this is an important ability of Architect.

Explored small scale to large scale technical problems thus helped get a bigger picture of the industry.

Gaining more insight on requirements and different business use cases demanded various solutions and mapping of right technology that suits the solution, which helped me shape up confidence in the industry and at the end I was able to offer solutions to most common problems or I was able to connect dot with the technology.

I mentored with offshore developers and collaborated with them for implementing solution in 24/7 model.

3. Technical consultant:

This phase I worked as a consultant who provide solution to fortune 500 Enterprise/Insurance/Banking clients with the role of individual contributor. I engaged with various clients from different location for shorter span of time and implemented their web needs.

This phase thought me the pattern of similar implementation across domain and gave me more confidents about the industry. During this phase I focused on Spring Mevan /Jenkins, ESB & Oracle DB.

I developed spring based web applications and stated gaining momentum in to spring boot based REST services. I was able to connect components & solutions to the problem and closely worked with architects to understand the thought process.

I had a exposure to Hadoop, HDFS, Map Reduce, Cassandra, Mango, Informatica(ETL) & other big data technologies during this phase and acquired certificate.

4. Technical product owner:

With the knowledge I gained in previous roles, passion and enthusiasm towards technology helped me clear Apple interview and got in to Apple as technical product owner who manages multiple products end to end. It involves gathering requirement, working with various teams, identify right technology for the problem & implementing solution. Verify the quality of the solution and collaborate with testing team and project management team for on time delivery. Complete the feedback loop with business to identify if the need has been fulfilled. Create a roadmap for product, improve the product year on year by establishing metrics, vision for the product and report the progress/impact to management about the product.

I ventured in to Python, NLP & Machine Leaning tech stack to improve the products. I learnt ML through online platforms such as coursera and other channels like Youtube.I have been a curious learner through out my carrier, it helped me stay on top of newer technologies. Never sleep with out learning new !! I started attending various training sessions and meet up sessions on ML and big data space. Architecture of Hadoop & Spark inspired me to think about the thought process behind these technologies and haunting me even now invent such as these.

Using ML, I developed a solution that enriched the product and added value to the end users.

Also in this phase I explored other data engineering technologies such as Kafka, Solr, & Spark. I learnt about Kafka in depth and it was modern game changing component that plays a major role in various architectures. I can strongly suggest there cannot be modern architect exist without the knowledge of Kafka.

As a product owner I understand the importance of operational tools such Devops, Splunk, Hardware maintenance & monitoring tools. So in parallel I was focusing on these technologies.

5. Technical architect:

At this point my responsibility includes.

1. Develop large scale highly available application/Services
2. Know which technology to use when
3. Add value to business through technology
4. Groom the developers/Leads
5. Communicate clearly & collaborate with all the stack holders
6. Design for zero operational issue
7. Design for future
8. Reuse
9. Solve pain points and make a bold decisions
10. Communicate/report the progress & impact of the product

This phase I started owning the technology side of the large scale & high visible major products.

My responsibility was to come up with solution that scales large and keep the application available always, open for future enhancement, supports multiple integrations and less prone to failures.

Go out of the box to capture the service performance in Splunk for reporting/visibility/usage of service.

Recently I ventured in to cloud technologies along with Containerization Technologies. I think it is very vital to know Cloud & Container space as an Architect, it opens new possibilities which the traditional Hardware route has a limitation on.

My summarization of the key qualities I believe any one who aspire to become an architect should have:

1. Clarity in expressing thoughts
2. Ability to convince or influence with the idea
3. Be a continues learner
4. Be hands on !! Be hands on!!
5. Be curious
6. Problem solver
7. Do your work above and beyond anyone can imagine
8. Help others (Other team, developers, interns, business...)
9. Be a people person!
10. Own the responsibility for success or failure.

Well, I am hoping my writing has given you insights on how one can move from Developer to Architect.

Thanks for reading and my wishes for any one who is aspiring to become an Architect!!

Thanks for everyone who gave me an opportunity to grow!!.