How is software architecture different from project management ?
I want be a software architect ?
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Question :- I have 2 years in ASP.NET working in a small firm. I want to join a MNC . I am getting 1.8 lakhs per annum Can i ask for 3.5 Lakhs. Is the quote right , should i asked directly this salary ?
By Shivprasad Koirala
MNC have salary slab fixed ( That's what my exp is with Accenture , DELL and Wipro). That means if you have 2 to 3 yrs of exp you can have salary between 22000 PM to 40000 PM ( Per month). As they have strict HR policies they try to put every one in a equal slab. So even if you demand more the slab is fixed. A exceptional hike can not be more than 40 percent of your current CTC in any MNC. YOur asking range is approximately 50 %. It can also turn back.
Ask for 40% hike ( if you are very confident) with negotiable word attached
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Bhavanesh Asar
The other workaround for getting higher salary is try to negosiate with ur existing employer and than jump to next job this is much more easy way
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Rajesh Pillai
Salary hike is dependent on many criteria like
- industry standard
- your experience level
- the need or urgency[If the company is in badly need for a paticular skillset[they will pay you upto 100%] ]
For the third one to apply you ought to have some unique skill set/good experience with known clients.
In general don't ask for a particular amount, let them come up with their slab
and if they ask your expectation and you find that their slab is lower than 40%
then you can ask for 40% + negotiable in a polite way.
But, nowadays, I find getting upto 60% hike is a norm the way recruitment is being going on and the salary being given out[my last 3 months exp in recruiting[feedback from collegues] tells me this].
But this is just an exception.
So, brush up your skillset, deep dive into it, master certain unique aspect of your work area and then apply for a job. Chances are you might get more than you wanted :)
And there is always an exception to the rule....
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Sainath Sherigar
Check this article from Economic Times which pretty much sums up what one needs to do in this regard.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1873840.cms
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How is software architecture different from project management ?
By Bhavanesh Asar
yes S/W Architecture and project management are 2 diffrent things S/W Architecture is completly technical work which deals in designing of software functionality while project management is a task which deal in managing ressources(software,hardware, and humanware) and accounting there use .Technical sucess of the project depends on S/W Architecture and over all Project sucess depends on Project Manager. S/W Architecture is also a resource under a project manager but a very technical sucess of project as said before depends on him.
By Sainath Sherigar
You have asked a very good question - which I believe most people at your level of experience ask some time or the other.
Adding to what Bhavanesh has already mentioned separating the role of a PM and an architect becomes necessary in big projects involving atleast 20-25 resources.Handing project deadlines,gathering requirements,client interaction,allocating resources - people & hardware assets,handling project budgets,handling stakeholders(people for whom the software is being made),etc is the primary responsibility of the PM.A PM needs to possess what can be called "helicopter vision" - the ability to keep the entire project on track.Truly successful PMs are also excellent leaders and masters in man management.
A S/W architect needs to have both "tunnel vision" with respect to the hard core technical aspects of a project,whether something is technically feasible or not,if the soln. architecture adopted is correct.He also needs to have "helicopter vision" - is the project scalable,can it handle a bigger user base in future (Kapil is the best guy to speak on this)
I would urge you to take inventory of your own skillsets before finalizing which career path to opt for.The questions below might help:
For software architecture:
- are you technically strong
- do you enjoy resolving technical issues in a project
- do you keep exploring new technologies when they are in their Beta stage itself.
- do you enjoy coding
- do you possess an investigative/exploring mindset
- do you possess good software engineering knowledge(for ex. design patterns,best practices is S/w development,etc) or have a strong interest in the same
For Project Management
- are you good in planning (very imp.)
- are you a good communicator
- are you a good leader (Test yourself - how many people voluntarily accept your advice,approach you for solving their problems.The key word here is "voluntary",without any reporting hierarchy in between)
- are you a good negotiator
- do you like the challenge of handling people (many people underestimate this skill set)
- can you take total responsibility for the success/failure of a project
- do you possess good domain knowledge
The S/W architects role is still evolving in India - of late this has picked up a lot of momentum.But I would suggest that you honestly evaluate where your interests and skills stand.
True success can come only when both the HEAD (ability to do something) and HEART (genuine interest in an area) are in sync. Don't get swayed by titles like "Manager","Architect" - find your strong area and push forward - All the best.
By Kapil Siddharth
PM is one manages Man, Material , Money(budget) and Time(Schedule).Architect looksinto the technical aspect- how is the system to be built. foundation framework, communication between different components, data storage (database) and lot of other techincal feasbilities. WEB DEVELOPMENT it self a very big area for Archietcting. Web Application are used by millions of people so when you start building these web application and thinking of solutions to keep them running. You are entering into arena of archiecting...How is your web application depolyed? Is there a load balancer needed? Is there session failover needed?How can give my application be 24x7 availabilty ? If 1000 users are added can my web application survive the load?
So I you are leading and managing the team -work allocation and managing their schedule then your are in for PM.
If you are asking more of 2 answer then you are in for architect
By Shivprasad Koirala
Nothing to add more , Sainath and Bhavanesh has covered it all.But yes its a right time to take a decision and stick to it. It should not fluctuate after 5 years. For instance you walk on the architecture path and then see PM's have a good salary and your goals fluctuate.
By Kapil Siddharth
CMMi is all baout measurement ,plan estimate, track against planned estimates and see where youand
control if problem.For managing project:Break down your projects in unit of task as small as 2 days.Also include review and rework for each task.Plan with their estimated effort.On execution,As each of your task complete, your work is done by thateffort.
(tracked) There is nothing as 1/2 work or 75% work. So plan as small asunit as possible.Also enter review effort and rework (changes after review)
Once you have these measurements, you have your project tracked as against plan.Now once you have your project track , you can control by
seeing indicator if it is slippiong agains the plan.
So indicators is:
1) Your plan
2) Bugs numbers --> compare against previous metrics , if
indicates problem control
3) Reviews --> compare against previous metrics , if
indicates
problem control.
Next part of CMMi is improve,So you plan for improvement , against existing metrics trend
plan for lower bugs, lower review defect, lessor effort.
Understand this qulity should save time and productivity.
Tapan Das
U need to understand CMMi in true value to the organization. It is
"Maturity" that counts. So moving from Level 3 to Level 5 without step
by step movement is of NO value. A major Process Area (PA) is OT or Organization Training. It is important that you as well as your
internal
audit team gets educated on the same and then try to implement the same. Jumping across levels is not moving the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle
path and can result in the situation you are in. So advise a step by step movement be in any KPA.Other way round if you refer to CMMi guide there are 2 models - one
tracks by PA strength the other by phased approach.See what best suites you and your organization. You can concentrate on
a
particular PA and then strenghten it from Level 3 to Level 5. Other way is to know all the PA's under one level/ phase and move up the phase step
by step.
Shivprasad Koirala
First thing process is for the project and not project for the process.
If we try to complete projects looking at how we can fulfill CMMI , its not
going to yield anything. All KPA of CMMI match to some activities in the
project. For instance requirement document match to REQM KPA , Design document
of a project matches to TS of CMMI , Good testing documents match to VAL and VER
in CMMI. These document we always create basically in a project. Now comes
second part Audit , the auditor will be more than happy to see the process
in institution rather than forcibly made document to get CMMI.
The best answer in interview will be to map the documents with the process. All
KPA's in CMMI is directly or indirectly done some where in project.For instance
DAR in a project does not need be a formal document or fish bone diagram ,
can be email thread on which important decisions are made.
I want be a software architect ?
By Rajesh Pillai
- Have a strong technical foundation in respective technology (c#,asp.net, Sqlserver/ or java/ejb/oracle or whatever)
- Have fair understanding of database technologies Since you are interested in software architecture master the below
technologies/concepts
- software modelling [also related to designing]
- non functional requirements like performance, instrumentation,logging, security etc.
- good grasp of OOPS, OOAD, AOP etc.
- communication skills[very important]
- be thorough in atleast two diff. vendor tech or atlease have a working knowledge of the other one [e.g. .NET and Java etc.]
- start a group where you can share architecture thoughts
- Business Process knowledge
- Remember, as an Architect you have to deal with various stakeholders, so you should have the ability to put their problem in perspective and come out with the solution and be able to communicate it clearly.
The career path for software/application architect is something like
this
- 7+ years of exp: Associate Technical Architect
- 8+ Technical Architect
- 9 + Architect
This may vary with different IT company's but the core skills remain the same.
As per you mail you have good exp. in vb and sql. But this is not sufficient. You have to shift your attention to .NET technologies (since thats a natural migration path for you)
These will help you build a strong foundation towards your goal as a software architect.
Check out these sites mentioned below. You will get some good insight as to what's happening in the architect world;
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/skyscrapr/default.aspx
This is the microsoft site covering all areas of architecture.
By Shivprasad Koirala
Including what Rajesh suggested you can do the following step by step :-
-- Migrate yourself from VB to VB.NET or C# . VB is a object based language while C# and and VB.NET are Object oriented. This will give
you a
new dimension of thinking from pure Object oriented perspective languages.
-- Good understanding of UML which can help you write good technical design document.
-- As Rajesh said keep yourself flexible with multiple languages like JAVA and C#. They cover the maximum IT industry.
-- Read design patterns but think how they fit in real scenarios. Probably in your current project scenarios you can see how they fit in.
-- As Rajesh said read about new concepts like AOP , SOA etc and how they fit in actual real life.
-- Do not forget the Database side (Tuning , Good SQL , DB design).Do not forget Data warehousing , mining etc.
Patterns and Practices on the Microsoft site is a good point to start. I am sure with 9 years of EXP and already having the quality of
execution you will definitely become architecture role wise. But the biggest struggle starts after it. In India there are no special
positions for Architecture as such ( At least till whatever companies i have
worked with). Big companies have so called Architecture groups , but really do
not know how far they add value to the project. Many times the Architecture of the project is a senior developer. Managers positions are well defined
and so their salary structures. As positions are not defined so they end up getting paid a bit less than Managers. So many start as aspiring
architectures and end with a Manager position later. I am sure many architectures are disguised as project managers.Would like to see Kapil's view on the same.
By Kapil Siddharth
You already had very good points both from shiv and Rajesh to proceed.
Let me also give a brief on architecture:
Architecture of any product is looking at it from 100ft high view. Lots of the things are abstracted in architecture.
Experince matters a lot in career a architect. But it also matters whether you haveing been doing routine stuff like crud operations in all your projects; then you need more complex project to execute. I hope in your VB/SQL you have done complex scenarios of tier architecture , distributed architecture.
Whether you had chance to work where you had to think of performance , caching , pooling?
Architecture not very different from desing; but here you abstract uot most of the routine stuff and build on things which you think more attention and can make or break application. You think all aspects. You may have reqt. for performance, maintainance, monitoring , even reqt. like data replication.
Then you design your archietcture for these features . Replication may be new thing hence your architecture may need to satisfy the data replication reqt. Some of the points may be contradictory. Then you have decide on trade-off ; get approval on from stakeholders. Patterns , architectures of other application(Copy is best form of learning)
It may happen that to solve your problem there are popular architectures already available. Here comes in patterns and practices. but you need to apply them in your project again based on budget.
You cannot give customer Mercedes when he is only paying for Maruti.
Shiv righlty said that architect is very new position in India. Industry is still trying to define the role of an architect. How is he different from earler techincal people? Because industry thinks of him as good techincal person. whose responsilbilty is to handle all techincal stuff. As per business requirment and time available; it usually happens archirtect keeps handling techincal stuff and also keep managing technical people solving their problems because customers usually are not ready to pay or do not budget for archiecture feature, they usually have short term vision.
Architecture is more from point of view of the vision envisioned for the product, how is the roadmap envisioned for it. So that you can built on basic archietcure and then let it evolve.
[Architectures are not built in a day but get evolve]. People make mistakes of trying to build rome in a day.