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Reading through and wondering for perspective, this caught me: >No IT architects or enterprise architects. True, neither Uber nor Skype/Microsoft have hands-of
by atwebb 4y ago
Reading through and wondering for perspective, this caught me:
>No IT architects or enterprise architects. True, neither Uber nor Skype/Microsoft have hands-off software architect positions. Engineers at higher levels, like staff engineers, are expected to still regularly code.
That statement says that EA is not commonly coding. Is that true? I don't know that I've met many architects that aren't engineers by another name (possibly cross departmental/enterprise).
It feels like a straw-man.
- ownagefool 4y agoIt's 100% true. My wife shared a house for a short period of time with an architect who was fairly new out of uni and did not know how to code, or have any real tech skills. At the same time I was working for large companies in digital transformation trying to teach them to let developers make decisions. It's common EA is about PowerPoint and talking to vendors with checklists, and doesn't require strong or sometimes any tech chops. I find it crazy.
- adamkl 4y agoEnterprise Architecture is a very different discipline from software development (and even solution architecture), and are usually found in non-tech organizations (i.e. banks, insurance companies, etc). EA is focussed on evaluating the business processes and technical solutions that make up the operations of a large scale organization. They try to identify and remove redundancy (e.g. multiple billing systems) and ensure the solutions in place (custom internal, or vendor purchases) are fit-for-purpose from technical, business, and strategic standpoints. It’s very far removed from the practice of software development (since the correct solution, from an EA standpoint, might just be to stitch together a handful of vendor systems and do away with custom development completely).
- a9h74j 4y agoIs this closer to System Analyst, or -- as it sounds -- even higher level, like strategic infrastructure acquisition?
- adamkl 4y agoMuch higher level than a System Analyst. Enterprise Architects often work directly with the CIO/CTO to shape an organization’s long term technology strategy (i.e. 5+ year time horizons). The idea being, they are supposed to be “architecting the enterprise”.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- PragmaticPulp 4y ago> an architect who was fairly new out of uni and did not know how to code, or have any real tech skills. This sounds more like a sales-adjacent role that pitches a company’s tech product lineup to the likes of product managers and other non-technical people at potential clients companies. For these roles, having someone who isn’t too deep into the details of the technology can actually help connect with other non-technical customers. You quickly remove this person from leading meetings and insert someone with tech skills if the other side shows up with actual engineers, though. No actual engineering team is going to have an “architect” fresh out of college who doesn’t code or otherwise understand the tech. Having someone architect a system without understanding it doesn’t make any sense.
- yibg 4y agoDepends on the type of organization, and especially for titles like enterprise architect. Most people I know with enterprise architect titles don't code. They're mostly at non tech companies like banks, telcos etc. Even the standard software architects at many non tech companies don't code, or at least don't code much.