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Discussion on: Should architects code?

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kinduff profile image
Alejandro AR

Very good read, loved the "I write enterprise code" thought.

I'm a Solutions Architect with a heavy engineering background (6+ years) and the lack of coding in this position made me feel weird at the beginning. We might not be able to code for our company, but as you said, we focus on the higher-level abstractions, and adding this up with the comment below from Kim Arnett, I would like add this thought: Any professional that takes an engineering enterprise role that do not involve code, has, as part of his or her responsibilities, to be up to date to envision new solutions/architectures. I still code - it's part of my life - but today I code focused on exploring new technologies, learn patterns, architectures, etc.

It's up to the professional to get outside of the role scope to perform better if required.

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lavigi profile image
eva

Spot on! An architect should be up to date withtools, paradigms, patterns, etc. This can only be done by using them, i.e. coding. It could be production code or "callistenics" just to try things out. An architect whose only tools are PowerPoint and Word is, in my opinion, doomed to become technically obsolete and out of touch with the issues that affect the dev teams.