What Is a Solutions Architect? How to Become One, Salary, Skills

Solution architects play a vital role in software engineering, business operations, and IT support. A solution architect works to match technology solutions and business processes. However, it goes without saying that a comprehensive digital transformation also requires specific skills and professional expertise to ensure the business needs are aligned with the technological solutions envisaged. Therefore, the role of an IT solutions architecture is integral to making it all happen.

• Evaluates project constraints to find alternatives, alleviate risks, and perform process re-engineering if required.
• These include a strong knowledge of business processes, IT systems, and solutions, while also being able to communicate complex software processes.
• This is an upper-level, highly skilled position, so the market for these candidates will be competitive, and there won’t be an abundance of them available.
• Certifications are aimed to confirm the skills and expertise of solution architects.

Plus, solutions architects ought to constantly keep in mind the overall corporate strategy and goals the organization aims to achieve. And they should reconcile this vision with the technical side of the project. A solutions architect description places them somewhere in between the above-mentioned specialists.

Small & Medium Businesses

The average technical architecture salary in the United States is currently around $124,960. They will also propose detailed building blocks that provide the best possible fix and serve as the bridge between enterprise architects and technical architects. Your solutions, ideally, should be tailored to meet specific commercial needs and operate at the enterprise level.

You can read some details about the components of architecture development in our article on the product design stage. Analysis and decomposition of the company’s business processes, description of business logic, translation of client requirements into terms of product requirements, as well as building a product development roadmap. Companies look for people who perform solutions architect duties only when their projects become more complex and challenging. First, they create a technical vision to show how the software will cover business needs.

Solution Architect Learning Expeditions

But their experience with commercial projects is the key to getting the job. After developing a product roadmap, the solution architect is engaged in estimating the budget and introducing it to the stakeholders. Once everything is approved, SA traces the process of development and keeps clients tabs on the progress. During the development stage, the solution architect delves into each of the product areas. They have to explain how to make each part of the software so that everything fits into a single product. Project managers watch over software development process — monitor tasks, ensure the team meets deadlines, and report to clients.

Retail We have experience in delivering software solutions for world-leading retailers. Specifying the solution’s functional requirements and the necessary stages for its implementation. Ms Richardson has provided on-site training for a number of organizations in the Philadelphia area. A former Gartner analyst, Ms Richardson is also a frequent contributor to online technology sites. 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. Then explore automation, Kubernetes, and other topics, such as databases.

Application Architect

Solution Architects are responsible for evaluating an organization’s business needs and determining how IT can support those wants with software, hardware or infrastructure. This includes looking at the system as a whole, including information security architecture or application design and development needed to efficiently fulfill user demands. Since a solutions architect works closely with many different segments of your organization, project management, and communication skills are vital to the position. The technical architect is often confused with the solution architect too. However, a technical architect is responsible for overseeing technical engineering and implementation. Solution architects have a wide range of organizational responsibilities.

So, we can say that the product of a solution architect’s job is the set of technological solutions and the strategy of their implementation. It’s an in-house role where a specialist makes high-level decisions about IT infrastructure, https://globalcloudteam.com/ designing it from scratch or leading large-scale digital transformation projects. Such people construct the high-level vision of the implementation and ensure the solution adheres to the company’s goals, regulations, and policies.

Software Development Sources

Resource management is an important aspect of solution architect roles, but more in developing solutions for organizational problems. It’s not really easy to find and hire a well-matching IT solution architect as the market demand for accomplished specialists is enormous. If you want to hire an in-house member the search process will take a while as you have limited access to professionals in your area. However, if you are open to new opportunities and can consider hiring a remote team member you will increase your chances of hiring the right person.

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. My experience as a sysadmin taught me that gaining trust and exemplifying integrity in front of the people you’re dealing with is the way to go in every kind of conversation, sales-related or not. In reference to my role, the customer can bring me a long way in the conversation. I always treat my customer, not just like another customer I ‘deal with’. Looking back at my most successful implementations, I had some level of a great friendship with that customer. I genuinely enjoy talking to them, and when we’re not actually talking, I do miss these people.

Company

Later, look at how they will work together and communicate the chosen technology stack to all stakeholders (both technical and non-technical). Solution architecture itself encompasses business, system, information, security, application and technology architecture. Some examples of solutions architecture include developing cloud infrastructure for efficiency, implementing microservices for ecommerce, or adopting security measures for data, systems, and networks. While roles and responsibilities of solution architect the scope of the job can vary depending on a business’ specific needs, there are certain responsibilities, skills, and qualifications that solutions architects will need to meet to get the job. Maintains a deep understanding of all critical business and technical requirements. This person is knowledgeable of the systems and processes, leads the technical architects, and defines the broad technical design of the key architecture components for the enterprise solution.