In The End
Great song. There is no end. Being an architect is a never-ending journey. Software never stops changing, learning never stops. As an architect, you must become a master student so you can become a master teacher.
Teaching is all that matters. The more people know, the fewer bad decisions are made. The more bad decisions are avoided, the better software we all create. There is no winning without learning. The journey does not end here.
How to keep learning?
- Keep reading books, articles, blogs.
- Attend conferences, meetups, webinars.
- Teach what you learn, write articles, give talks.
- Read code, explore open source projects.
- Research new technologies, experiment with them.
- Socialize with other architects, share experiences, ask for feedback.
Final Thoughts
Architecture is hard. It is a battle that must be fought every day. There is no done, there is no resting, so you cannot do all that without love. If you do not have love and passion for learning and teaching, you cannot be a good architect.
The good news is that you can be inspired and you can be a different person tomorrow. To create better architecture, you must become a better architect. Thinking is cheap but is hard at the same time. So spend more time thinking and experimenting.
One last piece of advice: do not forget about output. If you just read, that is not good enough. You need to put it out, so others can review, so you can see if you really know and if it is really good.
Architecture is all about decisions, it’s all about trade-offs, so you need to be sure that you are making the right decisions. The only way to be sure is to keep learning and teaching.