In the good old days, the big dog used to get the title of senior developer. Now the king is the architect. What kind of skills to you need to achieve such a job? One would think that you need a lot of experience. And you got to know how to design. However a real key skill to possess is above average communication skills.The architect needs to express ideas to people other than developers. They need to be able to figure out what decision makers in the project needs. Then they must explain things to these non tech folks. It is almost like the architect needs more business skills.
Now that I think about it some more, perhaps architecture is not the lofty position it is trumped up to being. If you do decide to go that route, try to get in front of people. It is easier to make a connection when you are face to face with your audience. That's what the architects say at least.
