Solutions Architect Vs Technical Architect

Solution Architect is a specialist who owns the technical backlog. It sets technical tasks for developers. And also it helps them understand how and why we do certain things. The architect also provides documentation, clarifies the architecturally significant requirements from the customer. For example, in betting companies performance is very important. Especially in live betting, when you can place bets right during the event. And you need not just to achieve a certain value of performance, but to be faster than competitors. Otherwise, the product will fail on the market.

The Profession Involves a Lot of Communication

In general, this profession involves a lot of communication. Therefore communication skills are important for an architect. It helps teams work in the right direction. It is engaged in coordination between various teams, vendors. When negotiating with a client or a development team, he must convey the idea correctly. He must propose a solution to the problem, and justify why the solution is exactly that.

Business skills are also important. It is necessary to have a general understanding of the business. What are the business drivers for the organization? What its goals are? This is necessary in order to determine what requirements are important for a particular product in software development. You should also be able to monitor the market, understand business domains.

An architect can perform the duties of a designer in terms of system design and design. In addition, he creates a technical backlog, performs the business analysis. He acts as a team lead on small projects or a project manager on larger internal projects, can replace DevOps.

An architect can have many tasks:

• Find out who the customers are, the stakeholders, and what exactly they need.
• Architects can work on a project at the pre-sale stage. A customer comes to a service company and says that he wants to create such and such a product, but he needs a solution to a specific problem. Solution Architect creates a high-level solution. He explains to the customer how his problem will be solved, how the solution fits into his business strategy.
• Another way to get involved is on an ongoing project, where we already have teams and high-level design. Here, the architect creates a design for new features. This requires communication with the customer. It clarifies the requirements for the features, design for them. It provides the teams with a backlog. Also, the architect makes sure that what is drawn is implemented in the project. For this he communicates with the teams and their leads.

Technical Architect

There is the difference between solution architect and technical architect. The main goals of the technical architect are:

1. Technical – everything that is directly related to design refers to it. A software engineer creates an architectural pattern. He divides it into modules and selects programming languages. He chooses the means of execution and prescribes technical scenarios for the interaction of the components of the future software. Responsibilities also include the design of technical interfaces, the definition of data transfer and storage formats. As well as the selection of the necessary tools for the implementation of subsystems.
2. Expert – a specialist analyzes the project, gives an expert assessment and writes requirements for its implementation. The programmer-architect plans the development of the system and carries out reengineering. I.e. radical overhaul in the existing software in order to eliminate existing errors. He reviews purchased systems. He regulates changes and develops design standards.
3. Managerial – a programmer-architect leads the development team, advises it and distributes technical tasks. The architect communicates with the customer and the manager, can make adjustments and propose solutions. He must speak in a language understandable to the customer. He explains complex technical concepts in simple language. This is important for the establishment of business processes, successful communication between the development department and the client. Monitors the implementation of the project, deals with various documentation and coordinates his subordinates.

This profession is in demand, which makes it highly paid and very prestigious. But high earnings presuppose a high level of knowledge, experience and responsibility.