Hi,
I am currently a developer with about 10yrs of experience.
How can I go from developer to Application Architect?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Three things:
-Read
-Read some more
-Keep on reading
Seriously, learn the OOP principles inside and out. Learn messaging and SOA. Learn layering and architecture patterns. Learn the classic patterns. Learn scalability. Learn a design methodology. Learn a development methology. Get your name out. Give a presentation at your local users group.
I'd just like to add some more topics to Evan's:
1. Agile methodology
2. Continuous integration
3. Test Driven Development
4. .NET 3.0 (specially WCF and WF)
5. Data persistence patterns.
6. MVC pattern.
7. MS P & P
8. Ron Jacob's Arcasts http://www.arcast.net (These are extremely helpful and will greatly accelerate your knowledge)
ARCast is excellent. Also check out:
International Association of Software Architects
Microsoft Patterns and Practices
Dot Net Rocks - More developer centric, but very informative in the .net space
Also, I'd suggest start looking around the blogosphere for good blogs.
As Evans & LiveToCodeToLive said, do A LOT of reading. Jeff Atwood over at Coding Horror has a great book list. So does Justice Gray. In fact, you can follow all the trackback's from justice's post, to a lot of other posts like Jean Paul Boodoo 's. Other noteworthy responders are Scott Hanselman and Rokford Lhotka.
I think being active in the community is very important. It's the reason I've started posting in forums, and the reason I'll have a blog up before the weekend is over. You might also look to get involved in User's Groups in your area.
