Infrastructure Architect - job role

MitM

Hi All,

I've worked in many areas of IT over the years from virtualization admin, net engineer, security net engineer, etc. My current role is a mix of network and security.  I've also starting learning cloud. My long term goal was always to be an architect, leaning towards network architecture, but also security architecture.  At my current employer, the need does not exist for either of those.  After a discussion with leadership, a question that came up was if something like an Infrastructure Architecture role would be something that interests me.  

When I think about a title like that, I wondered if it could be similar to how some security titles are, where the role is not really what it sounds like it would be lol.  In my head, that type of role could possibly have a play in areas of networking, cloud, server, security, but not sure if that is correct?  If so, it's intriguing, as it combines all my skill sets.  If it wasn't, I wouldn't want to lose my networking or security skills. 

I'm not looking to leave my employer, so I also have to think about how that impacts me in the job market, if I were to decide to leave in the future

Any thoughts?

matt333

That sounds like a ton for one position, unless you want to work at a small company you probably would get your hands in everything you listed.

Nothing wrong with having an interest in all those areas but for a job that seems like way too much to do even at an Architect level.

MitM

thanks for the reply @matt333.  Understand your point.  I worked at what I'd call a midsize company (< 1800 employees), so we aren't big enough for a different architect in each area. 

UnixGuy

Titles in IT are all over the place, so it depends on the company. This is especially true for medium to small sized companies.

The word 'security' can mean firewalls, proxies and identity. Where in other places they call that "Network security" or "Network engineering".

Same thing with "Architect" (the most misused job title). Generally, it's expected that the Architect should have a broad experience that they can make design and (in some instances) strategic decisions. That's not always the case, the architect can end up doing project management and design documentation (seen that too).

If you want to get into those fields, I can recommend AWS/Azure architecture and then security certs. Followed by perhaps some ISACA and ISC2 certs to broaden your understanding.

Again, depending on the company, the 'security architect' can end up being just a glorified IT operations/delivery or simply a network engineers that does Visio documents.

just my 2 cents...it sounds like a rant, but I've seen all those scenarios in my time.

JoJoCal19

I actually hold the opposite view, I would be interested in that Infrastructure Architect role as opposed to even having a title of Sec/Network Architect because as stated Infrastructure generally means all of the networking, security, cloud, etc, under one umbrella. As long as you actually get the hands on all of those areas, that would be beneficial for future moves into specific architecture roles if you choose to pursue them. It could/should give you more insight into other areas such as the dev side too if they let you. But I would definitely explore that more with your management and see if in fact as the Infrastructure Architect you would get hands on with all of those areas.

MitM

@UnixGuy thanks for the reply.  I should have added, I'm good from a certification front. I have a number of network certs and CISSP.  I also have older MS certs, but I stopped renewing them.  Cloud certs are missing

@JoJoCal19 What you stated was exactly my thoughts (and hopes) on it.  From a current employer perspective, it would keep things interesting and then also allow me to grow.  Whereas, in my current role only, no chance for advancement and it's stale

DatabaseHead

UnixGuy said:

Titles in IT are all over the place, so it depends on the company. This is especially true for medium to small sized companies.

FACT  HEHE

My title is phamaceutical analyst, I am a data architect specializing in the clinical, supply chain and pharmaceutical domain.