I don’t keep my existing skills sharp.
This was in response to another comment. But should give a little context.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42704502
By 2018, I stopped trying to be a “full stack developer”. I gave up on keeping up with what was going on the front end and start learning AWS.
I was the first technical hire by a then new CTO who was bringing development in house from a third party consulting company. I jumped on every AWS related initiative who threw at me and started leading them by doing proof of concepts and working with teams to establish patterns and processes.
Stepping back for a second, I got my first AWS certification without ever opening the console and my first six within the first year of opening the console. The purpose of them were merely a guided learning path so I would know what I didn’t know.
Between 2018 and 2020, I got a lot of hands on experience combining development + AWS.
A full time position working at AWS in the Professional Services (consulting) department fell into my lap in 2020.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38474212
While there, slowly I started being put on projects where I was over the DevOps “work stream” showing clients how to automate builds and deployments on AWS. A work stream is basically a smaller project in a larger implementation. I was a mid level (L5) “Cloud Application Architect” supposedly specializing in cloud architecture + application development. But it soon became DevOps + a few Python scripts. That means I started doing even less development and became hyper focused on one or two specific niches
I worked at a shit show of a third party cloud consulting company for a year doing the same thing and now I work as a “staff software architect” at a much better third party consulting company.
I come into a project right after sales and validate the business requirements, current state, desired future state and then work with the client to propose a high level technical design and implementation plan. We as a company get paid for giving the client an “assessment”. They can either take it and run with it or have us do the work.
At this phase, I have to have a broad enough understanding of the AWS ecosystem to know what questions to ask and how to implement what they need in broad strokes and ask the subject matter experts at our company in areas that are not my strong points.
In other words, I don’t need to be the best developer, data analysis, cloud engineer, etc. I just have to know the specialties well enough to talk the talk.
Part of the assessment is breaking down the projects into “work streams” - sub projects based on specialties. If the client wants us to do the work, I then turn into a tech lead and assign the work streams to “architects” who are the hands on specialists. I for the most part defer to their technical expertise and they are responsible for leading their work streams and working with the client to make sure their work stream is done. My job is to coordinate the architects, client, sales and project managers.
My hands on skills may not be as sharp as they were. But I spend my down time learning and staying abreast of industry trends. I use getting certifications mostly as a guided curriculum to force me to keep learning. It’s not for resume building.
The next logical question is what happens if I need to work as a hands on software developer or God forbid a “cloud engineer”? I have a year’s worth of expenses in the bank aside from retirement savings to give me the runway to get interview ready.
I'm on the fence about the certification learning approach you mentioned - not sure if it would work the same way for me, but it's interesting to hear how you used it.
Your point about building financial runway is incredibly helpful - definitely something I'll keep in mind when planning long-term career moves.
Thanks again for sharing your insights and perspective!
I’m honestly not sure I am the “expert” anymore. The different specialties within AWS are so varied, no one can be an expert at everything. Any of the specialist “architects” that work streams get assigned to when I lead a project are probably better than I am at their specialty. My knowledge is wider than most. But not deep. Someone needs to be deep to get the job done.
If I had to down level in responsibilities to be hands on within any specific area of technology, it would take me a few months to be competitive.