Being an Architect is a bit different at each IT company. But what does it really mean to be one at Aliz? In this blog post, we'll explore just that: the two specializations available, and the unique challenges and opportunities these roles entail.
Our Architects are lead engineers who possess either highly specialized or broad knowledge in their field. However, they go far beyond mere technical implementation. They embrace leadership, are essential in aligning the engineering organization with our company’s strategy, and take responsibility not only for their own work but also for their entire project team’s.
They are trailblazers who choose to have a greater impact, often leading the way forward. As a result, they are prepared to navigate uncertainty, sometimes facing tasks that are not well-defined. By thinking outside the box compared to other players in our industry, they create exceptional added value for both our clients and Aliz.
Ultimately, their success is measured by the trust they build with our clients and Google Cloud, ensuring that Aliz is seen as a partner of true expertise.
No matter their specialization (more on that later 😉), Architects at Aliz are true Swiss Army knives of engineering, who spend about equal time on hands-on implementation, pre-sales, and being a tech lead. These are the tasks and responsibilities they are likely to take on:
However, not all Architects may be fond of all three of these responsibilities (hands-on implementation, pre-sales, being a tech lead). At Aliz, we believe in shaping the role to fit the individual, rather than forcing the individual to fit the role. Enter: Architect specializations.
We currently have two specializations for our Architects: Delivery and Solution. Truth be told, all of our current Architects are generalists who can handle tasks across both specializations, but each of them has a preference for the specialization that better matches their skills, and they are allocated tasks and projects accordingly. By the way, this is true for our Senior Engineers as well.
But what’s the difference between a Delivery and a Solution Architect?
This is a project-focused specialization which means:
This, on the other hand, is a (pre-)sales-focused specialization, which involves:
With great (tech) prowess, comes great responsibility, which translates into some challenges our Architects commonly face.
Being an Architect entails a good deal of context switches: in one day you may work on your projects, help the work of the recruitment team with checking homeworks or conducting an interview, prepare for a client meeting, mentor a junior engineer, or well, help provide input for a blog post like this. Being able to handle these requires a healthy amount of self-management, and being able to say ‘no’, when necessary. Partaking in the above usually results in less hands-on work, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea either.
Also, being one of the most knowledgeable engineers in the organization can sometimes be difficult - you can, of course, always ask for help from your colleagues or management, but in most cases, especially when faced with new tech, you will be the one leading the way, picking up the subject matter quickly, and sharing that knowledge with the others.
Finally, even our veteran Architects have highlighted that truly understanding client needs, and based on that, providing accurate estimates for time and cost necessary, is one of those skills you can never really stop developing.
As challenging as it can be sometimes to be an Architect, it is equally rewarding: great responsibility leads to greater impact.
Becoming an Architect can be a transformative step in our engineers’ careers, who find that purely technical challenges no longer push their boundaries. We don't pressure anyone to take this step—it’s something that should feel like a natural progression in their professional journey.
As an Architect at Aliz, you enjoy immense creative freedom, solving complex technical issues in your own way. You are exposed to a variety of challenges, ensuring that you remain engaged. There’s always something new to learn, fueling your continuous development.
Most importantly, you'll witness your ideas take shape and see how your contributions directly and tangibly influence the success of our projects, and by extension, the future of Aliz.
We aim to deliver tomorrow’s technology today, which would simply not be possible without our Architects. 🙌
If you are thinking about joining us as an Architect, you may wonder about the specifics. While these are always detailed in the Job Description of the given role, one thing is constant: we are a Google Cloud Partner company, and as such, we live and breathe GCP.
Although a deep technical expertise in Google Cloud is not a strong requirement when applying in most cases, we are looking for future colleagues who are willing to commit to getting up-to-speed on GCP in their first six months. At the same time, since we also have data warehouse migration projects, for instance, multi-cloud experience, or experience with AWS or Azure is always very welcome.
Have you never really led a team before or have no pre-sales experience? No worries! As long as you have strong technical skills, are open to these responsibilities, and have the basic affinity necessary to pursue them, you can join us as a senior engineer. We’ll take your goals seriously and provide opportunities to become an Architect at Aliz.
If you’d like to hear directly from some of our Architects, you can read Csabi Kassai’s blog post here, on his professional journey at Aliz, or Ármin Scipiades’ thoughts on how we do code review.
Here are our current Architect positions, if you are ready to join the team:
Hungary:
Indonesia:
In case you are reading this blog post in the distant future in a galaxy far, far away, and the above positions are no longer open, don’t you worry! Check out our career page with all our open positions here.
