How do you become a senior solutions architect?

Top Skills Required: Design, Technology Roadmap, Strong Leadership, Stakeholder Management - Act as the lead designer, and interface with the project teams by arranging and moderating design review sessions to walk stakeholders through, and ensure that the overall design aligns with Business and project requirements as well as architectural directions. -Support and mentor intermediate and senior designers and developers through knowledge sharing, collaboration and effective problem solving. - strong knowledge of Rational Unified Process, Agile, SOA Design Patterns, Java EE, Weblogic, Database. -SME understanding of Software Security concepts infrastructure (like VM and Cloud). The right skills lead to the right roles.

Um arquiteto sênior, além de possuir conhecimento técnico e experiência em implementa??es, precisa ter uma vis?o sistêmica sobre o negócio. Ele deve ser capaz de avaliar a situa??o atual de uma arquitetura, capturar o histórico de comportamento e criar uma referência para o futuro, a curto, médio e longo prazo. O arquiteto sênior também é responsável pelos impactos ambientais e sociais, pela viabilidade operacional, econ?mica e financeira da solu??o.

To become a Senior Solutions Architect, focus on developing a strong foundation in software engineering and system design. Gain experience in various IT roles, enhancing your technical skills across different platforms and technologies. Specialize in areas like cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP), database management, and cybersecurity. Learn about scale and capacity planning. Strengthen your project management and leadership skills, as this role often involves guiding teams. Stay updated on emerging technologies. Continuous learning and adapting to new technologies will be key in your journey to becoming a Senior Solutions Architect.

The top skills needed are: - talk a lot - act like you know everything better than all others - tell about any tech stories what doesn't help but show everyone how much experience you have

According to me, Solution architect’s main role is about creating platform/solutions that solve business problems effectively. 1- First we have to Understand the Problem, Clearly define what needs to be done. 2-One should have Solution mindset Approach 3- Follow Right Design Principles: 3.1- Sustainable: Build for the future. 3.2- Feasible: Ensure it’s practical. 3.3- Cost-Effective: within the budget COTS or Bespoke or hybrid whatever. 3.4- Aligned: Fit the business’s needs. 4. Strong in Technology side: could be Cloud computing, COTs Solution, Programming, Database, Emerging technologies etc. Finally Sr Solution architect balances these elements to create valuable, adaptable solutions.

Pursue Relevant Education and Certifications While real-world experience is invaluable, formal education and certifications add depth to your expertise. Pursue degrees in computer science, information technology, or related fields. Certifications from reputable organizations, such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect or Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect, can also enhance your credentials.

Identify and win relevant mentors as well as mentees. Mentors will help you develop personally and may offer you opportunities to move into the next job - in their own space of influence or their network. Mentees will enrich your perspective and provide you leadership learning opportunities. Any mentee might also be a relevant network contact who possibly may offer you a job in the future.

Always keep up with the current technology. In addition to just the technology, think how it can help (or hinder) clients. In some cases, older technology may be better for various reasons and client constraints.

Ich würde hier gerne den pers?nlichen Austausch auf entsprechenden Fachtagungen und Arbeitsgruppen erg?nzen. Dieser ist und bleibt sehr wertvoll und sollte nicht vernachl?ssigt werden.

La red de contactos es crucial en el mundo profesional, destacando LinkedIn, pero quiero enfocarme en otro aspecto valioso: el portafolio. Además de conectar con profesionales, construir un portafolio sólido es como experimentar en un laboratorio personal. LinkedIn abre puertas, pero tu portafolio muestra tu experiencia, habilidades y proyectos concretos. Es la evidencia tangible de tu expertise. Utiliza tu red para compartir y recibir feedback sobre tus proyectos, y observa cómo tu experimentación se traduce en logros tangibles.

A mentor is one of the most crucial aspects of any evolution, find someone who is smarter than you, who you can look up to, who pushes you and who can guide you. These people have been the most valuable aspects of my career

You will see and go further because you stand on shoulders of giants. These giants are mentors or seniors in our lives. Jim Rohn quoted that you are the average of the 5 people you mixed with. They influence you. I found that making time and choose the right mentors profoundly influence our mindset and ways of working. It is important we need to be proactive in seeking for good mentors to guide and provide feedback to illuminate blind spots. These mentors can be leaders from within organisation, or people in the professional network. My mentors are business leaders I looked up to in my industry. What's interesting is that they are my competitors too because we have a symbiotic relationship.

#Mentorship a beautiful engagement relationship that benefits both partners when both are COMMITTED. This is not about educating, but exploring and in the process empowering the mentee. Chose wisely the desired outcome to be achieved. Often times, external mentors bring insights that help in 2 ways: 1. Knowledge, resources shared more broadly, but pivoting deep to the desired goals to be achieved. 2. External mentors are not bound by the internal barriers or limitations.

Mentorship is an invaluable compass in any industry—it offers a compass that not only guides and challenges but also inspires growth. Regardless of your field, tapping into the wisdom of mentors fuels continuous improvement and hones leadership and communication skills.

Feedback from Clients is key, not only for your technical skills, but for your soft skills development. Clients that you work for day in, day out for more than 3 months tend to become more honest as the relationship develops.

Obvious points: keep in touch with the modern approaches, updates in the standards in your industry. Invest time in studying the updates in the available instruments and toolchains. Look in the other industries as well to see approaches that you might use in you work and processes Learn to look outside your work. Look not only at what you're doing specificaly, but how does your results used, what is expected from it, what cause most questions and issues. Learn how to locate choke points and find a way to resolve them. Never stop talking to people. Architecture is, in a way, an intersection of many interested parties, and there is almost always a way to improve the architecture by making it more understandable, readable, robust e.t.c.

Stay Abreast of Industry Trends and Innovations The technology landscape is ever-evolving. Stay informed about industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices. Actively participate in forums, attend conferences, and engage in continuous learning. A Senior Solutions Architect is a perpetual student of technology.

Throughout my life, i have been doing, reading and experimenting with most unrelated things to a current ongoing project or projects. This helped me to easier take an out of the box approach as well as came in handy either at a later stage of a project or in a next one. Seemingly random, in hindsight, i almost always focused on a topic, related to what i needed to research, a project needed or i lacked experience in. This way i discovered some fields, topics and ideas, that i pursued deeper and attained expert knowledge in, and along the way also filtered out some others, that have proven not to be valuable to my path. So far.

What I found most helpful in my career is to experiment the idea and get some real data, and maybe make some "mistakes" then I will look for webinars, workshops or books to learn. With the intent to search for answers to address "mistakes" made or to improve, the answers found in the various modalities allow you to compare what you have done with the theory. In the comparing and contrasting, you will develop insights for further applications. This practical approach makes learning stick.

Extract learning from your knowledge particularly from employee or operational knowledge, create bank of empirical models, design prototype models, analyse then you sure delve it.

The final step here is to lead the teams. Not to manage, it's somehow opposite. Leading the team means to care about the people needs, to help teammates to grow, to find the bleeding edge solutions and knowledge. Helping people to grow is a true driver for a self growth. You have to master learning to be able to answer the questions, assess the proposal, thoughtfully criticize the decisions and propose the solutions for each situation. All this increases the architect value and all this is truly necessary to stay on a peak of the form. Being Senior, Lead or Principal architect is not a badge, but rather a process of learning and maturing.

Leadership is more than leading teams, projects, or initiatives. One can lead from any position. Lead by 'taking' initiative. For instance, if a manager or client asks a question of the team, speak up. Lean in and show that you are interested. If the subject being discussed is out of your purview, look for and find other ways to contribute. Lead by being a team player. Never be afraid to share what you know-the one thing that may make everything else easier for this project, sale, initiative. Truly, if the team succeeds then you do as well. Lead by listening with understanding. When being taught a new method, be quick to listen and apply what you are learning. Lead by being organized, lead by efficiency, lead by being supportive.

By being able to lead customers into a solution direction on a strategical level with business benefits for the midterm and long-term and becoming their trusted advisor from a functional point of view.

Advancing your career as a senior solutions architect involves a combination of strategic planning and proactive engagement. Here are some specific steps and strategies to help you achieve this: International Experiences: Explore opportunities to work on projects in different regions or industries to broaden your perspective. Understand global trends and how they may impact your field. Strategic Influence: Engage with senior leadership to share your insights and contribute to strategic discussions. Be proactive in proposing innovative solutions that align with the organization's long-term vision.

Take on Leadership Roles Transitioning to a senior position involves more than technical skills; it demands leadership qualities. Actively seek opportunities to lead projects, mentor junior team members, and contribute to the strategic direction of your organization. Leadership experience sets you apart as a candidate for senior roles.

Practicing more and more.. Accepting new challenging projects, complex tasks and assignments will expand your experience and raise your know how

I am a futurist. I look at my career from a long term perspective. With that in mind, it allows me to plot my next move strategically. A suggestion is to plot your career history and reflect about what you value and what your strengths are. Then plot what you hope to see in next 10 years by imagining a conversation with your future self. The historical and future perspectives will help you make sense of your current position. Thereafter, you look at the next role again and you shall see what's the immediate next steps to take.

Work on elevating your consciousness by accepting that you don’t know, by practicing silence, by observing the messages from your body, emotions and thoughts, by making peace with your traumas, bt challenging your beliefs, and by aligning with your real purpose and core values… It’s a life long journey, and a beautiful one.

As a senior solutions architect keeping your head in the sand and only upskilling on tech is adequate but not effective. To truly add value you must wear multiple hats to understand various aspects and business constraints that might define your solutions. You will have to make compromises, have the ability to make convincing arguments and derive solutions that satisfy not just the functional and non functional requirements but other requirements such as the solution becoming a key business driver. You need to think about the future and build solutions that are scalable and extensible. Sometimes you might have to dive into code to troubleshoot. Become a one man army. Thus staying updated in various areas is imperative.

According to my understanding, to become a senior solutions architect, gain deep technical expertise, demonstrate problem-solving skills, and lead successful implementations. Collaborate with cross-functional teams and provide innovative, scalable solutions for clients.