Architects Stand the Test of Time

While some people enter the technology field early in life, architects in many of the Fortune 500 enterprises tend to be older, a phenomenon we will refer to as the "wise dinosaur." The fact that many organizations are pushing the notion of architects in their twenties is laughable. Those who are successful have figured out not only the technology aspects of enterprise architecture and how to sell them to management but also how to sell themselves.

Several career pointers arise when one thinks about the characteristics of those who are successful versus those who aren't. The first problem is the competition between old and young. Younger people grow up with new technologies, are generally cheaper to hire, say "no" less often than their wiser peers, and don't have many other commitments. These traits are attractive to many employers.

Other architects develop a sense of arrogance (prima donnas in their ivory towers) over time, and they believe that others cannot be more intelligent or superior. Sadly, this leads not only to the downfall of the individual but also hurts the profession as a whole. Other architects do not expand their horizons and lash out at foreigners who are in many ways smarter and more expert.

I remember a presentation given by Ken Schwaber on protecting oneself in a down job market. and I have merged his thoughts with my own. Architects can fight back in many ways. For the weak minded, ask your representatives in Washington to support caps on the H1B visa program, to support tariffs on imported software, and to create bills such as New Jersey Senate Bill 1349. Consider spending time mastering new technologies such as Bayesian belief networks, grid computing, the semantic Web, and so on. Speak to the head of your network and infrastructure organization, and encourage them to think about IP telephony, instant messaging, tablet PCs, wireless, and server blades. Observe industry trends, and follow fundamental paradigm shifts before they occur. Paradigms this team currently follows include these:

• Future state implementations of Service-Oriented Architectures that incorporate the notion of ontologies and are model-driven

• The pervasive growth of business-rules engines within the enterprise and how they eventually will cause the enterprise to repeat the same mistakes made 20 years ago

• To increase business agility, incorporation of Bayesian belief networks as an alternative to declarative rules approaches

• The failure of organizations who migrate to new technologies, such as Web services, but still build business logic behind their screens and how UI standards such as XUL and XForms may help

A simple investment of 5 percent of one's time will put you ahead of your peers by 50 percent or more. Consider learning a foreign language or two. Members of this author team speak French, Hindi, Korean, Arabic, and Hebrew. The biggest investment one can make is in oneself. Invest regularly. Make sure you set aside at least 3 hours per week in the name of career development. Remember: Past performance is no guarantee of future results.