You want to get started in System Architecture with no experience. What are your first steps?

Read books from experts. Eric Evan’s, Uncle Bob, Martin Fowler, Sam Newman, Neal Ford, Mark Richards etc. They will help you find your way.

A few first steps are - gain domain expertise - understand the ecosystem and the market - study existing solutions in your company - focus on what the company is achieving with the architecture that you are going to work on - All other things the headings in this article are pointing to

1 - Think in terms of architectural patterns (& anti-patterns) at the component and meta level... MVC, MVVM, Redux... / n-tier, microservices, edge... absorb the evolution / history of these designs - read papers 2 - Be ready to invent the next wave... The coming dominant architecture is new patterns that we're inventing now... from components like RAG, SHAP, LIME... to meta-architectures like MoE, and agent architectures - read blogs Foundation model LLMs are everyone's current focus, but it's likely that they'll just be components in larger emerging agent-centric multi-model architectural federation. 3 - Don't forget people are part of the system - 5IR & the 'Alignment' problem is about human-centric systems - take a course in ethics

Some recommendations: - Define your path. - Get experience. - Engage in new opportunities. - Consider to get some online courses/training.

First find someone in your org who has bandwidth and ready to help you. Show your interest and start engaging and ask for pointers relevant to your system.

Learning existing systems and understanding why they are designed a certain way can provide the foundational insights that can be innovated upon for new designs. However, at times, prior art can be of hinderance instead of help, as it frames the mind into a narrower solution space. A good system architect should be cognizant of instances when a free/playful inventiveness can be of help to discover innovations before anchoring down by combining the new with the tried and true.

Begin by learning the fundamentals of computer architecture, networking, and operating systems. Familiarize yourself with programming languages like Python and gain hands-on experience with system administration. Explore online courses, books, and practical projects to deepen your understanding. Networking with professionals in the field and seeking mentorship can also be beneficial.

Find challenge/set of challenges relevant to the system its not always the case that all challenges are relevant for system. Then address those challenges. for example within embedded systems itself for battery powered system power consumption is big factor whereas any mains powered embedded system power consumption within budget may be traded and not necessarily big factor always.

Studying the design and implementation of systems from leading tech entities like Amazon, Netflix, and Google, alongside open-source projects like Linux and Kubernetes, is invaluable for understanding system architecture. Analyzing their approaches to scalability, reliability, security, and performance, and comparing architectural styles like monolithic, microservices, serverless, and event-driven, can significantly enhance your architectural acumen and problem-solving skills.

Create your own homelab. 2-4 cheap used x86 servers (or Raspberry Pi), a network switch, and a simple storage node. Create a simple application with a database and frontend layers that are running on different nodes. Install k3s on this cluster and practice with Kubernetes. Try to make a resilient architecture and test it by physically pulling the plugs! Add user authentication. Add IoT devices and practice with message queues and time-series databases. Almost everything you read about in System Arch books can be tested in your homelab.

A practical starting point is tackling everyday workflows, such as employee onboarding in IAM. Begin by understanding the business benefits of efficient onboarding, like enhanced productivity and smoother operations. Next, break down the onboarding steps into a clear process. Utilize tools like AWS, Docker, and Spring Boot to automate these tasks—think auto-creating accounts or scheduling orientations based on roles. Finally, test your system thoroughly, making refinements based on feedback. This approach not only hones technical skills but also underlines the strategic importance of aligning solutions with business needs.

Getting started with system architecture without experience may seem challenging, but the best way is always the same: practice, practice, and more practice. You can try to gain hands-on experience by working on small-scale projects, such as building websites, developing apps, or setting up home computer systems. This will allow you to apply the concepts learned and become familiar with the tools and technologies used in systems architecture. Additionally, experiment with different tools and technologies used in systems architecture, such as modeling software, project management tools, cloud platforms, and more. This will help you familiarize yourself with the tools used in the industry and gain hands-on experience.

Nothing beats rolling up sleeves and getting hands on by leveraging tools and frameworks. With plethora of resource available these days with free tiers and trial versions the barriers to get started have significantly decreased. There are a significant business components involved as well when dealing with architectures. It is equally important to understand that part. This can be done by documenting functional and non-functional requirements. Think by putting one’s self in shoes of Product managers, business analysts and leadership for that matter to approach the problem from Macro and Micro level perspective to have increased effectiveness.

Practice with a small or simple subsystem or a feature. Try to replicate using recommended tools. Then keep building several subsystems and eventually you can connect the subsystems to get to the full scope.

When i started on a SA role, this help me so much. Shadowing a colleague that is already doing Solution Architect tasks, i learnt about processes, tools and common activities that are performed by a SA.

Books are the primary source. Next are white papers for nuances. There are plenty of videos available online which help us to deep dive and understand about the specific use cases and how they were solved.

One of the best ways to get guidance and feedback is to show the system architecture to both technical experts and novices, alike. Check if the abstraction levels are appropriate, have an open dialogue and update the architecture as needed.

Keep your self up to date, tech is constantly changing, hence, you need to do continuous learning. An advantage here, there are many free courses on-line. Learn from your mistakes, this will give so much experience.

Learning speed snowballs if the right path is chosen. For the next learning, pick either the easiest, the more general/fundamental, or the most exotic one. The why for the easiest is obvious. The more general/fundamental knowledge is the more advanced knowledge it is the ramp of. Last but not least, the exotic knowledge broadens your paradigm.

In my experience System Architecture requires a very broad perspective, understanding of various use cases or applications besides the technical know how. A good system Architecture will work towards solving yesterdays problems, today’s challenge and accommodating growth and flexibility for near future. So keep learning and constantly improving what you knew last!

Enroll in online courses or tutorials specifically focused on system architecture. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and Eduonix offer courses covering various aspects of system design and architecture.

T-shape learning: assuming that one has a domain of expertise, favor learning fundamentals in other disciplines. Soft skills are important too (communication, critical thinking, business acumen, etc.) to collaborate effectively with folks with different backgrounds and make decisions that align with the business. Express your interest in your organization: perhaps they don't recruit an architect and give you new functions and training instead!

While all the above perspectives can help you get started, one can start building the MVP and start improving it; get the feedback from stake holders, always make sure to check if the business objective is met. Remember in real-life mostly no system design is done by single person or in a month. It takes many engineers spending many months to bring the system to the state in which we see functionally working.

Two bonus points. You need to also speak to your business/customer to understand what they need and what is important to them. There is no point designing a suite that doesn’t achieve what they actually want, this is where, building on other knowledge, you can be a little creative. You should also make sure security is the underlying foundation you design from. Yes some relaxation is needed to achieve certain goals but because you started with a secure foundation then you can know all the risks and present a more full picture.