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Becoming an Architect: Nurturing Essential Skills for Success
Tue, 22 April
Transitioning from developer to architect requires more than just technical mastery—it demands leadership, strategic thinking, and adaptability. Many talented engineers struggle in this transition because the architectural mindset requires different skills beyond coding expertise.
In this session, we will explore the core competencies that define a successful software architect, including:
- Design Thinking – Understanding architectural trade-offs and making informed decisions.
- Communication & Collaboration – Effectively conveying technical vision to stakeholders, engineers, and business leaders.
- Leadership & Influence – Driving technical direction and enabling teams to make the right choices.
- Project & Risk Management – Balancing technical debt, security, performance, and scalability.
- Embracing Emerging Technologies – Staying ahead of the curve while ensuring practical, real-world implementation.
Using real-world examples, we’ll provide practical strategies and actionable tips to help developers transition into architectural roles and build the soft and hard skills required to thrive.
Key Takeaways
- Identify the critical skills that separate architects from developers.
- Learn how to communicate technical concepts effectively to different audiences.
- Understand the architectural mindset and how to think beyond just writing code.
- Gain insights into leadership, decision-making, and technical strategy.
Target Audience
This session is ideal for senior developers, tech leads, and aspiring architects who want to expand their skill set beyond coding and step into architectural leadership roles. Whether you're preparing for an architect position or refining your approach, this talk provides actionable guidance to help you succeed.
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About the speaker
Ken Sipe
Cloud Solution Architect
Ken is a distributed application engineer. Ken has worked with Fortune 500 companies to small startups in the roles of developer, designer, application architect and enterprise architect. Ken's current focus is on containers, container orchestration, high scale micro-service design and continuous delivery systems.
Ken is an international speaker on the subject of software engineering speaking at conferences such as JavaOne, JavaZone, Great Indian Developer Summit (GIDS), and The Strange Loop. He is a regular speaker with NFJS where he is best known for his architecture and security hacking talks. In 2009, Ken was honored by being awarded the JavaOne Rockstar Award at JavaOne in SF, California and the JavaZone Rockstar Award at JavaZone in Oslo, Norway as the top ranked speaker.