Shownotes
What is a cloud architect? What does a cloud architect do that’s different from what a developer does? What skills does someone need to have to move from a role as a software developer to a role as a cloud architect?
Today we are going to talk about becoming a cloud architect. What does a cloud architect do that’s different from what a typical software developer does? Or a typical operations engineer?
Cloud architect roles are in high demand, especially given the rise in interest in cloud-native architectures and microservices-based applications. These architectures allow the creation of highly agile development teams and highly innovative businesses use cloud-native architectures to gain a competitive advantage.
And cloud architects are right at the center of this need.
Today on Modern Digital Business
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Useful Links
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- Architecting for Scale, 2nd Edition, O’Reilly Media
About Lee
Lee Atchison is a software architect, author, public speaker, and recognized thought leader on cloud computing and application modernization. His most recent book, Architecting for Scale (O’Reilly Media), is an essential resource for technical teams looking to maintain high availability and manage risk in their cloud environments. Lee has been widely quoted in multiple technology publications, including InfoWorld, Diginomica, IT Brief, Programmable Web, CIO Review, and DZone, and has been a featured speaker at events across the globe.
Take a look at Lee's many books, courses, and articles by going to leeatchison.com.
Looking to modernize your application organization?
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This episode is based in part on an article I wrote that was published in Container Journal
Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcripts
What is a cloud architect? What does it cloud
Lee Atchison:architect do that's different from what a developer does? What
Lee Atchison:skills does someone need to have in order to move from a role as
Lee Atchison:a software developer, to a role of a cloud architect? today?
Lee Atchison:We'll find out. Are you ready? Let's go.
Voiceover:This is the modern digital business podcast, the
Voiceover:technical Leaders Guide to modernizing your applications
Voiceover:and digital business. Whether you're a business technology
Voiceover:leader, or a small business innovator, keeping up with the
Voiceover:Digital Business Revolution is a must do to help make it easier
Voiceover:with actionable insights and recommendations, as well as
Voiceover:thoughtful interviews with industry experts, Lee Atchison.
Lee Atchison:Hello, and welcome to modern digital business.
Lee Atchison:Today we're going to talk about becoming a cloud architect. What
Lee Atchison:does a cloud architect do that's different from what a typical
Lee Atchison:software developer does, or a typical operations engineer,
Lee Atchison:Cloud Architect roles are in high demand, especially given
Lee Atchison:the rise in interest in cloud native architectures, and micro
Lee Atchison:service based applications. And highly innovative businesses use
Lee Atchison:cloud native architectures to gain a competitive advantage.
Lee Atchison:And Cloud architects are right at the center of this need.
Lee Atchison:Becoming a cloud native architect first involves
Lee Atchison:obviously becoming a software architect. But beyond that, a
Lee Atchison:cloud architect generally has more responsibilities than just
Lee Atchison:a standard software architect, and requires more specialized
Lee Atchison:knowledge and expertise. The modern cloud architect must
Lee Atchison:understand how building and operating applications in the
Lee Atchison:cloud differs from building and operating traditional
Lee Atchison:applications. This isn't a matter of understanding
Lee Atchison:different programming concepts. This is about understanding the
Lee Atchison:operational role of the modern application, and the role that
Lee Atchison:IT infrastructure plays in operating a modern digital
Lee Atchison:application. You may say this sounds like DevOps, and you
Lee Atchison:could in fact be right. Being a cloud architect starts by
Lee Atchison:understanding and knowing how to use DevOps principles in a
Lee Atchison:modern application. Then beyond the basic DevOps knowledge and
Lee Atchison:experience comes knowledge and experience with cloud
Lee Atchison:technologies and how to optimize their years. This involves
Lee Atchison:understanding the availability of various cloud services, and
Lee Atchison:how they can be applied to a given purpose. How do you use
Lee Atchison:cloud data storage? Which storage option is right? For
Lee Atchison:what purpose? What about cloud based scalable databases such as
Lee Atchison:DynamoDB. Understanding and leveraging the dynamic resource
Lee Atchison:capabilities of the cloud is essential for building cloud
Lee Atchison:optimized applications that are both scalable, and highly
Lee Atchison:available without excessive and expensive reserve capacity. This
Lee Atchison:is the fundamental basis of architecting any basic cloud
Lee Atchison:based application, whether it's a small one off application, or
Lee Atchison:a large enterprise grade monolith architecting a cloud
Lee Atchison:native application, however, involves more than this, and
Lee Atchison:involves understanding the concerns of building highly
Lee Atchison:modular applications using microservices that can scale the
Lee Atchison:development and operational requirements of the application,
Lee Atchison:not just the traffic utilization. A modern cloud
Lee Atchison:native application can be successfully developed and
Lee Atchison:operated by two engineers, or 2000 engineers. These
Lee Atchison:applications are highly adaptable, and responsive to
Lee Atchison:customer and business needs and requirements. They are
Lee Atchison:constantly changing, constantly improving, and constantly
Lee Atchison:performing. To build and launch cloud native applications
Lee Atchison:successfully. Cloud native architects must understand the
Lee Atchison:following number one, how to build distributed service based
Lee Atchison:applications, particularly those built with microservice based
Lee Atchison:architecture concepts. Number two, how services can operate in
Lee Atchison:a highly fluid and changing operating environment. Services
Lee Atchison:are constantly resized, adjusted, upgraded and
Lee Atchison:reconfigured, traffic is dynamically adjusted and
Lee Atchison:controlled, and applications are highly monitored and managed in
Lee Atchison:a highly distributed non centralized manner. Number
Lee Atchison:three, the role of containers and container orchestration
Lee Atchison:software such as Kubernetes in the construction and operation
Lee Atchison:of a modern application. Number four, how cloud services such as
Lee Atchison:data services, compute queuing, networking security, artificial
Lee Atchison:intelligence and machine learning can be lost leveraged
Lee Atchison:to enhance the capabilities of the cloud native application.
Lee Atchison:Number five, how network infrastructure and routing work,
Lee Atchison:and how traffic routing between services and service nodes works
Lee Atchison:in order to use cloud services effectively. Number six, the
Lee Atchison:fundamentals of cloud security, and how to build safe and secure
Lee Atchison:applications using built in cloud capabilities. Number
Lee Atchison:seven, basic service development concepts such as the 12 factor,
Lee Atchison:application, and basic service, operational and security
Lee Atchison:concepts, such as the principle of least privilege and the
Lee Atchison:principle of shared responsibility. Number eight,
Lee Atchison:how to expertly operate the cloud services for the vendors
Lee Atchison:they support, including cloud vendor specific training and
Lee Atchison:certifications. And number nine, how the cloud services being
Lee Atchison:used actually operate internally. This is critical for
Lee Atchison:knowing the strengths and weaknesses and performance
Lee Atchison:characteristics of the cloud services in various situations.
Lee Atchison:For example, can AWS lambda be used in a particular use case?
Lee Atchison:Is the distributed cloud centric database appropriate for a given
Lee Atchison:application? Or is a more traditional SQL database better
Lee Atchison:suited? Does a cloud based caching service satisfy your
Lee Atchison:performance needs? Take your career to the clouds. If you're
Lee Atchison:a software developer, or software architect, who is
Lee Atchison:considering advancing your career and becoming a cloud
Lee Atchison:native architect. The concepts we've covered in this episode
Lee Atchison:are some of the most important skills and expertise you'll need
Lee Atchison:to acquire. But the hard work can easily pay off. As
Lee Atchison:architects fluent, and building cloud native applications
Lee Atchison:effectively and efficiently are in high demand today. And they
Lee Atchison:play an essential role in all modern application development
Lee Atchison:organizations. Are you interested in learning more? Me
Lee Atchison:I suggest my newest course available on LinkedIn learning
Lee Atchison:called Cloud careers from developer to architect.
Lee Atchison:Additionally, please take a look at my new course at the address
Lee Atchison:in the academy titled basics of cloud security. Both courses are
Lee Atchison:quick and inexpensive courses that can help you on your cloud
Lee Atchison:architect journey. Thank you for tuning in to modern digital
Lee Atchison:business. This podcast exists because of the support of you my
Lee Atchison:listeners. If you enjoy what you hear that you please leave a
Lee Atchison:review on Apple podcasts, or directly on our website at
Lee Atchison:mdb.fm/reviews. If you'd like to suggest a topic for an episode,
Lee Atchison:or you're interested in becoming a guest, please contact me
Lee Atchison:directly by sending me a message at mdb.fm/contact. And if you'd
Lee Atchison:like to record a quick question or comment, click the Microphone
Lee Atchison:icon in the lower right hand corner of our website. Your
Lee Atchison:recording might be featured on a future episode. Make sure you
Lee Atchison:get every new episode when they become available. Click
Lee Atchison:subscribe in your favorite podcast player or check out our
Lee Atchison:website at
Lee Atchison:mdb.fm If you want to learn more from me to check out one of my
Lee Atchison:books, courses or articles by going to Lee atchison.com. And
Lee Atchison:all of these links are included in the show notes. Thank you for
Lee Atchison:listening and welcome to the world of the modern digital
