Software Architects: skillset?

[richardsosborn]

I'm in a medium sized project for a large federal agency. My
company is sub-contracted under a large defense contractor.
We have a "Software Architect" designing alot of the system's
sub-applications, features, etc.

In out trade product evaluations, he had no idea what a JMS server
was (IE App server), doesn't know much about java, and less about
Struts. Is this common to anyone else? Of the three architects
I've met, they seemed to be almost more of a software engineer
skillset than this.

 

[Chris Smith]

In out trade product evaluations, he had no idea what a JMS server
was (IE App server), doesn't know much about java, and less about
Struts. Is this common to anyone else? Of the three architects
I've met, they seemed to be almost more of a software engineer
skillset than this.

Software architect is just a phrase, and it has no precise definition
that is common between different companies and environments. Some
possible definitions include:

1. A person who was a software engineer or designer, and got promoted.
Does pretty much the same thing they used to do. They should know Java,
and be familiar with middleware.

2. A person who is responsible for determining how major software suites
will fit together to solve a problem. Only a very large scale project
will have the need for such a person, and they need very different
skills from a developer. It doesn't much matter if they can write code,
though they ought to know what JMS is.

3. Artificial intelligence that designs buildings.

 

[Daniel Dyer]

Software architect is just a phrase, and it has no precise definition
that is common between different companies and environments. Some
possible definitions include:

1. A person who was a software engineer or designer, and got promoted.
Does pretty much the same thing they used to do. They should know Java,
and be familiar with middleware.

2. A person who is responsible for determining how major software suites
will fit together to solve a problem. Only a very large scale project
will have the need for such a person, and they need very different
skills from a developer. It doesn't much matter if they can write code,
though they ought to know what JMS is.

3. Artificial intelligence that designs buildings.

I agree that the meaning of "software architect" can vary. However, in my
opinion, an architect is someone who is more concerned with delivering the
non-functional requirements (scalability, high-availability, average
response times, etc.) than a "normal" software developer would be.

Dan.

 

[richardsosborn]

I agree that the meaning of "software architect" can vary. However, in my
opinion, an architect is someone who is more concerned with delivering the
non-functional requirements (scalability, high-availability, average
response times, etc.) than a "normal" software developer would be.

Dan.

he hails from what i understand to be a more "analyst" oriented
organization. (harris corporation) many of their other people here
have alot of great req's and design experience. but almost no one
in their entire 8,000 person organization has large scale development
experience (jms, esb, soa)

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

I'm in a medium sized project for a large federal agency. My
company is sub-contracted under a large defense contractor.
We have a "Software Architect" designing alot of the system's
sub-applications, features, etc.

In out trade product evaluations, he had no idea what a JMS server
was (IE App server), doesn't know much about java, and less about
Struts. Is this common to anyone else? Of the three architects
I've met, they seemed to be almost more of a software engineer
skillset than this.

I would say that a good software architect should have a solid
understanding of the practical implementation of the architecture.

Arne

 

[Ed]

(e-mail address removed) skrev:

I'm in a medium sized project for a large federal agency. My
company is sub-contracted under a large defense contractor.
We have a "Software Architect" designing alot of the system's
sub-applications, features, etc.

In out trade product evaluations, he had no idea what a JMS server
was (IE App server), doesn't know much about java, and less about
Struts. Is this common to anyone else? Of the three architects
I've met, they seemed to be almost more of a software engineer
skillset than this.

There is a view that a software architect that doesn't write code is
not to be trusted.

I like Rational's 4+1 architecture view (I despise Rational's RoseRT as
one of the top three tools I've ever had to use, but that's another
story). They say that architecture is:
- Logical view: The software itself. Yip: the source code.
- Process view: encompasses performance, scalability, availability, and
all the other ilities.
- Development view: encompasses the development environment.
- Physical view: the iron your programs will run on. (Ok, ok: the
silicon.)
- Scenario view: use case scenarios. "Flowcharts," as your grand-daddy
would call them.

So for me an architect should at least have expert knowledge in each
area. If your architect doesn't know what you app server is, then he's
failing in at least two of those areas, maybe more.

..ed