I remember reading that architects have one of the highest job dissatisfaction rates in the US. Which makes sense comparing the kinds of projects I saw the architecture students due in college with the architects I've met, whose excitement is designing the ductwork in strip-mall Target stores.
I would love to be an architect. It's all concepts and not really implementation beyond proof of concept. Concepts and problem solving is right up my alley. Unfortunately I need to be at least a senior dev before they will consider me. Plus it's like double my salary. Oh well.
An architect, at least one worth his title, does not work in isolation.
The article talks about a type of architect that I call tech lead. It has as much to do with the architecture process as a front-end developer has to do with mechanical engineering.
There are many types of architect, with vastly different roles and functions within an organisation from pre-sales to business strategy so I strongly argue that people should stop looking to become architects as a step up from being engineers in the same way that fashion models should stop looking at picking up acting as some sort of a graduation when when they get too old for the catwalk.
Some can do it because they have picked up enough knowledge and insight along the way but, for most, it's a new career with a whole new set of skills and responsibilities.
Architecture is low pay and looooong hours unless partner at a hot/top firm. Apparently the thrill of "building cool stuff" and "changing the world" makes up for the low pay. Typically architects age into consulting or management. Thinking about it, not too different from the tech industry.
I haven’t had a lot of luck with architects. In one case I came to a company that got rid of their architect and hired me and another person to replace him (to be fair they were too small to warrant a full time role anyway, not sure what they were thinking).
Especially in the post refactoring era, they tend to have an inaccurate account of what the code is actually like and make bad calls based on bad info. It’s a responsibility that works better when the people have their hands in the code. I’ve had better luck with Architecture as a job description shared by the lead developers. In large enough companies they have Staff Engineer that scratches that itch with perhaps slightly less people skills (though I really don’t recommend it).
Thanks! I've actually listed this as a career goal in my performance reviews. My company requires architects to be respected respected (fast) senior devs (they view technical career paths as linear, and one must be better at the role below it to be good at the next one). Something which I'm not. So it's highly unlikely. Maybe if I find myself out of a job I will apply to some architect positions.
I've found architects to be extremely hard to find (both software and security). A good architect needs both wide technical experience (even if they have specialities) and great communication and documentation skills. Attention to detail and also big picture thinking.
It's not that hard to find architects, but it's insanely hard to find good ones. Although, that probably applies to pretty much any role.
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