Architect 101

Posted by Abhishek on November 24, 2022

Software Architecture

Architects are the most respected & senior-most individuals in the Software Industry because of their deep understanding of fundamentals as well as the specific knowledge of products/platforms. In addition to these, architects also perform some project management responsibilities & leadership roles too. This makes them the most valuable people in an organization.

Almost 60-70% of the architects you will see in the industry are usually not competent because they spent so much time in their career on a single product/platform without focussing on the fundamentals & problem-solving capabilities.

An architect requires a sound understanding of his/her roles & responsibilities, strong knowledge of Computer Science fundamentals, expertise in any product/platform as well as project management methodologies.

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Roles & Responsibilities

As an architect or an aspiring architect, you need to understand who an “Architect” is, what kinds of “architects” are there in the industry, and their roles & responsibilities. Some people get this itself wrong and spend so much time in their career and get stagnant. You don’t want to be making this mistake at the first place.

• Technical Duties to be performed by Architects
• Non Technical Duties to be performed by Architects
• Skills needed by Architects
• Knowledge needed by Architects
• Kinds of Software Architects
  • Technical Architect
  • Solution Architect
  • Enterprise Architect

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Fundamentals

Data Structures & Algorithms

• Linear Data Structures
• Non Linear Data Structures
• Big-O Notation
• Sorting Algorithms
• Traversal Algorithms
• Dynamic Programming

Languages

• Java
• C#
• Python
• HTML/CSS/Javascript

Libraries & Frameworks

• NodeJS
• React/NextJS
• AngularJS
• Django
• Java Spring Boot

Full Stacks

• MERN (Mongo, Express, React, Node)
• MEAN (Mongo, Express, Angular, Node)
• PERN (Postgres, Express, React, Node)
• FARM (FastAPI, React, Mongo)

Architectural Principles

• Object Oriented Programming Principles
• Object Oriented Modeling & Design
• UML (Unified Modeling Language)
• Design Patterns
• Architectural Styles
• Architectural Patterns
• Distributed Computing
• Consideration for Design of Non Functional Requirements

Protocols & Services

• OSI Model
• TCP/IP Model
• HTTP v/s HTTPS Protocol
• SOAP v/s REST Services
• OAuth Protocol

Compliance Standards

• OWASP
• Data Protection
• EDI

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Products/Platforms

You should have enough experience working on any of the following leading products/platforms like:

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) /ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Salesforce CRM
• SAP ERP
• Oracle Siebel CRM
• Zoho CRM
• Pega CRM

CMS (Content Management System)

• WordPress
• Joomla
• Sitefinity
• Django
• Episerver
• Kentico
• Sitecore
• Telligent
• Umbraco
• DNN (DotNet Nuke)

BPM (Business Process Management)

• AgilePoint
• BP Logix
• Aura Portal

Cloud Platforms

• Azure
• AWS
• GCP
• Hosting Platforms (Vercel, Linode/Akamai, Digital Ocean, Heroku, etc)

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Project Management

• Software Development Models (These links are one of the best documentations on Development Models)
  • Waterfall
  • Agile
    • Scrum
    • Kanban
• Software Testing Methodologies
• Project Estimation
• Budgetting
• Kanban & Project Pipelines

Thanks for reading this post. Enjoy !!

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