I was told Architects are so special and loved by sr leader that they always survive RIF
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I have met some of the smartest kindest people at fidelity in tech, & it’s not a coincidence that they are mostly architects. These guys are wise beyond their tenure and have always given me the best career advice. Architecture requires more than a zoomed out understanding of the tech stack. It requires a really specific type of person. One who doesn’t have an ego, maintains long lasting work relationships across orgs — and ever changnig leadership and direction.
I truly don’t understand the architecture hate/confusion! If you don’t agree, you’re probably not fit for the role.
They don’t position themselves as a single point of failure like other people do in tech to protect themselves from sizing down. They don’t get canned because their job is crucial and the people in those roles are typically amazing at what they do!
@cc, I see right through your empty scare tactics. It only works with the dinosaur upper managements.
Tenured architects are past due their shelf life. Zero practical knowledge. They just regurgitate what they read online or whatever the leadership says. Just look at the hot mess they have created.
Architects are needed in projects, no doubt about that. But they should be drawn from a cadre of principal practicing engineers through a selection process driven by their peers. It should not be a title but a job to be done not more than half time, while doing actual development work. Very few of the 'architect' vps and svps today can build anything anymore themselves.
Without architects, individual teams create a mess. They build redundant solutions and capabilities, and they favor expediency over long-term thinking. For companies like Fidelity, waste and inefficiency are strategic threats. Without architects to keep development teams in line, things go to sh--e. Also architects know how to interact with senior leaders. Most engineers have no fu--ing idea how to do that. Engineers can be replaced. Tenured architects with deep domain knowledge are much more valuable.
The most brilliant engineering design in my team was done by one of the level 4 engineer who has left us for a greener pasture couple of months ago. He has a computer science degree from an IVY league college. Between him with one of our assigned ceremonial architects with 25 years of "experiences" and a foreign fake degree, the contrast is night and day.
Bottom up, engineering driven... Fire the incompetent engineers and architects, rebuild the engineering teams with young blood, that's the only way out.
Because they all had to ki$$ a$$ once, to get that role. Now that the word is out, Sr. leaders are excited to get a 2nd lick.
@a9 100%
- Many engineering teams are too weak to be trusted to be left alone
- The leadership don't trust the engineering team
- The leadership choose to trust the armchair architects
- The said helicopter armchair architects interfere, mislead and delay the engineering team's work
- The fake architects scammed the clueless leadership