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For whom: novice architects
Text: Ivan Survillo
I did not study to be a programmer, my specialty is semiconductor physics. But I've always enjoyed programming. I had an old computer, a self-taught Pascal tutorial. When I had to go to university, I decided that physics was a promising direction, but even during my studies at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic I continued to program. Seeing my passion for the process, my sister advised me to take courses in programming in 1C. I went and a month later I earned my first two thousand rubles. The customer needed a simple form, such as a delivery note for pizza delivery. At that moment I realized that this is how you can earn money.
Later I came to a firm that is engaged in project activities, I grew from a programmer to a project manager and a system architect. Depending on the scale of the project, I could be either a manager, an architect, or both.
Then there was the stage when I moved to Gazprom Neft. Instead of several projects, at first I had several systems (mainly those that were developed on 1C) that live in one circuit. Further - more, systems on different platforms and with different tasks: planning, dispatching, control, accounting.
How to explain to loved ones who a corporate architect is
To be honest, the further it goes, the more difficult it is to explain to loved ones who I work. First - a programmer, here it is clear - I do something on a computer, numbers are counted. Then - the project manager - "foreman" over the programmers, is still understandable. And what about an architect? ..
A system architect is like a house architect: you have to calculate the loads in a particular building, calculate what floors should be, what materials should be used, what ventilation and elevators should be.
I am a corporate architect, that is, the architect is no longer a "house", but a "district" or "city". I have to arrange "houses", "streets" along which "cars" will move, design kindergartens and schools, foresee where to lay pipes for gas and water. That is, if we translate everything into IT terms, systems, integration buses, data flows between systems, technical systems that provide auxiliary functions (for example, monitoring).
Thinking over all this is not easy, but, in principle, when you already have experience of working at different levels, it can be solved. You don't build an ideal city in a vacuum, but at the entrance you always have some needs, tasks, infrastructure sketches, from which you are already starting.
About the specifics of work
There are two components in the construction of an IT architecture: formal and not so much. The formal component is specific to Gazprom Neft and other large companies - we have architectural committees and technical advice. For a solution to get into production, it must be consistent with them. Part of an architect's job is to choose a solution that gets passed by the architecture committee and technical board. There are many different criteria: security, cost, optimal choice of the platform in terms of all kinds of risks, maintainability.
The informal side is that you need to be in contact with the project team, guide developers or contractors in the right direction, try to help in every possible way to make the project successful (it doesn't matter whether the issue is part of the concept of architecture or not).
For example, there is a 1C platform, and there is SAP. In our country, in many areas, they compete or are used together (in the same payroll or in warehouse accounting). When a new project appears, we choose which of these platforms is better suited for solving problems, which specific solution on the platform needs to be chosen and why.
The difference between a programmer and an architect
It is believed that a corporate architect is not needed, they say, everything can be thought out by the programmers who will write this project. But programmers are tailored for a specific platform 1C, Python or something else. The programmer solves the applied problem that is given to him. And the architect chooses, together with the business, the vector of development of the system as a whole. Depending on the vector, you may have one or another platform, one or another programmer, one or another task. You need to understand what the business wants and translate that into a concept that can be implemented.
The programmer completed the task in a day, week, month - he has quick feedback, it's morally easier. The result of my work is delayed in time.
About compromises at work and feelings of dissatisfaction
The last compromise I had was when we did the integration between one system, where we have business data, with another system, where we have planning data. Initially, it is clear that the data that should be in the accounting system will be needed by many adjacent systems, but the team was heavily loaded and we agreed that we would do everything according to a simpler temporary concept, which we would then refine to the optimal one.
If the patching solution suits the business, does not contradict any strategies and concepts of the company, does not harm in the long term, then you can leave it that way, although a feeling of dissatisfaction remains in your soul
On the influence of the profession on "ordinary" life
I compare programming to a magic wand. I would never give it up on my own free will. Magic should always remain, it's just that right now I'm not doing development for work, but I can do something at home for myself or as a hobby to keep the skill. For example, for the summer season I was studying development on controllers like Arduino and ESP. Now I have a “smart dacha”: wireless controllers are responsible for watering the greenhouse, in May (when there were still frosts at night), they automatically maintained the temperature required for seedlings in the greenhouse, the irrigation system for the lawn was also set to automatic watering. From the phone I can see the current readings (temperature, humidity), turn on and off irrigation / heating / backlighting when I need it, or entrust everything to the program that I asked for in the controllers.
It turns out that my profession affects my everyday life. Sometimes in small things, sometimes in big things. In small things, you see how checks are made through and you know that part of the check can be paid with a card, and part in cash. But the cashier doesn't know this, and you can solve this situation. You begin to understand that if the Internet does not work, you need to check on your side, and then go to the provider. If on a large scale, then you understand that the approach, in general, is applicable in other areas - in the same construction or repair, for example. That is, you know how to plan changes and what you have to put up with because of it.