The Developer's Code

Essay 4

The “Ivory Tower” Architect Is a Myth

I’ve never liked the idea that technical architects should stop coding.

In physical architecture, architects perch in an ivory tower, living in a world of only planning. They don’t hammer in the nails or solder joints together. Requiring architects to do the physical work of drilling holes and laying concrete is simply impractical. Architecting and developing are two distinct career tracks.

The Corporate Ladder Leads to Less Code

In our industry, we work our way up to the role of a technical architect by actually developing—by doing the “physical” work of building applications. But in most organizations, as we move up the software development ladder, we write less code. We immerse ourselves more ...