I’ve been working in the IT field for 18 years, this has happened to me more than once. Today I want to share my experience of how I dealt with this at different stages of my career and what I came to as a result of.
Where did i start
I started in 2001 as a system administrator in a distribution company. Already then I understood that in itself this work does not make much sense without automation of everything that can be automated. He did this not only within the framework of his area of responsibility, but also at all levels to which he had access. For example, I developed a program that automated the process of accepting applications from sales representatives on the side of the central office. I did this as a system administrator, and not as a developer.
After that, he worked in system integrators, where he started as an infrastructure solutions consultant and in 8 years he grew up to the CTO position, with an area of responsibility in the key to strategic technological development of the company. At that time, it was interesting to me, because it opens up opportunities for professional development. I reoriented some of the engineers to Open Source technologies, which were not particularly popular in our market, we started working on OpenStack as an alternative to VMWare products.
After some time, I realized that I had hit the ceiling when there was nowhere to grow further and tasks that were previously perceived as a challenge turned into a routine.
It was obvious that it was time to change direction. I moved to SoftServe, where I was initially interviewed as an architect, but due to a lack of experience in outsourcing, I was offered only a senior position. I realized that this is a few steps back, but sometimes it is necessary to accelerate and move forward even faster.
Outsourced customer path
I was attracted to an existing customer’s new project. Accordingly, it was necessary to conduct a thorough study to find the optimal technological solution. I made a comparative analysis of the possible options, came to the conclusion which of them solves the problem in the best way, and presented these results to the client. He approved my choice, respectively, they left me to implement this project - I served as an architect, worked in conjunction with one Python Developer. For six months, the project has grown to a team of 20 people. It was very difficult, but interesting. Then, due to the political processes of the client’s company, the project was closed.
As a result, I fell into the reserve and already made plans for what certifications I could pass in that time, just two hours later they offered me a project of another client, which was also just starting up. At that time, I established myself as a good specialist in my field, who coped with this task for a past client, so they remembered me first of all. As a result, I worked on a new project for two years.
This is one popular service, the web application of which is in the top 50 in attendance in the United States. The customer faced a number of problems, for example, the service did not scale and could not withstand the load when, due to external circumstances, the flow of requests from users sharply increased. The client came to us with a request to completely change the solution, to start transferring it to another software platform. In addition to the engineering component (the entire infrastructure, CICD, monitoring, logging, etc.), we covered part of DevOps and worked closely with developers who were rewriting the old solution.
I was lucky because this project was led by a very experienced Solutions Architect.
I watched his work and learned a lot. For example, I realized that I had previously underestimated the importance of soft skills and that I needed to work in this direction. After all, choosing a technologically correct solution is good, but you also need to be able to convey your vision to the client so that he understands and accepts my point of view, and then adjust the work within the team. Without this, there is no chance to show a good result. An architect is a bridge between a client and a technical team. Six months later, this Solutions Architect left the project and transferred its function to me.
It was difficult to work in the first place because the conditions were dictated solely by the business, so we needed to defend our interests in order to know for sure that we were releasing a quality product - for example, speed was important to the client and they were ready to release without testing, what should we allow could not. Over the year, we have successfully moved the service to a new platform. After that, the client returned to us with a request to transfer the solution to another cloud platform. This lasted for another year.
I realized that I was ready to move on to more complex tasks. In parallel with work, I developed in architecture, took courses, received certificates. There were no architectural tasks left on our project, except sometimes some point solutions or changes. Therefore, before me the question again was - where to move on. I could find a more complex client project where I would solve architectural problems. But he would remain new and interesting for the first time (up to six months), then anyway he would move to the stage of stability and comfort zone. Such work is suitable for many people, and it is normal. But I was looking for some more dynamic environment.
At that moment, just in our company, the Center of Excellence began to actively develop. Many of my friends went there, and I saw that they were doing interesting things there. After thinking about the prospects and weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to move to this department. That was at the beginning of 2019.
How is the work in Center of Excellence (CoE) built?
CoE is a special group in a company that is attracted to targeted non-trivial tasks. We focus on consulting. We are called to launch new projects, to win new customers, to establish the work of teams.
The set of requirements for candidates for CoE is higher than usual. For example, we do not focus on a deep knowledge of point technologies, but rather on the ability to go beyond and learn new things. Communication skills also play an important role.
Our specialists are involved in the project for a clear task. My environment is even more dynamic as I work in the Pre-sales team. We are connected to projects that are just entering the company in order to develop their concept, which is then implemented by the delivery team.
The scheme looks like this:
A preliminary meeting is being held with the customer to understand the context of the problem that remains to be solved, where do we get the input data.
After that, we begin cooperation with the discovery process, which consists of two stages:
- Onsite - we go to the client’s office for a week / two / as much as necessary, depending on the complexity of the case and the volume of the project, we hold meetings and workshops with the team to delve into the problem that we are solving. We go to them, as personal meetings for this are much more effective than telephone conversations.
- Offsite - we return to our team with all the information we’ve got to prepare documentation together. It contains an architectural vision of the project with a justification of what needs to be done and why, and explains how this will solve the task. This is a very important stage when you need to explain everything as detailed and transparent as possible, prepare high-quality templates, calculate the budget so that the client does not have any questions.
Having received all the documentation, the client decides whether to implement the proposed solutions. In most cases, he agrees. Then our companies sign the next contract, after which the project team begins work.
I connect to the implementation of the project only at the initial stage (for one to two months) in order to establish work, predict the course of the project as much as possible, find out the details that may suddenly appear and disrupt the work scheme (for example, new input from the client). Further, after the creation of architectural documentation and the establishment of the project team, the risk of force majeure is minimal.
While I work with the delivery team, I am simultaneously involved in pre-sale for three to four customers. And if any of the projects is delayed, most often several new ones are waiting in line. For example, this Sunday I returned from Houston, and as of Wednesday I already have onsite sessions with three different clients in my calendar for the near future.
Such a dynamic pace of work does not exhaust me, but on the contrary charges. On average, for a month I spend a week and a half with a client, the rest of the time I work with a team in Kiev. But there are exceptions when on the client side you need to spend a couple of months. In general, if you look at the statistics on our team, then abroad we spend up to 6 months a year. Now we have clients from the USA and Europe (Britain, Austria), recently another project has appeared in Singapore.
In addition to the dynamics, in this work I am attracted by the opportunity to communicate with different people and help solve the problems of their business. It is important to learn to understand their point of view. To do this, get rid of the stereotype that all the people around are biased, value only their opinions and are not ready to hear others. In my practice, most clients are just open to cooperation, because they understand that they have a specific problem that they themselves cannot solve, and you are an expert who helps them with this.
We have to quickly rebuild and learn new things both in terms of technology and soft skills. Often you need to go to the on-site session yourself. Accordingly, it is your responsibility to adequately represent your company and prove that you are a professional with a high level of expertise and experience, so that you can solve the problem.
At the same time, you need to have time to constantly learn and develop, follow the trends and technologies that appear.
There is no secret: you need to consume a lot of content - read, take online courses, certifications, watch videos on YouTube.
I can advise:
- Join the International Software Architecture Club. Many experienced like-minded people who are always ready to help develop in the direction of architecture and non-trivial problem solving.
- Read. Not only specialized literature, but also literature on related fields of knowledge.
- Learn new things. Stop thinking with technology. Learn to think in terms of the business problem you are trying to solve.
Every day I face so many challenges that it is unlikely in the foreseeable future it will turn into a routine.