What is means to be an Architect vs Engineer in IT?¶

In the world today the role you play, and the title given to that role can mean a lot. It can also cause confusion, especially what a person does in the roles can overlap…. and this happens quite a bit in the IT world.

Recently, a question was posed to me: “ What is the difference between the roles of Chief Architect and Chief Engineer in our project?”

This is a very good question. There is no really good answer because it depends on the scope and scale of the project, the skills of the person, how much people are “shepherded” to be “T” shaped, etc… ( For clarification “T” shaped means having a set of broad skills, but deep in some areas. It’s somewhat of an older term in my view because today we need to be “M” shaped… broad and deep in multiple areas).

Anyway, I digress. When providing a point of view on a topic like “architect” vs. “engineer” I find it can be helpful to use an analogy that one can “latch” onto.  Let’s look at the 2 roles relative to our homes/apartments and the communities we live in.  

An Architect can be thought of as focusing “inward” and “outward”.  In regards to “inward” focus. The architect typically sets the vision for the house, how will will look, the flow plan, the flow of traffic within the house, and how it will support the families needs.  The architect also must consider how the house will sit on the lot, relate to the neighborhood, and integrate with the community.  This integration comes often comes in the form of physical interconnections with the community infrastructure and various systems that supply services to the house, and that the house consumes.  

The Engineer ( aka construction engineer )  is focused on taking the blueprints of the architect and making them real. This typically means the engineer is handling all sorts of detailed decisions related to the construction of the framing, installation of utilities, windows, etc.  Often times these decisions are not reflected on the blueprint but come from best practices and standards that need to be followed.  Often the Engineer needs to resolve questions from the crew of how best to raise a wall so it doesn’t fall on them,  sequence the flow of work so they don’t build a room without a door [ funny story.. I’ve done that ] ,  and generally guide the day to day construction.   

So you can see the 2 roles are critical and in order to properly complete the house, or an IT project. The roles may be played by different people, or one person wearing multiple hats. Both roles, however, are critical in the world of IT, and the world of construction.