Coder or Architect?

camusflage queries: "I recently was transitioned into an architectural role by my employer. I had been splitting time with development and architecture, in that order. It appears my new duties put me as an architect first, and a coder second, with the coding being at my request. At not even 28 years old, I'm already a lead developer and have people with twenty years more experience looking to me for coding hints and tips. Over that past year with my employer, I've expended much effort on developing credible relationships with other groups in the organization, sure to carry me far as an architect. Since I've already resolved that management is not a track I want to get into, is architecture my most logical next step? What do I need to do to make sure my skills still remain sharp, as I'll be spending less time in the bits and bytes? Any tips from those who have made the transition from development to architecture (both successfully and unsuccessfully) are appreciated."

Comments

I'm having trouble getting into work at all.

[dwlemon]

I suppose I'm a smart person and good programmer. I could give advice to most of my professors about programming and I love helping people out (I think my ideal job would be tutoring). Only I just don't think anybody would hire me. I will only have an associates degree in about 5 months, which I thought would be good when I started out but now I'm not sure. Also, I've just done so badly at every other field I've tried... but that's because programmig is the only thing I know how to do.

Re:Odd contradiction

[AugstWest]

It's misleading to assume that the readership of /. is either a) college students or b) random geeks without experience.

There are a lot of people here with even more accumulated experience, and it is just that portion of the /. crowd that would be interested in a posted question like this one.

It would be very interesting to see a /. poll asking the crowd how many years of experience they have.

Re:get hot chicks

[camusflage]

No, getting a girlfriend is your next logical step.

Shit. This isn't going to make my wife very happy...

What makes you any different, Ars-Fartsica?

[alienmole]

You're attempting to make yourself "special", too, with these kinds of comments. So your ego simply tends toward negative expression, unlike those who attempt to manifest their specialness by creating something (whether or not they succeed).

So why are you here? To try to puncture the egos of annoying and pimply young geeks? You know it isn't going to work, any more than my responding to your ongoing trolling will work.