How I became a software architect... (or not)

I'm a big fan of this channel. But I still think that Derek is always saying "don't do this... don't do that", or "So you are doing this, that everyone else is doing too? hahaha, I can't believe it", and some times he lets you without alternatives.

We have similar experiences (started in 95 on asp3, IIS and vb6 and being the lead developer on small cie). I always find your insight right on and exact.

Keep doing your great work!

I follow you since a long time my friend, and I can say you are one of my prefered channels to watch.
Never too geeky and grounded.
People love spaceships, and I've learned a lot with yourself.
After coding for a lot of time and the need to evolve now to cloud and other new challanges, I really appreciate your effort since brings a lot to the table as an Engineer.
We can't spend too much time in complexity, things shouldn't be a rocket science all the time, because you will end up losing yourself.
Its like having a organized desk rather than a space ship desk. Do your work the simplest way possible and understand your domain.
Domains are difficult, technology shouldn't be! otherwise we are stuck to the tech and the DOMAIN, which is just horrible and you can't be happy doing your job.
Really nice stuff, I appreciate you and your consistency, bringing a lot of value to the comunity!
Thanks

Thanks for sharing your path, Derek!

Thanks for the video.
Imho, this makes more clear that you bring a specific view and mindset to architecture, due to your long career. I wonder if it would help to put a name on it. Like... architecture for high-performance business web applications?

👍 great video

I had a very similar experience and couldn’t agree more on how valuable the experience of having to “learn and do it all” when you are in a small team / company. It really forces you to understand the true cost of your decisions and pushes you to be decisive in your approach.

Man, this is great stuff. I feel that throughout my career I've been searching for individuals that could offer advice on this level, and sadly I just had never really found it many of colleagues. Early on I was eager and truly wanting to learn from those who had walked the paths before me, but I didn't have opportunities to interact with many seasoned developers that could provide some clear solid, and even general insights like this. And trust me, it wasn't for a lack of asking! Still today I'm always seeking to learn from those around me, even those that may not be in the most prominent roles or positions.

But today, it almost seems the field is very saturated with relatively young engineers who have tremendous responsibility but lack a certain breadth and depth of knowledge ... not just technical skill, but a certain amount of practical wisdom. That could be conjecture, but it has been somewhat my experience thus far. Some of these individuals are unfortunately put into "architect" type roles.

But all that to say, even as I opine, I'm thankful for these videos. Very helpful and I'm still learning!

I guess in terms of opinion, there's never be right or wrong approaches. What matter is how you decompose your system. That's the first thing that comes to mind.

However, I found out that ppl who wrote articles in the other platforms, they sometimes lacking of proper real world implementation. So everytime, I always need to refer back to this channel for a guidance.

Yes, what you share might be just an opinion. It might not be the right one, but from what I can see, it's the closest thing that the business needs. Keep up the good work. Keep sharing more informative articles and opinions

Derek, do you still write code for a project or are you just busy with high-level design?

I'm Brazilian and I really like your teaching and content, keep going! 👏

I have been thinking about what it means to be a Software Architect. It is less of a profession, but rather a skillset leading to a position. You don't simply earn that title because you know how to structure code according to some architectural pattern - there are other aspects that are often overlooked by technical people such as coders. Software is not just code. It is about resources: like infrastructure and people. The costs of running and maintaining stuff. Not just during development. An SW architect is responsible for keeping all this together throughout the lifetime of the product (or his employment).

Derek, I find your videos the most close to my experience as well, literally every statement is true. Again, you are right that Architect role must be a part of regular job of any experienced developer. It's rater not just a role but one of activities, same as refactoring, operations, etc. Same as you, I worked in many small projects and had same experience. At a some point I moved to a classic Architect position in one big Enterprise software product. It was a big difference, mostly disappointment because of detachment from the daily dev process. I literally wasn't able to make right decisions because of low knowledge of existing code. Now I think the Software Architect as a dedicated position only exists in Waterfall-style projects. What do you think?

I just want to say, thank you for starting this channel, i've learnt alot from you and i am sure i'll learn more on the future.
SO THANKS.

I've been following you here a couple of months ago and really I got a lot of knowledge that I appreciate.
I've just made a subscription to your mailing list now too.
Thank you

great job man

In late 20s i was a Delphi fan too:)

Thanks :)