Over the years, many engineers have reached out to me asking how to advance into a technology architect role. I want to share what worked and what failed miserably.
Let us start with what failed.
I have been a member of Adrian Cantrill’s Slack community since it first started and then migrated to discord. A while ago, a member on slack asked me to be their mentor. I agreed. But no matter how I explained technical concepts, shared references, or jumped on calls, the cycle never changed. They simply came back to ask the exact same questions again.
There was zero effort on their end to explain what they already understood, pinpoint what confused them, or dive deeper. Yet, there was a constant, aggressive drive to get the architect title.
Then there was a junior engineer who joined Barclays. She wanted me to mentor her. She equated all her past engineering experience strictly with support tasks. At the same time, she planned to study for an AWS Associate certification and expected to become a full solutions architect in three months.
There was also a time when someone reached out to me asking for a certification exam dump. What on earth are you trying to achieve with that approach? The goal is obviously just to memorize the questions and vomit the answers during the test. You could hold 37 separate certifications, but how does that help you actually do the engineering work on a live production system?
Another time, someone even offered to write an exam and take the certification for me. Absolutely not. There is something deeply wrong with this picture.
My question to the community is simple: why are we trying to shortcut this role?
There is no compression algorithm for experience, technical skills, or customer empathy. You cannot fast-track the deep understanding required to look at a business, dig into their true needs, and strategically guide them from where they are to where they want to go. If you do not put in the effort to listen, self-introspect, and figure out blockers on your own, you cannot represent a customer.
Then there is the way people use AI. Everyone glorifies it, and people are delegating their daily jobs to AI with absolutely zero critical thought. I have seen documentation generated by Copilot that stretches to 73 pages, yet it contains no actual detail and is completely bloated.
I am not averse to using AI, but a tool is not a strategy. AI does not ask the hard questions. It does not dig down to find the "five whys" of a system failure. Your first line of defense is not AI. It is you. If you delegate your learning to a machine and copy its output blindly, you are destroying your own capability.
Now, let us look at what actually worked.
I am no expert at getting people jobs at AWS, but I managed to help two architects secure roles there. Others who applied themselves finally understood exactly where they stood in their growth journey.
What worked in all these successful cases was simple: discipline and application.
These members already had solid years of experience under their belts. They targeted a specific job and went the extra mile. We worked together to map their actual level, understand corporate expectations, and study authoritative field resources like the First Day Careers playlists on YouTube.
They did not look for a shortcut. They did the hard work. They wrote out their experiences, building two to three detailed stories for every single Amazon Leadership Principle. We reviewed and refined those narratives day after day, working through the friction until their stories were completely bulletproof.
Two of them won the job offers. One had to decline due to family situations, but the learning they gained permanently accelerated their career growth.
If you want to do it right, you must be available, learn, and do the hard work. You must fail and learn again. Being an architect or landing an elite enterprise role is not about passing a test in 90 days or chasing a fancy title. It is about a lifelong dedication to service, applying your experience, and being of true value to the business.
A Note on Professional Boundaries
To be completely clear to those reading, I am not a recruiter. Please do not solicit me to get a job. I am in the job search right now just like everyone else. All I have is my years of experience and a deep understanding of what it means to provide true value to an organization. This is me sharing my insights on career growth and shortcuts. Nothing more, nothing less.
Happy Learning!
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are entirely my own and do not represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of any current or former employer.
