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typically how many years of experience for architect?

 
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I always thought that it is knowledge not the years but that is not true, companies do require some minimum years at your back...

What it is in your company to apply for the post of Architect and Junior/Associate Architect?

In my company, it is 8+ years for Architect, not sure about latter.
 
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I do partially agree with your opinion abt years of exp and knowledge, since I used to have the same opinion in early days of my career.

But later learned that good experience always matters a lot. I blv that 8 years is a min requirement for becoming an Arch.
 
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Well, if you have worked for say - 18 months, how much knowledge you can have in that?? Maybe if you're lucky you can have diverse exposure - but is that enough to be an architect??? An architect requires thorough understanding & exposure to various technical issues that are likely to come up in the system - so I think it is fair enough to ask for 8 years experience & of course, knowledge that is earned.

I think it's usually junior level programmers who beleive they have "knowledge" after completing 1-2 projects and completing 1-2 years; it's only later you realize what complex issues are and what thorough exposure is. (not counting people who add years but not knowledge)

- Manish
 
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IMHO, capability of person depends not ONLY on number of years of experience but also on quality of work exposure. Person working in starup right from beginning and taking higher responsibilities in direction of becoming and architect definately has higher chances of succeeding realtively *earlier as an architect. This is because of simple fact that he has already given himself chance to face different work situations and scenarios right from the beginning due to the nature of work!

It would be exhageration to say 2 years experience going for architect position but you can say 6 years in startup with good exposure = 8 years *genereal industry work experience.

At the end of the day if you really got the right skills then IT industry is mature enough to accept you! Same applies for reverse case also! Person with 8 years experience may not even be close to being an architect but may suite some other role.

So IMHO, 8 years would just be an industry average and most companies use it as a general rule of thum.

Thanks!
Rohit Nath
 
Manish Hatwalne
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Originally posted by Rohit Nath:
IMHO, capability of person depends not ONLY on number of years of experience but also on quality of work exposure. Person working in starup right from beginning and taking higher responsibilities in direction of becoming and architect definately has higher chances of succeeding realtively *earlier as an architect. This is because of simple fact that he has already given himself chance to face different work situations and scenarios right from the beginning due to the nature of work!

It would be exhageration to say 2 years experience going for architect position but you can say 6 years in startup with good exposure = 8 years *genereal industry work experience.



I agree with this completely; but in this case - many companies are sensible enough to treat this equation that you put about 6years-in-startup = 8 years-in-bigger company as a valid one. I have seen architects with 11 years experience, still learning & coding and they are some of the most respectable people in my books.

- Manish


- Manish
 
Rohit Nath
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many companies are sensible enough to treat this equation that you put about 6years-in-startup = 8 years-in-bigger company as a valid one.


Problem Solved!
 
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many companies are sensible enough to treat this equation that you put about 6years-in-startup = 8 years-in-bigger company as a valid one.



Thats not correct statement, if you work in bigger companies you can have exposure to work on bigger projects with many latest techs.

So in reality it shouldn't be small of large company but depend on what kind of project you have worked for last 8 years.
I believe 6 years is still early to be an architect for a larger project reagrdless of size company.
 
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I don't know of any company that has a minimum number of years as an official policy (although many larger ones by their nature seem to have preferred minimums). IMHO the number of eyars do not matter whatsoever.

That said, I think experience and ability do matter.

For example, what's the minimum age to be a professor? I knew a professor at MIT at the age of 26--younger than many grad students! it's just that to meet the requirements takes most people into their late 20's, but if you qualified as a professor at 22, a school might hire you.

Likewise, it's a question of whether or not you have what it takes. Certainly you'll most likely need to have been on some successful projects from soup to nuts and then some, to see how it evolved over time. you also need to provide technical eladership and have breadth of knowledge.

Remember as well "architect" can mean many things. What does it take to be a CEO? Most Fortune 500 CEO's are in their 50's or older. Nevertheless I knew plenty of CEO's below 25 during the 90's. Are the roles equivalent? Even today, at a company like GE there are VP's who have 6-10 years of experience and are basically line managers, and VP's who report to the CEO who are true executives. They are both VP's but it's a different job.

You can be an architect today if you can find someone to hire you. But that's probably different than an architect at Microsoft of IBM.

My point is, your question isn't well defined as the term "architect" isn't well defined. You should provide some clarity as to the specific role.

--Mark
 
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ankur,

there is no year limit in true sense .

As every sensible person knows it.

However , the companies asks for Years of Exp because a junior developer with 1 yr exp knows almost nothing about the work.

Just think , how much time you will take to finish to all these below technologies

java , j2ee , xslt , xpath , jboss, oracle, xml . linux, websphere , DB ,weblogic, tomcat , apache, RAD , hibernate , struts , spring ....blah blah

I think 1 year is not enough for all these





ask an Architect ...they have passed all these things once upon a time and now can concentrate on high level design , estimate and provide advice.

Thats why , companies ask for experiences .


when i am talking about Architects ...i am talking about true architects......there are companies where you can find architects who knows nothing almost and is the politician occupied some post and they are dependent upon some knowledgeable persons who are the workers.

Knowledgable person is always respected everywhere....if you know the work ...if you are hard worker ....you are there in the industry.


However , technically in our company ..they ask 6+ exp for an architect position.

It seems to me this time limit is ok ....come on man ,there are lot of things to learn !!


I always advice to newbies here to work for startup companies to learn the work , face the challenges and not to run after money.
 
alfred jones
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ankur,

there is no year limit in true sense .

As every sensible person knows it.

However , the companies asks for Years of Exp because a junior developer with 1 yr exp knows almost nothing about the work.

Just think , how much time you will take to finish to all these below technologies

java , j2ee , xslt , xpath , jboss, oracle, xml . linux, websphere , DB ,weblogic, tomcat , apache, RAD , hibernate , struts , spring ....blah blah

I think 1 year is not enough for all these





ask an Architect ...they have passed all these things once upon a time and now can concentrate on high level design , estimate and provide advice.

Thats why , companies ask for experiences .


when i am talking about Architects ...i am talking about true architects......there are companies where you can find architects who knows nothing almost and is the politician occupied some post and they are dependent upon some knowledgeable persons who are the workers.

Knowledgable person is always respected everywhere....if you know the work ...if you are hard worker ....you are there in the industry.


However , technically in our company ..they ask 6+ exp for an architect position.

It seems to me this time limit is ok ....come on man ,there are lot of things to learn !!


I always advice to newbies here to work for startup companies to learn the work , face the challenges and not to run after money.
 
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