In other words, solution architecture shows how a system and its specific features help a company reach its determined business goals. If you are a sysadmin and you’re just focused on making yourself awesome on bash scripting, for instance, that’s not going to elevate your career in the long run. You will always get an opportunity if you’re working for an enterprise as a junior sysadmin to understand a problem, design a solution, and implement said solution. I’ve done that in my career many times with the aim that I’m going to be a Solution Architect or an enterprise architect in the future. A solutions architect is responsible for evaluating an organization’s business needs and determining how IT can support those needs leveraging software, hardware, or infrastructure. Aligning IT strategy with business goals has become paramount, and a solutions architect can help determine, develop, and improve technical solutions in support of business goals.
The main role of a solution architect is to ensure the product meets business requirements and requirements from other stakeholders. A solution architect’s job here is to explain how this app can be built, what tools — programming languages, frameworks, APIs — should be used, and how much time this process will take. For that, architects do some solution architecture — draw diagrams to understand which components are required for this app.
Enterprise Architect
Therefore, more and more organizations and companies all over the world are facing the ultimate need to go digital and adopt innovations and high-end software to multiply their efforts and keep growing. When a program, application or system isn’t working out the way it should, an organization may go back to the drawing board to fix what isn’t working or redesign something entirely. If you are an excellent problem solver with a knack for seeing the big picture, a career as a solution architect may be for you.
It would be lovely to know everything you needed to know about any big life decision. But what if there were such a person who was not only a subject matter expert on a certain product or solution but also had your best interests at heart beyond the purpose of selling? They tend to be investigative individuals, which means they’re intellectual, introspective, and inquisitive. Some of them are also enterprising, meaning they’re adventurous, ambitious, assertive, extroverted, energetic, enthusiastic, confident, and optimistic. Every project has a constraint that keeps varying from one type of project to the other. The most common project constraints incorporate – Money, time, risk, limitation, and licensing.
Business Transformation
There is a great deal of pressure in the US to move development to countries with cheaper labor. While the SA role could be outsourced, , there is some insulation because of the need to work closely with the Functional Analysts in the gathering and organization of requirements. The distributed software of the global world requires more effort on the part of the SA and increases their need. Perhaps the most important tool in the toolbox is a visual documentation language, such as UML.
Depending on the solution architect’s technical skills and area of expertise, there are several types of professionals, e.g. those who deal with networks, security, data, DevOps flows, or infrastructure. The Enterprise Architect operates at the macro level, focusing on the overarching IT environment of the organization. They are tasked with defining, maintaining, and enforcing an organization’s architectural vision, ensuring alignment with business strategy. Their scope goes beyond individual projects or technologies, venturing into a holistic understanding of the organization’s technology infrastructure, processes, and strategic goals. Looking for a way to build your skills and expertise as a solutions architect and add to your existing resume? Consider a course in software architecture to better familiarize yourself with the most common solution architectures.
What is a software or technical architect?
On the other hand, the software development team adheres to the Agile methodology. They create prototypes simultaneously to identify technological constraints or advance the product concept. Considering how nimble and agile the modern day enterprises have become, risk management has become one of the most crucial solution architect responsibilities of the current time. An individual who has been able to ace this skill will be able to best meet the “fail-fast” mindset of the modern day startups.
- Basically, they take separate requirements to the global company’s infrastructure and turn these requirements into real solutions.
- They create the CI/CD pipeline not only for the software to be deployed but also for supplying infrastructures (especially in the cloud such as Infrastructure as Code).
- A solution architect is a professional responsible for designing, planning, and implementing solutions within an organization.
- To determine which IT solutions would best serve the company’s objectives, you will need to have a solid understanding of the business as a solutions architect.
- Their main involvement is in ensuring that the company has a streamlined application lifecycle and is using the best technology set for every use case.
- This gives them a strong understanding of the tools and technologies involved in designing solutions.
- Any project must meet the functional requirements and some non-functional requirements related to the characteristics of the system.
Plus, they should connect the business vision with the technical side of the project while keeping the corporate strategy in mind. Generally, businesses have operating systems, information context, and integration facilities. A solutions architect ensures that any new system that gets introduced fits into the current business environment.
How to Choose a Software Development Company: Fundamental Do’s and Don’ts
And even in talks about the projects they’re working on in their careers, there will always be a topic about the products that we use. It can be 30 minutes, it can be 5 minutes; it’s just a conversation; a person talking to another person, and I gain a lot of respect from this kind of approach. Solutions architects must be prepared to work with leaders, managers, and employees across every business unit.
This specialist can be introduced to a company’s enterprise structure through software architecture consulting services. We’d recommend choosing the second option as solution architects and enterprise architects mostly focus on different goals. Prior to considering solution architecture, we recommend exploring enterprise architecture frameworks that combine both solution and enterprise levels. Certifications are intended to validate the skills and expertise of solution architects.
Implementation
Solution architecture is focused on details and solution technologies to address a specific business problem. They are mediators between enterprise architecture (global business perspective) and software architecture (dealing with tech issues). These people work in big organizations that maintain complex hardware infrastructure.
So be confident in understanding OS and what it is, how people use it, and all the different OS out there, and then learn to program — Python, YAML, etc. When you understand all this you can now jump into simple code; you can now automate whatever, and deploy applications. To me, this is very, very important in my role as a Solutions Architect — we don’t sell something and then go away. We want to make sure they have a successful implementation throughout the lifecycle and buy again.
What is a solutions architect? Know the roles and responsibilities
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment opportunities for computer network architects are expected to grow 4 percent from 2021 to 2031 [2]. As companies expand their information technology networks, the demand for solutions architects will likely increase. So, here the responsibility of the solutions architect is to ensure that the software meets all the needs and requirements well. Now that you know the roles of a solutions architect in bringing business it consulting rates and fees excellence let’s discover the responsibilities of a dedicated IT solutions architect. A part of this job role is that the stakeholders have to be constantly updated about products – its development, process, and budget – something that requires translating technical details into layman language. Technical Architect also plays a leadership role in defining practices and standards which must be followed throughout the project by working closely with the technical development teams.
Tools
If you are creative, analytical, outgoing, pragmatic, and can explain problems and solutions on both a technical and non-technical level, you could have a future as a solutions architect. Allow us to be your technical aid in another of your successful business venture. Mail, Chat, Call or better meet us over a cup of coffee and share with us your development plan.
What Is The Solutions Architect Responsibilities?
The SA has the ultimate responsibility for making the technologies work together. As a result the SA role comes with a requisite level of responsibility for the success of the project. One of the ways to demonstrate an interest in the SA role, no matter what role you may currently be filling is to invest time in learning patterns.
