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Providing content to recruit technical professionals in IT is not exactly easy. I get it. In this era of cloud computing CICD pipelines and digital transformation initiatives — DT projects can cost organizations tens of millions of dollar to invest in — staffing a team with the wrong resources can lead to notable project failures. Given the strategic investments and outcomes at stake, it becomes imperative that crafting the right job description (JD) for each technical team role is as accurate as possible.
Some hiring managers do reasonably well in preparing an accurate JD. However, many more fail. Some of these failures are so obvious and ambiguous that the designated technical interviewer ends up wasting time interrogating candidates with the wrong set of tech questions. For instance, an Enterprise Solution Architect who spends more time working strategically with C level executives, portfolio managers and product owners are not going to readily know that in the latest version of C#, a primary constructor is no longer restricted to record types. This level of technical info is going to be more well known to senior cloud developers who specialize in C#.
Thus, with this inaugural article, I am launching a technical series where I’ll critique job descriptions for Enterprise Architects (EAs), Solution Architects (Sas), App Architects (AAs), Cloud Engineers and Sr Software Developers. The JDs will come straight from my inbox, stripped of any info identifying hiring companies or IT recruiting firms. You’d be surprised at some of the descriptions. They can be hilarious, bizarre, overreaching and cheap. By “cheap,” I mean the hiring manager is looking for one person to do several overlapping, conflicting roles, each of which can pay 6 figures in some cases. If they want a Solution Architect to also be a Lead Developer, for instance, then one could argue it would be fair to pay, say, $150k for the first role and add $100k for the second role. Heck, the candidate might even give the hiring manager a volume discount, bringing the salary expectation to $200k instead of $250k. Just a thought.
To ask for Solution Architects to also be Lead Developers is a common mistake I see. Developers have to be in the technical weeds of each sprint, day by day. Some days are lighter than others. But when an end user finds a critical bug in an app, Solution Architects don’t have the bandwidth to drop several other projects to focus on resolving that one bug.
Solution Architects have to effectively do architectural analysis and design work for multiple projects as they flow out of the product backlog. Each project, which is usually a feature to be released for the current quarter for a certain product, has to be mapped to an architectural model, whether existing in a library or needing to be created from scratch.
Then there is the usual solution architect design doc (SAD) or equivalent that technically explains how to handle features and user stories at the sprint level for each technical SME. Managing the architecture runway and pipeline between the product backlog and the sprint backlog is not a trivial engineering effort. If the Solution Architect gets bogged down in code, the entire quarter’s worth of releases will be backed up due to the schedule risk of the architect’s bandwidth. This is exactly where digital transformation projects fail, as both Gartner Group and McKinsey & Co have reported recently. The two venerable groups pointed to leadership failures as being the prime reason for such DT failures.
Enterprise Architects (EAs) usually manage the architecture runway at the portfolio level, which often has direct oversight from C level executives. Portfolios group projects hierarchically, so that multiple Solution Architects feed into the EA. Don’t get me started on how some JDs confuse Solution Architects with Agile Release Train Engineers (RTEs), Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches. That might be a separate article. Stay tuned…
Here’s an example of a JD I just received in my inbox. I won’t use any company or recruiter names. If they happen to recognize the description, hopefully they will update their JD to be more realistic. I won’t always embed the entire JD as they can be lengthy:
Expert Solutions Architect
[it listed 3 cities that the candidate has to be within 50 mile radius of, but I removed the cite names]
This position requires that the candidate lives within 50 miles radius of one of our offices [3 hybrid cities] as the candidate should be able to join in one of these locations as the need arises. Have you confirmed this with your candidate?
Managers review:
– Those interviewed didn’t have web skills (we need them to be experts on that area)
– Or they had good web skills BUT weak on architecture skills (design/solutions considerations)
– I need candidates that can are expertise in their field and communication
As a Digital (Web, Mobile, Azure) Architect, you will lead and contribute to building top class web applications.
• Defines solution architecture for strategic program/projects and key initiatives.
• Hands-on experience with above mentioned technologies, platforms, implementing end-to-end DevSecOps and ability to guide and support development teams as needed.
• Experience with various programming, design, and application architecture disciplines.
• Experience with development tools and technologies including object-oriented programming tools, database management tools, middleware, security tools, and application software.
• Hands-on experience in developing web applications using Azure PaaS Technologies
Again, I appreciate how difficult it can be to write up JDs. But notice the JD job title is “Expert Solutions Architect.” If you go down further, the job title becomes “Digital (Web, Mobile, Azure) Architect.” Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. I strongly advise hiring managers and recruiters to use consistent job titles to avoid confusion. I have performed the roles of Solution Architect and Digital Architect, and they are not necessarily the same, though they can overlap.
To point out the differences, I’ll save some time and let ChatGPT explain:
Solution Architect:
Focus: A Solution Architect primarily focuses on designing and implementing solutions to specific business problems or challenges. These solutions can encompass a wide range of technologies and components.
Scope: They work on a broader scope, often considering various aspects such as infrastructure, applications, data, and integrations to create a comprehensive solution.
Responsibilities: Solution Architects are responsible for understanding the business requirements, evaluating technology options, and designing an end-to-end solution that aligns with the organization’s goals and needs.
Expertise: They typically have expertise in a variety of technologies and platforms, including cloud services like Azure and AWS, and are skilled at making technology choices that best fit the problem at hand.
Client Interaction: Solution Architects frequently interact with clients or stakeholders to gather requirements and present their proposed solutions.
Digital Architect:
Focus: A Digital Architect specializes in designing digital experiences and solutions, often with a strong emphasis on user experience (UX) and digital transformation.
Scope: Their focus is narrower, concentrating on the digital aspects of a solution, which may include web and mobile applications, user interfaces, and digital platforms.
Responsibilities: Digital Architects are responsible for creating a digital strategy, designing user interfaces, optimizing user journeys, and ensuring that digital solutions are user-friendly and aligned with the organization’s digital goals.
Expertise: They have expertise in digital technologies, front-end development, UX design, and often work closely with creative teams to ensure a visually appealing and user-centric approach.
Client Interaction: While they may interact with clients or stakeholders, their primary focus is on the digital aspect of a solution rather than the broader technology landscape.
ChatGPT got the description just right, in my opinion, based on my many years of experience in various architect roles, including for digital transformation projects currently. As we can see, our real-world job description is ambiguous before I even dive into the web developer discrepancy.
Digital Architects tend to be in the SaaS architecture space, with some PaaS design work to connect their SaaS apps with microservices beyond the API gateway. Solution Architects, on the other hand, particularly in the cloud environment, are more broadly focused on not only SaaS, but PaaS and IaaS as well. Because of the multi-tier focus, Solution Architects can’t be too tactical in the SaaS tier. Therefore, this company’s hiring manager needs to decide which architect role they need.
Lead Web Developer or Solution Architect?
Moreover, notice how the JD actually reads as if the hiring manager wants a lead web developer. Here are the triggering key phrases that allude to this ambiguity:
“Hands-on experience with above mentioned technologies, platforms, implementing end-to-end DevSecOps and ability to guide and support development teams as needed”
“Experience with various programming…”
“Experience with development tools and technologies including object-oriented programming tools, database management tools, middleware, security tools, and application software”
“Hands-on experience in developing web applications using Azure PaaS Technologies”
Although it is good if a Solution Architect has a deep background in web or software development, the SA is NOT a coder role. Notice the first quote wants the
“…ability to guide and support development teams as needed.”
This is often codeword for “I want the Solution Architect to also do hands on coding to help the developers.” Some hiring managers may not understand that this is actually what lead developers do: they coach and support each development team member with coding. SAs may have code examples of design patterns for mission critical microservices and integrations, but not all of them do. With so many broader, relatively strategic problems and solutions the Solution Architect has to juggle per sprint, per project, per quarter, there is no way, especially in large organizations, that they have time to get bogged down coding for a CICD pipeline for a given sprint.
To wrap up, I’ll once again let ChatGPT explain the Lead Web Developer role in a cloud environment:
Lead Cloud-Based Web Developer:
Focus: A Lead Cloud-Based Web Developer primarily focuses on designing, developing, and maintaining web applications and services that are hosted on cloud platforms like Azure or AWS.
Scope: Their scope is more focused on the technical implementation of web-based solutions, including coding, database design, and application architecture.
Responsibilities: Lead Web Developers are responsible for leading a development team, writing code, ensuring the functionality of web applications, and optimizing performance.
Expertise: They possess strong programming skills, expertise in web development technologies (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and cloud services for web hosting and scalability.
Client Interaction: While they may interact with clients or stakeholders, their primary role is technical, and they often work closely with architects and designers to implement technical solutions.
Then there’s this excerpt:
“…a Lead Cloud-Based Web Developer is primarily focused on technical implementation and web development, a Solution Architect has a broader scope encompassing various technology domains, and a Digital Architect specializes in designing user-centric digital experiences. Depending on the project and organization, these roles may collaborate to deliver comprehensive solutions that combine technical expertise, architecture, and digital design.”
Notice how this Lead Web Developer role kind of aligns more closely with what the hiring manager is seeking. My professional recommendation here is to rewrite this JD to seek a Lead Web Developer with 12 years’ experience mostly in cloud environments. This will cut down drastically on the number of mismatched resumes. Recall that the hiring manager specifically told the recruiter this:
“Managers review: Those interviewed didn’t have web skills (we need them to be experts on that area) Or they had good web skills BUT weak on architecture skills (design/solutions considerations).”
Duh! LOL. If the hiring manager engaged an expert such as myself to proofread the JD, I would have saved them time and money by eliminating the ambiguities. What’s worse, they geographically limited the field of candidates to a small radius of a few metro areas. In a postindustrial, digital era, it no longer makes sense to limit tech jobs to cities. I wrote about the problems of dragging industrial era management approaches to the digital era in other articles and will have videos soon. What are your thoughts? If you agree or disagree, comment below.
Samsona Corporation 