Furthermore, a solution architect starts too soon in the project with a plan to achieve. Usually, he begins picking the right technology for the business issues and handling architectural concerns to ensure the outcomes are more effective and productive. A solution architect accounts for developing a complete architecture for a software solution and offering strategic direction all through the development phase.
Business operations gather and employ the data, while IT obtains, stores, and derives that information from varied database resources. In other words, they answer for determining procedures and technologies to be applied in collecting, structuring, storing, and accessing enterprise information. The salary range for Solutions Architects varies based on several factors, including experience, geographic location, industry, and the complexity of projects they undertake. However, it is noteworthy that Solutions Architects are often among the highest-compensated professionals in the IT industry.
Outstanding Communication Skills
A good solution architect should excel in communication with stakeholders while having a good grasp on how to negotiate with different parties. This person should know how to handle risk situations and meet deadlines for product delivery. In addition, this position implies working closely NLU models with enterprise and software architects (and working with a services team as well). Thus, a skilled solution architect should have a good listening ear and an empathetic heart. In stark contrast, a software solution takes more broad yet domain-specific tasks, and solves them.
These experts usually get to work after receiving guidance and instructions from a solution architect, and they closely consult with the engineers. A solutions architect should hold a specific skill set that’s enough to successfully craft, build, and guide the software development solution. This is all about the roles and responsibilities of solutions architect that every business owner should know before hiring an IT solutions architect for their project.
What Does a Solution Architect Do: Final Words
A solution architect’s job here is to explain how this app can be built, what tools — programming languages, frameworks, APIs — should be used, and how much time this process will take. For that, architects do some solution architecture — draw diagrams to understand which components are required for this app. We invite you to explore our top client cases, where you can gain insights into how we have transformed business challenges into success stories and understand the tangible benefits of custom software solutions. Rest assured, opting for Relevant means choosing a trusted partner dedicated to your technological success. Securing the expertise of a solutions architect on your team, whether internally or through a development partner, guarantees a host of undeniable benefits. With their invaluable contributions, you can be confident in achieving optimal project outcomes.
This specialist is responsible for making sure the future solution will perfectly fit all business requirements and end-user needs. They are the ones who oversee the successful implementation of the quality solution. Therefore, they have to possess a clear understanding of the client’s vision and goals to achieve productive and effective outcomes.
Types of Solutions Architects: Specialization
It is their responsibility to focus on business goals, including hiring new people, and understand how to achieve them in the set timeframe and within the given budget. This definition may seem vague and generic, but only because customers’ problems are different, so they demand different solutions, usually with a unique approach. The Enterprise Architect operates at the macro level, focusing on the overarching IT environment of the organization. They are tasked with defining, maintaining, and enforcing an organization’s architectural vision, ensuring alignment with business strategy.
- The Solution Architect’s role within the IT organization in devising technical solutions that tackle business challenges is fundamental.
- They are well-versed with such constraints and bring the best ways to deal with them.
- Let’s take a closer look at the most important skills of a solutions architect below.
- Most will already have several years (5-10) of hands-on experience in software development, network administration, or information technology.
- An enterprise architect needs to have a holistic and systemic view of the organization, as well as the ability to communicate and collaborate with various stakeholders and levels.
Generally speaking, a software product’s goal is aimed at solving a particular collection of tasks. Traditionally, this would be a niche application that adequately solves issues and meets user needs in terms of calculations, storage, and data processing. Cleveroad is a professional software development company that helps startups, SMBs, and enterprises deliver custom digital solutions that improve their performance and customer experience. These limitations may change the product a lot — and thus change its cost and time to market. As architects know the field, they’re aware of these constraints and ways to deal with them. And the faster you deal with them, the faster and cheaper the product will be delivered.
What Is The Solutions Architect Salary?
The decision to hire a Solution Architect is a pivotal one that businesses often grapple with. One of the Solutions Architects’ key responsibilities is to oversee solutions’ implementation and integration. They ensure the smooth fit of the solution within the existing architecture and the fulfillment of the defined business objectives. Solutions Architects contribute to successfully realizing the intended outcomes by providing guidance and direction throughout the implementation process. Leading projects, coordinating teams, and overseeing the implementation of solutions require exceptional leadership and project management skills.
This role can encompass as wide or as narrow an area as is needed in order to address the present concerns. This is pretty much what you are going to find if you take a look at a typical solutions architect job description. There is a wide variety of certification platforms available that offer training, access to plenty of learning materials, tests to practice the knowledge, etc. Nevertheless, the exam can be taken without any previous preparation in case a professional has a deep understanding of the architecture principles along with solid experience in the IT industry.
When Do Companies Need a Solution Architect?
The responsibility of a solution architect is to pick the most suitable tools for a particular project. That’s why companies need IT solution architects to make sure the product will meet their requirements, and there won’t be any time or budget overruns. Both roles are vital, but their primary differentiation lies in their focus areas. A Solution Architect zeroes in on particular business problems and designs solutions.
A domain architect is a role that focuses on a specific domain or area of the solution, such as data, security, integration, or user interface. A domain architect defines the standards, policies, and patterns for the domain, as well as the interfaces and dependencies with other domains. A domain architect also reviews and validates the design and implementation of the domain components, and provides guidance and support to the developers and testers. A domain architect needs to have a deep expertise and experience in the domain, as well as the ability to collaborate and communicate with other architects and stakeholders. The solution architect role also requires being able to project into the future and consider upcoming uses.
Enterprise architect vs solution architect and how they are different from the technical architect
Solution architects may work on multiple projects at the same time, which requires effective time management and prioritization skills. They may also be responsible for managing project budgets, timelines, and resources, ensuring that the solutions they design are delivered on time and within budget. You can start learning the basics of Kubernetes, but hey, you cannot learn the basics of Kubernetes without learning Linux basics because Kubernetes is actually Linux.
Enterprise Architect vs. Technical Architect vs. Solution Architect
A solutions architect creates the overall technical vision for a specific solution to a business problem. In many ways, this person builds the bridge between a business problem and the technology solution and outlines each of the phases and requirements required to make that solution work. The candidate’s in-depth mastery of cloud computing and solution architect’s certification requires special mention. The predominant providers grant experts the possibility to officially confirm their top-notch expertise, e.g. by obtaining AWS solution architect certification, Azure solution architect certification, etc. Such proficiency recognition necessitates a practical mastery of cloud engineering tools, principles, and systems. In addition, examinees must know how to plan, design, and manage the infrastructure and provide for its security and scalability.
They will work directly with EAs, TAs, business architects, etc. to achieve future state architecture. IT architects and their respective teams work through various aspects of a project life cycle; devising, planning, and designing the implementation of improved processes, business capabilities, and applications. Alternatively, a software architect will be involved in the build phase of the project. Their job is to define and document software structures based on known functional and non-functional requirements. This will enable software engineers to produce the solution as defined, reviewed, and approved by the solution architect. The main difference between a solutions architect and a software architect is their main focus.