Software architects create the technical design and the functional model of a software system, based on functional specifications. They also design the architecture of the system or different modules and components related to the business’ or customer requirements, technical platform, computer language or development environment.
Excludes people performing programming and coding activities.
ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:
the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.
These occupations require some skills and knowledge of software architect. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of software architect with a significant experience and/or extensive training.
This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of software architect.
Systems development life-cycle: The sequence of steps, such as planning, creating, testing and deploying and the models for the development and life-cycle management of a system. Object-oriented modelling: The object-oriented paradigm, which is based on classes, objects, methods and interfaces and their application in software design and analysis, programming organisation and techniques. Unified modelling language: The general-purpose modelling language used in software development to offer a standard visualisation of system designs. Business process modelling: The tools, methods and notations such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), used to describe and analyse the characteristics of a business process and model its further development. Tools for software configuration management: The software programs to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit, such as CVS, ClearCase, Subversion, GIT and TortoiseSVN perform this management.
These skills are necessary for the role of software architect.
Provide technical documentation: Prepare documentation for existing and upcoming products or services, describing their functionality and composition in such a way that it is understandable for a wide audience without technical background and compliant with defined requirements and standards. Keep documentation up to date. Align software with system architectures: Put system design and technical specifications in line with software architecture in order to ensure the integration and interoperability between components of the system. Design process: Identify the workflow and resource requirements for a particular process, using a variety of tools such as process simulation software, flowcharting and scale models. Create software design: Transpose a series of requirements into a clear and organised software design. Provide cost benefit analysis reports: Prepare, compile and communicate reports with broken down cost analysis on the proposal and budget plans of the company. Analyse the financial or social costs and benefits of a project or investment in advance over a given period of time. Collect customer feedback on applications: Gather a response and analyse data from customers to identify requests or problems in order to improve applications and overall customer satisfaction. Oversee development of software: Organise, plan and supervise the development of the applications and frameworks in order to create a software product, from the earliest planning stages to the final product test. Create flowchart diagram: Compose a diagram that illustrates systematic progress through a procedure or system using connecting lines and a set of symbols. Analyse business requirements: Study clients’ needs and expectations for a product or service in order to identify and resolve inconsistencies and possible disagreements of involved stakeholders. Define technical requirements: Specify technical properties of goods, materials, methods, processes, services, systems, software and functionalities by identifying and responding to the particular needs that are to be satisfied according to customer requirements. Build business relationships: Establish a positive, long-term relationship between organisations and interested third parties such as suppliers, distributors, shareholders and other stakeholders in order to inform them of the organisation and its objectives. Analyse software specifications: Assess the specifications of a software product or system to be developed by identifying functional and non-functional requirements, constraints and possible sets of use cases which illustrate interactions between the software and its users. Define software architecture: Create and document the structure of software products including components, coupling and interfaces. Ensure feasibility, functionality and compatibility with existing platforms.
This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of software architect. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
Haskell: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Haskell. Erlang: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Erlang. Sas language: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in SAS language. Agile project management: The agile project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools. Ruby (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Ruby. Common lisp: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Common Lisp. Apache maven: The tool Apache Maven is a software program to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit of software during its development and maintenance. Lisp: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Lisp. Visual studio .net: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Visual Basic. Java (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Java. Computer programming: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms (e.g. object oriented programming, functional programming) and of programming languages. Prolog (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Prolog. Openedge advanced business language: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in OpenEdge Advanced Business Language. Javascript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in JavaScript. Perl: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Perl. Smalltalk (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Smalltalk. Php: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in PHP. Assembly (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Assembly. C#: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in C#. R: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in R. Groovy: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Groovy. Asp.net: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ASP.NET. Apl: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in APL. Puppet (tools for software configuration management): The tool Puppet is a software program to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit. Web programming: The programming paradigm that is based on combining markup (which adds context and structure to text) and other web programming code, such as AJAX, javascript and PHP, in order to carry out appropriate actions and visualise the content. Staf: The tool STAF is a software program to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit. Ansible: The tool Ansible is a software program to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit. Task algorithmisation: The techniques to convert unstructured descriptions of a process into step-by-step sequence of actions of a finite number of steps. Ict security legislation: The set of legislative rules that safeguards information technology, ICT networks and computer systems and legal consequences which result from their misuse. Regulated measures include firewalls, intrusion detection, anti-virus software and encryption. Microsoft visual c++: The computer program Visual C++ is a suite of software development tools for writing programs, such as compiler, debugger, code editor, code highlights, packaged in a unified user interface. It is developed by the software company Microsoft. Typescript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in TypeScript. Coffeescript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in CoffeeScript. Objective-c: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Objective-C. Ml (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ML. Ajax: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in AJAX. C++: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in C++. Sap r3: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in SAP R3. Swift (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Swift. Ict project management methodologies: The methodologies or models for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals, such methodologies are Waterfall, Incremental, V-Model, Scrum or Agile and using project management ICT tools. Matlab: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in MATLAB. Salt (tools for software configuration management): The tool Salt is a software program to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit. Python (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Python. Systems theory: The principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all hierarchical levels, which describe the system’s internal organisation, its mechanisms of maintaining identity and stability and achieving adaptation and self-regulation and its dependencies and interaction with the environment. Scratch (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Scratch. Process-based management: The process-based management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools. Lean project management: The lean project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools. Vbscript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in VBScript. Cobol: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in COBOL. Pascal (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Pascal. Abap: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ABAP. Jenkins (tools for software configuration management): The tool Jenkins is a software program to perform configuration identification, control, status accounting and audit of software during its development and maintenance. Scala: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Scala.
These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of software architect. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
Use markup languages: Utilise computer languages that are syntactically distinguishable from the text to add annotations to a document, specify layout and process types of documents such as HTML. Utilise computer-aided software engineering tools: Use software tools (CASE) to support the development lifecycle, design and implementation of software and applications of high-quality that can be easily maintained. Perform risk analysis: Identify and assess factors that may jeopardise the success of a project or threaten the organisation’s functioning. Implement procedures to avoid or minimise their impact. Provide ict consulting advice: Advise on appropriate solutions in the field of ICT by selecting alternatives and optimising decisions while taking into account potential risks, benefits and overall impact to professional customers. Manage staff: Manage employees and subordinates, working in a team or individually, to maximise their performance and contribution. Schedule their work and activities, give instructions, motivate and direct the workers to meet the company objectives. Monitor and measure how an employee undertakes their responsibilities and how well these activities are executed. Identify areas for improvement and make suggestions to achieve this. Lead a group of people to help them achieve goals and maintain an effective working relationship among staff. Design database scheme: Draft a database scheme by following the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) rules in order to create a logically arranged group of objects such as tables, columns and processes. Perform ict troubleshooting: Identify problems with servers, desktops, printers, networks, and remote access, and perform actions which solve the problems. Develop software prototype: Create a first incomplete or preliminary version of a piece of software application to simulate some specific aspects of the final product. Apply ict systems theory: Implement principles of ICT systems theory in order to explain and document system characteristics that can be applied universally to other systems Perform resource planning: Estimate the expected input in terms of time, human and financial resources necessary to achieve the project objectives. Implement data warehousing techniques: Apply models and tools such as online analytical processing (OLAP) and Online transaction processing (OLTP), to integrate structured or unstructured data from sources, in order to create a central depository of historical and current data.
