 Well, good morning everyone and welcome to this first talk on the Saturday morning Today we're gonna talk about technical architect role a career path for some developers So technical architect who heard about this before like the role Yeah. Yeah. Oh nice so that's obviously a Name that you've encountered if you are working in the development industry But do you really know what that means do you really know what they do? Well today we're going to explore and challenge the mysteries and Serotypes about TAS. Let's go So first of all a big thank you to the Drupal North Organizers and all the people that are making who are making this possible and thank you to the sponsor So today Here here is what our journey is going to look like I'm going to introduce briefly myself and therefore I'm going to give you context of The talk and then I'm going to talk about what's a TA up there for I also collected some testimonials from TAS and Then we we're going to see how can one become a TA if he or she wants to Then we we're gonna draw a quick conclusion and we're gonna have some time for some question and answer All right. So quickly How about me? My name is Justine. I am a web developer from Belgium I've been working with Drupal for five years now. I started with Drupal 7 So I'm not like that old I moved to Toronto two years ago and Since then I started to attend a lot of events in the in the community So I'm often going to the Drupal TO meet-ups for those who are from Toronto. Maybe, you know that meet-up I Try to Go to the to all the Drupal's Prince weekends where I met some amazing guys I Also attended the Drupal North Ottawa last year and my very first Drupal con in Nashville this year It's amazing. I really love this community and that's why I'm here today to give a little bit Back right? So yeah, don't hesitate to come and talk to me. I am at the therefore booth upstairs You can come and talk about Drupal or I don't know travels cats Belgian chocolate TV shows whatever we can talk about everything So I am currently working at therefore therefore is a digital agency and we are specialized in UX strategy UI design content strategy and content architecture and We are working specifically with open source Technology like Drupal we are and established Since 2005 and our headquarters are in Toronto Liberty Village We are currently 21 employees, but we keep growing and we are always looking for new talents to hire so If you're interested don't hesitate come and talk to me And Also, I want to say thank you for to therefore for being one of the Drupal North sponsor and also sponsoring The great night yesterday at the regular Thank you So the context of this talk well, I was Just telling you that Therefore is growing constantly. So that's exactly the context growth I've been like experiencing it for two years now at therefore We are getting more clients bigger Projects and we are constantly hiring people new talent. The team is growing So at some point We were like, okay. I think we need like something, you know an additional layer of management leadership That would be like somewhere in the intersection of the development teams the project management and the greater business vision and That's when we introduced The technical art architect role in the landscape So just a quick disclaimer here because before we go further I am not a TA I Am just a developer and I was Very curious about this new role that appeared in the in the landscape at therefore so I wanted to do some research myself about that and I've been playing the journalist so I Was just thinking okay, maybe I can share my research with you guys Maybe it's interesting, but I am not a TA. It's not gonna be Like experience feedback talk, right? Also another disclaimer I During my research. I encountered many many names for this role like leadership management technical role Some people are talking about I don't know solution architects Senior engineers senior developer tech lead I don't know. I have found many many names. So let's not argue about How this is called like I'm just talking today about what's a TA at therefore So that being said, let's move on to the heart of the matter What's a TA at therefore well in very short A TA at therefore is a developer who is responsible for leading a development team What does that mean? So that means that the TA is going to be responsible for the technical approach But also all the human side of the team They are bringing a unique blend of management skill Leadership skills within the technical context of the development team as we know it Okay, so what do they do exactly? Well, I can tell you that they are Switching hats a lot. So let's expand a little bit Every every aspect of the role So as the name tells it all Csr architects What does that mean so they will be responsible For all the technical decision for like The the technologies that are going to be used Like in the scope of a project or company-wide we are asking them for their advice and their opinion They also need to make sure The the project the the applicant the application architecture is going to fit the business needs Fit the business need. Yes for the present, but also for the future They need to think about the application evolution and the maintain ability So when you know your client when you understand Their needs you know how the application may evolve in the future and Knowing that you can make better Decision about the thing that you are going to implement So, you know you're going to be able to Evolve the the application they are Working with the team of developer and they are making sure that everyone Understand The broader architecture of the project they establish with them and they validate their understanding and as they learn as the developer are like solving problems and Understanding more and more While they are working on the project. Well, sometimes architects can say okay We will adjust because now we know this and we will adjust the architecture the logic On the other end they also Enforcing like making sure that everyone is respecting the standards and the processes of the company So the productivity is boosted and Forces the standards and processes, but they need to stay open To innovation right it's not just like this and we don't try anything else and no They need to be able to to say okay This time we can try a new tool and see how it goes and like experiment a little bit and stay open to Changes if it's good for the productivity And finally they are responsible of the overall code-based quality of the project and the documentation Which no one likes but it has to be there right so It's very important to make sure it's there TS also manage people. So as I said Besides the technical part of the job. There is a big human side of the job and as developer We spend most of the time coding right it's us the computer and We code and yeah, we are reading about new new tools and new technologies that could like solve our problem more efficiently but the other people It's not really our problem right we can say okay, not my problem. I'm focusing on my task on my code and I'm not really caring about My teammates but the TAs is leading the team so is responsible to manage and to deal with people The people in the team in the development team that means they are technical but also he's dealing with people Outside the development team that means sometimes most of the time non-technical people So to be able to lead a team efficiently they need to be able to give and receive feedback from everybody Which is not always easy and they will They will need to help Everyone in the team develop their own learning path and they need to like drive them To that direction right This these like human leadership mentorship skills It's not something as developer we are Prepared for right. We don't really train those skills and build up those skills on a daily basis So that's something that They need to like learn So as I just said TAs mentor and support their developers grow A TA can measure is Efficiency by measuring the efficiency of his team and How can you make a team better well you You can make Each individual in the team better and it's gonna be it's gonna make automatically the team better, right? So how how do we do that? You need to spend time you need to find the time to to spend with everyone and Understand their background the their strength their interest and their goal. What what do they want to do? What do they want to become? So knowing that they have like a better idea of How everybody can work together as a team and be efficient That also means sometimes managing conflicts, right? because Well people are people you cannot like Make two people be friends or something. So sometimes You have to manage conflicts and yeah, and some some days someone can feel like a bit less I don't know efficient something in their private life is not going so well So it has like an impact on the team. So everything Like related to to manage like people The TA needs to to to take care of and and manage They also need to give everybody the opportunity to take risk and and not like Tell everyone okay, you do that you do like this. No, please take risk try to learn and try to grow in the direction that you like to and I'll be there to help you and to Provide the the assistance if you need so They already have a lot on on their plate, right? So obviously TAs need to organize their their time They have so much to do and they are involved in So many levels of the organization of the project process That they they have to deal with a lot of interruption When you are working, I don't know in the same office everyone well someone can just walk to you with a question or Asking for assistance and and you are interrupted right you need to stop what you're doing focus on the person and okay like shift your your attention shift your focus and You have to deal a lot with interruption when you're a TA So it is It is very important that the TAs Manage their time efficiently They need to stay in control of the the workload because they have so much to do and they are So often interrupted by people that they absolutely need to find some strategies to be able to stay in control so That means for example strategy would be okay three hours per day I will Isolate myself in a room alone and I will work on my task I will focus and I won't be interrupted. That's that can be a strategy or I don't know I will start earlier than everybody So during I don't know two hours in the morning I know that no one is going to be there to ask me a question and I can focus on my work And then the rest of the time I can be available to help and to assist the team So that's that's something just a small story for me. I Cannot do that. This is something as a developer so not involved on all the levels of the project if a colleague Like turn and ask me a question. I cannot say okay. No, I don't have time right now I'm busy. Please. Shoot me a message on Slack or something I will I will help you when I when I can no I drop everything I'm doing and I'm like focusing on the person trying to help and Once it's done. I'm trying to refocus on my task and I'm like What the hell was I doing? I don't remember and it takes me Probably up to five minutes to I Don't know anymore. What okay So that's something me if I needed to if I wanted to become like build up those skills to become a TA This is obviously something I would need to work on for sure. I I'm a people pleaser and I cannot say no That's a big problem Yeah, I don't know if you if some of you are in this. Yeah, okay Yeah, this is Okay, so because they are so busy TA must absolutely delegate They cannot take all the technical tasks for them Even if they wanted to the most complicated task the one that no one's like oh my god this is gonna be a Bad task like a complex one. They would love to do it, but they don't have the time They have so much other like so many other responsibility that's required that their time and attention They cannot do everything so they need to delegate to the team. They need to be able to trust the team plus At the same time it will give every every developer the opportunity to take risk on the task To learn to grow and again The TA is going to be there to help if needed and they are going to review the code base quality They are going to review the pull request. They are going to to be there to supervise but they need to trust their team and Give them the opportunity to to take risk That's very important. I don't have my bitmoji. I'm so so disappointed. Okay He has understand the big picture as developer We are assigned with development task And we just we just solve it right we just solve the task and we don't really Try to understand how this task is going to connect with like the broader System the broader The big picture But the TA is they need to be there to give this context to the developer They need to to give them this understanding. Okay this task That's how it's going to like connect. What's what is going to impact? You need to to understand The connection with the broader system and also you need to understand the the deployment environment within Which the the project is living? so TAs are responsible to to Give this understanding to their team TAs know the business So a TA is obviously going to be efficient By coordinating communicating with technical people their team But non-technical people as I said earlier That means communicating with Project manager marketing clients, I don't know they can talk about the project scope like the The carrier path. Okay. I have developers in my team. That's what they would like to do That's what they would like to like tend to okay, so they need to to be able to communicate and Translate the technical language the technical Context that we are using in the development team. They need to be able to translate it to play in language To be able to communicate with non-technical people. That's not something everyone can naturally do. I Don't think I can do it That's something yeah, that's that's something you need to build up for sure make Making everyone understand the technical language and vocabulary Okay now I I ask Two TAs are therefore to answer a few questions and they kindly accepted so I'm gonna ask some question to Clemont who is here today Technical architect at therefore he's been in the company for five years now and he was Initially hired as a developer and is now a TA and the other person is Richard Richard has been hired like a few months ago as a TA and He's working remotely from Montreal so that's kind of two different profile and That's too interesting way to see the TA role and How they manage to be TA at therefore? So Clemont You have been a part of therefore team for more than five years What was your evolution within the company during during all these years and how did you become a TA? So Clemont says I'm officially started. I officially started out there for in 2013 and I was like as a web developer. I Need to click At the time therefore was still a small company and there was no real like Hierarchy, right Over the years, I naturally became a technical leader for the bigger project. So that was like a natural He took naturally the lead on the bigger project, right? and When we started like to get bigger client and bigger project and that we redesigned the internal Organization we introduced this tier role a few few months ago Well, it was actually logical that I became a I became a TA and It's it's yeah, just a natural evolution. We were all Expecting Clemont to become a TA. It was already he was actually a TA before knowing it So how important is the tier role within the team? Could you tell a difference since the role has been introduced in the landscape? Before having a TA who we would just split the development task between the developer and just work on it There was no real Thinking about the process right and then TA they bring the development the web development as Like an intellectual process The TA is more about is it's less about doing really. It's more about researching brainstorming investigating new method new tools new process more about training and organ organization wide a TA also a low a low standardization of processes the increase of the overall quality and much maturing developers talents Besides the technical expertise that you acquired as a developer What are the other skills that you had to build for the role? He says for me one of the first critical skills skill is to be able to manage your time And focus on your task and Dealing with interruption. Yeah, since I'm a TA. I'm lucky if I'm not interrupted at least once every five minutes And I suppose it's literally Yes You need to be able to refocus on your task oops Refocus on your task as quickly as possible yours only to be able to invest some time in task that Don't like that don't look important at first sight, right? Like reviewing new tools or and everything While a big deadline is coming Because apparently deadlines are always coming. There's always gonna be a deadline. So you shouldn't focus on the deadline Another skill that is needed is Negotiating with humans. Yes most of my responsibilities are in relation with humans and most of the time that means I have to negotiate with Project manager about the deadline the staffing With my developers to like make sure they follow the processes the standards that they are learning new technologies I don't know if I have no I Need to negotiate with the clients about the scope of the project. I need to Negotiate with all the TAs in the team we are talking about the tools that we we want to use like the processes and The DevOps guys, please stop breaking the server all the time. I need to negotiate with the hierarchy So Do you think that any good developer would be a good TA and why? Well, if someone wants to become a TA He or she can do it There is a will there is a way I just found this on like Google translate But yeah becoming a TA it's not like Just the title or promotion. You don't become a super developer. No, it's a total roll shift And you need to know it you you need to be aware of that Also the technical part of the job is something but like there is also the management part Of the of the job that we are not prepared for So you need to learn The rest like the human sign you need to to learn it by yourself and it's a lot of study Because becoming a TA is a lot of study, but Thankfully with the internet There are a lot of resources out there and it helps you Evolving from technical to management slash leadership role I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about the resources later so Richard Richard you recently joined the therefore team as the TA what were the challenges that you faced as a new member of the team So first of all being a virtual team makes it very challenging to be a TA because I was used To be sitting next to my developer and just like help them to find a solution now I need to be able to Take advantage of the communication tools like screen sharing voice chat and It's it's very different, right? So What would be the differences between your role as a TA up there for and the previous roles that you held in other companies? Well up there for we use a pure agile development process and It's relatively small sprints. It's two week sprints so he says this allow me to make more frequent reviews and I have like a deeper understanding of the coding style of my colleagues The maturity of the front-end developer is also helpful as I don't I don't have to worry about the theming part. I can just focus on the backend What are for you the qualities of a good TA? So Richard says the most important thing is to be closer to the people rather than the code It's not very easy You need to be able to delegate and trust people You need to be able to let your developer find their own solution and help them improve it rather than dictating Them what to do, right? But he says technical skill is still important, of course, so you need to be able to do a thorough code review You need to be able to predict the need of the clients to be able to react and You need to be able to think of solution that can evolve with we evolve with time So I wasn't that far from the truth When I got this answer So what would be your advice to the developers who would like to become a TA? Well, you need to be ambitious and let people know that you want to be a TA Show people that you are ambitious Because being a TA it's a lot of responsibilities, but most of the employers are going to Appreciate you stepping up and like taking the responsibilities other than that like experience and Like yeah working on a lot of project to to to build up your technical experience is obviously Very important so Based on that, how can one become a TA? Well, it's a little bit of a summary that We all we we said You need to build up your technical skills and knowledge, right? So technical part is obviously very important to be a TA You need to have a strong technical experience You don't need to be the best dev award-winning Top notch of your company to become a TA. No, you need to be good enough so your colleagues your teammates respect you and Respect your technical choice You also need to acquire a Complementary sets of key of skills which is leadership slash management slash mentoring That we are not building up as developers so leadership communication supportiveness ability to understand the big picture the human side of the job Communicating with technical non-technical that's stuff that don't naturally come For everybody, right? So you need to acquire those skills and For that, of course a lot of useful resources Exists on the internet leadership and mentoring skills Like resources you have like of course on the internet a lot of articles videos I found some books I put a youth like a useful list of resources a list of useful resource On my blog article on therefore the CA slash blog you can find the resources there Okay, so now Maybe you are not sure yet if you want to become a TA or not Let's take the test together Let's start there do you love coding if yes, okay you love coding, but do you love humans? Yes, okay, do you love studying? Yes, okay, you can become an expert. No Okay, you you love coding Don't love I I Don't know what I did. I'll probably switch those two I'm sorry. If you love putting if you love humans and if you love standard You can become a TA. That's a good like Career path for you if you don't love standard You can become a world-class developer If you know if you don't love coding, okay, do you love humans? Yes Okay, do you love riding a bicycle except that the bicycle is on fire You're on fire. Everything's on fire and you are in hell That's your thing. Okay, you can become a project manager or strategy And if you don't if you don't like well Just try again because you have to obviously make a choice at some point You have to love something otherwise It's very sad So I hope he's going to to help you figure out the the career evolution for you Okay, now Are there any TAs in the room? Yeah, we know Okay, I'd like to have like an explanation for that Like the Newly, okay, so if you don't mind I would like to have Maybe your opinion about this This talk well that all the information that I just shared and as a new newly like fresh TA would you have any anything to to say like to developers Who'd like maybe to think about becoming a TA? and Yeah Nature Okay, did you have any like Were were there any like challenges for you when when you became a TA something that you were not really expecting And and you had like for example to build ups like some skills and you Yeah, the time management thing is a huge thing just because again getting pulled in lots of different directions I think some of the project management Okay Focusing on All right, thanks Anyone Who would like to share like I don't know a tip or something? Anyway, any other Yeah, we need to hurry a little bit I guess So Is there any developer in the room and maybe who would like to Be interested in in a TA like career path. Is that some something that interests you? maybe Maybe not Did you guys learn something yesterday that's yesterday today that you you didn't really know about and it and lighted some something I Okay Okay Grab On top of the rule or the top of the responsibilities that you have Is that the case or generally? I mean generally, I don't know. I know that out there for like the DevOps Part like the DevOps Yeah And make sure that But again, this is up there for right Yeah Yeah Okay, thank you guys for sharing Let's draw a conclusion then So as intermediate or senior developer you may reach a point in your career Where are you asking yourself about the possibilities of evolution within your company? You read if you realize that You care and value the people as much as you care and value the code you are writing If you want to add more value across the company and if you truly want to help other people Well, the technical architect may be an attractive way Forward for you and I hope this presentation gave you a better idea of the TA role and its Responsibility and that it provided some direction for you to build new skills and Support your career path any question all right quickly just a reminder again if you have like a unique challenge for our team at therefore just please Come and talk to us At the booth or shoot us an email On the Toronto at therefore the TA email address Don't forget Yeah, to visit our booth because you can register and try to win an Amazon Leco spot Also, don't forget to check my blog article about TAs on Therefore the TA slash blog and you will see like a list of useful resource That I talk today You can also check out our case study on Drupal.org if you can remember this quite long URL and Thank you everybody