Thank you so much for attending the live stream with IT Excel. We had so many questions we did not
have the opportunity to answer every single one, so we're going to answer your questions right now.
We have an exciting announcement coming Monday, November 1st, so please make sure to subscribe to
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This next question is from [Ohm 00:00:31]. Please explain the technical architect versus
the solution architect role. Ohm, you've got it. A technical architect role is really like an
engineer. In fact, it's like a senior engineer. A technical architect is someone that knows
all the engineering and is such a good engineer, you kind of want to make him an architect, but
as an architect, you're typically spending a lot of your time with C-level executives and you're
talking about business and you're delivering presentations and you're doing all those things.
The technical architect is someone that does predominantly engineering,
maybe a little bit of design, which is architecture, but it's still really deep,
deep, deep technical. And they're really an engineer. Think of them as a cloud engineer,
like a really senior cloud engineer, and you want to give them a better role and pay them
more. You call that person a technical architect or a technology architect.
Now the solution architect is a very different role. The solution architect,
the cloud architect, the enterprise architect. These roles are about transforming a business.
So these roles are really about going to interact with the clients and figure out what's going on
in the client's business and figuring out what's the organization trying to do? Are they trying
to increase sales? Are they trying to decrease expenses? Are they're trying to create customer
intimacy? Are they in the banking industry and trying to process trades faster than
their competitors for a competitive advantage? It's really about understanding the business
and then figuring out how to make the business better and then figuring out what technology
modules can make the business better. So the solution architect roles and cloud
architect and roles and enterprise architect roles are much more transformation. So for the technical
architect, or the technology architect as you're referring, these are deep technical people.
Hands-on configuration, potentially even some coding. The solution architect will
not be hands-on at all. They're not going to be configuring things, they're not going to be coding
things, but the solution architect's version of hands-on is PowerPoint and Word and presentations.
And the solutions architect needs to have lots of business skills and ROI modeling skills and
executive communication skills and presence. So these are very, very, very different roles. To
become a solution architect, or a good one, you must train soft skills, emotional intelligence,
empathy, presentation skills, in order to get these roles. To be a technical architect really,
it's all about the tech. And that's where I think a lot of the confusion actually comes in, in these
roles, or people are hearing about technical roles or even technical solution architect roles
that are really engineering roles, versus solution architect roles, which are really design roles.
[Owa Kabir 00:03:09]. Since cloud architects need to have great presentation skills and negotiation
skills, and English is my second language, will I be able to succeed as much as a native speaker?
What a great question. So communication skills are absolutely critical to the cloud architect.
Now there's two kinds of ways communication skills could be judged.
When someone sounds uneducated, that has a massive impact on their ability to be a cloud architect.
But there is a big difference between sounding uneducated and coming from another country
where you've got an accent or occasionally use the wrong word. Coming from another country,
having an accent and occasional using the wrong word is not a problem for anyone.
Now, the second half of the communication skills though, probably won't affect you. Most engineers,
when they kind of communicate, they tell you about the problem, the problem, the problem,
the problem, the problem, and then, "Oh, by the way, here's the solution",
whereas business executives expect to hear the solution and then the rationale of why.
So when we're talking about communication skills, we're talking about making sure
that you have the right skills for the right audience at the right time. And Kabir, they are
100% trainable. We're talking about executive communication skills, not necessarily... Me
for example, if I'm thinking in Greek and instead of saying, "Turn off the lights",
I say, "Close the lights". That's totally fine. That's just those of us that think in a second
language. It's just for people that really can't get their thoughts out in an organized manner
or babble nonstop, or can't speak in plain language. This is what we're really referring to.
[Joshua Mendon 00:04:50]. I'm coming to the conversation late so if this was covered already,
I understand, but what sort of frameworks or languages are used by the cloud architect?
Well, Joshua, no language other than English or the native language in our country is ever used by
the cloud architect, because Joshua, we are system designers. We are not engineers. Engineers might
use languages such as Python or Node.js, but we are architects and architects don't code, so there
are no languages used by architects other than the language we speak in, or the language we're going
to write in or present. Now, the second half of that is what frameworks are used, and this is a
touchy subject. The cloud providers have their versions of their well-architected frameworks.
TOGAF has a framework. I worked with a service oriented network architecture framework and other
service oriented architecture frameworks, and you know, I've got very mixed feelings
on frameworks. All frameworks are academic. All of them are theoretical and I'm not necessarily
sure how helpful any of them are, but there's common frameworks made by the cloud providers.
There's the TOGAF type framework. Pick a framework that you like. Just make sure, Joshua, that if
you're going to use one of these frameworks, you actually translate these frameworks into actually
what it actually means into something actionable by the engineers that are going to build it. I
know when I'm an architect, I work really hard to make sure the engineers actually understand it.
And I know when I look at these frameworks or read them, it's kind of like, "What's the point?". So
it's good to have a theoretical background behind what we do, but I'm more concerned about making
sure things work. I teach my students to make sure things work far more than the frameworks.
This next question is coming from [John Robin Barrientos 00:06:32]. The question is, should
I get all certifications of cloud architect, AWS, Azure, or Google to be credible, or just pick one?
Well, John, even if you had all of those certifications, it still wouldn't mean you were
credible and no hiring manager would count any of those certifications as credible. But you can be
easily credible and that is up to you. So instead of actually learning to get certifications,
which is honestly not very helpful, and here's the reasons. When you take these certifications, they
teach you the name of a service such as S3 and how to configure it. So they might teach you Microsoft
Blob and how to configure it, or how to set up a virtual machine, like a virtual machine on Azure,
or an EC2 instance on AWS or a compute engine instance on Google. But see, as an architect,
we don't do any of that anyway, we just design it. So as an architect, it's very important that
you know architecture. What do you need to know as the architect? How the cloud works.
What is the cloud? It is a network and a data center that is virtualized. What does the cloud
architect do all day? They take the thing from the network and the data center and move it to the
cloud. So should you get cloud certifications in all of them? No, don't waste your time. Learn the
cloud. I don't get certified to drive a Mercedes and then another certification to drive a BMW and
another certification to drive a Honda and another certification to drive a Toyota. I learn how to
drive. So learn the cloud and you'll be good. Then my recommendation is pick one vendor, just
one vendor, and get a professional certification from that vendor like an Azure expert or the AWS
certified solution architect professional or the Google professional cloud architect. Just one.
And take all that extra time that you're not going to waste by getting these other certifications
and learn the architect skills that matter. Learn network design, learn data center design,
learn cloud architectural design. The things that are going to get you hired.
Build your business acumen, your communication skills, your emotional intelligence,
your executive presence. Build the skills that will get you hired. That's what it
takes to be credible. Credible is not about a certification. Credible is not about configuring.
To be credible as an architect, you must be able to meet with a client,
obtain all their business legal and regulatory requirements,
obtain their business goals, and create a solution that will transform that organization's business.
That's what it takes to be credible and competent. Focus on that and you will always win.
This next question is from Whatever. My problem is that whenever I apply to a cloud architect job,
they ask me about hands-on experience. You don't know where they get this idea from. Well Whatever,
people are always going to ask you about your experience, and here's the reason why.
If you're going to take systems from the network and the data center and move them to the cloud,
which is what a cloud architect does, you have to know what those systems are. And as a rule,
if you've never worked with these systems, you don't know what they are. So that's why everybody
constantly asks you about your experience, but it's not your experience they care about,
it's your ability to do the job. So Whatever, when you don't have experience, you're going to have to
prove your capabilities. So one of the things we do with our students... And here's how our
students get experience and if you wanted to be part of our cloud architect career development
program, you could get experience too. And if you want to get experience on your own,
here's what you should do. If you're not with us, go buy yourself a Xeon server. It must have
at least 16 cores and 16 gigabytes... I mean, and a 128 gigabytes of DRAM. So a minimum of 16 cores
and 128 gigabytes of DRAM and at least three SSD drives in a raid zero environment.
Now, because you need experience, here's the experience I want you to do.
I want you to set up server virtualization so you can put on your resume,
set up VMware ESXi for enterprise wide computing, because that's what you did. Then I'd like you to
build some containers. So build containers and set up container orchestration strategy for enterprise
wide computing, because that's what they're used for. And then the kind of things that you should
do on this server, you should build a LabStack the hard way. You should build a firewall. You
should build a VPN concentrator. You should set up NFS file sharing, maybe some sample file sharing.
You should set up active directory and build an active directory server to learn IAM. And you
know what? You should build a cloud. Every one of my own students does. Once you know how to build
the cloud, you have experience. But seriously, think about putting these things on your resume.
Set up server virtualization for enterprise wide computing. Set up containers and container
orchestration strategy for enterprise wide computing. Build an iptables firewall for
enterprise wide security. Set up a VPN concentrator for remote access in place.
Set up LabStack for web-based applications. Set up NFS for enterprise wide file sharing amongst
Linux and Unix servers. Set up Samba sharers for file sharing between Linux
Linux and Windows hosts. You see where I'm coming from? Go get your experience, but also,
a lot of it has to do with your resume and a lot of it has to do with your interview questions.
But Whatever, you can easily get a job when you don't have experience, but you have to be capable
and competent and go get yourself that experience even if you create it yourself.
This next question is from [Lennie Octavia 00:12:04]. Do companies hire cloud architects
as a freelancer? If so, what is the man-hour rate for an entry-level cloud architect?
Lennie, occasionally organizations do hire freelancer cloud architects. The hourly rate
will be in the several hundred dollar range per hour for someone that's junior to mid-level,
and can go to four to $600 an hour for a really good cloud architect that's been out there for
a long period of time. The kind of architect that knows how to do business transformation.
It was so nice having you join us for this video today. Let me tell you about some free
services we do for the cloud community. Twice per week we have a free "How to Get Your First
Cloud Architect Job" webinar, where we tell you all the things you need to do and know to
get your first cloud architect job. In addition to that, once per week, we actually have a free
question and answer session on live on YouTube, where you can come and ask us
any questions you want about building your career related to cloud computing
or networking, and we'll answer them in real time for you, because we want to get you to your goals.
Several more times per week, we have guests from industry. Industry experts that I have
known for decades that are movers and shakers that have changed the world that can give you
information so you can build the best career. I invite them periodically. They are on my show.
If there's a chance to do some free training on our channel, we'll do it live because we want
you to all to have the best skills for the best career. So please subscribe and hit the bell.
I look forward to seeing you and I look forward to assisting you in your technology career.
Thank you so much. This is [Michael Gibbs 00:13:34] from Go Cloud Architects.