Question

So many buzzwords. Not sure if I need to start playing BS Bingo or not. And I’m not trying to be cynical. But I’ve heard many people with these various titles. There never seems to be a clear delineation between the three. Or there’s a lot of domain crossover between the three. Actually, another I’ve seen while looking around here on Stackoverflow has been “Solutions Architect” as well. But that one doesn’t seem to be so prevalent in other places.

There are questions here and there with vague answers. But I’d like definative answers to this. Please assume I’m still relatively new to software stuff and that I’m trying to map out a career path.

Oh, and please be gentle folks; this most definitely is not a duplicate question. Neither is it an aggregate. So kindly leave it alone. Xp

Answer 1

Like any other such term, these terms are used differently in different places, and are sometimes interchangeable. Here’s what the differences typically are:

• The Application Architect is is what many of us just call the Architect. The person responsible for the highest levels of design and scope for a particular solution/project. You’d bother using Application in the title if there were other types of architects around, and you wanted it clear that this person worries mainly about a particular application.
• The Enterprise Architect is worried
  about all of a companies solutions.
  How they rely on each other, how they
  use each other, how efficient can
  their common upkeep and improvement
  be made. He thinks about how all the solutions together support the company’s mission. Only a larger company could warrant this grandiose title. The Enterprise Architect is a big shot who meets with the CIO, CTO, and other such big shots.
• The Systems Architect might be considered to have a wider scope than the Application Architect, and less than an Enterprise Architect. This title is sometimes the exact same thing as Application Architect – big shot on a particular project. Sometimes the System part of the title cannotes a wider scope: person who duties include software but also hardware and IT, or someone worried about multiple projects.