SIGIA-L Mail Archives: RE: SIGIA-L: Is Rome burning? Unreasona
RE: SIGIA-L: Is Rome burning? Unreasonable expectations and the fate of IA as independent...
From: Lyle_Kantrovich_at_cargill.com
Date: Thu Jan 31 2002 - 21:56:41 EST
Joe,
Actually this job description makes perfect sense to me. It's just not
specific enough.
When they say "Architect/Designer capabilities", they must mean
"systems architect or systems designer". Some companies refer to this
role as "application architect" -- this is someone who helps put a
complete system or application in place. If you've heard of "n-tier"
applications, you know that in today's systems model there are many
pieces that all have to work together to make one complete
"application". E.g. you have browser, web server, app server,
database, integration/messaging, back-end legacy systems, reporting
tools, and various middleware. A systems/application architect helps
describe what the parts are, how they interact, etc. In object
oriented development shops an an architect may blueprint (or design)
the various objects in the application code.
Here is another definition:
Application Architect
The application architect is responsible for identifying the subsystems
of the application and the interfaces between subsystems. The messaging
that occurs between subsystems requires an architecture that identifies
the information passed between subsystems and the expected returned
value(s).
Application architects working on object oriented projects identify the
classes that belong within each subsystem at a high level. They begin
creating the class hierarchies that are further detailed as interactive
development continues.
Here's a different kind of "architect":
Data Architect
The data architect is responsible for identifying the entities,
attributes, and relationships among entities as the logical entity
relation diagram is created and moves to a physical implementation. The
person in this role searches for appropriate ways to reuse and extend
existing entities in the database.
Titles and role labels are very inconsistent in industry...you have to
look at job duties to understand what the position really entails.
The distinction between Design and other discipline is one of my
favorite soap boxes...I'll spare you the rant. Unfortunately few
companies have "designers" that truly only do design. Many "designers"
are really in a "coder", "graphic artist", or other type of role with a
fancy sounding misnomer.
Best of luck in the job search!
Regards,
Lyle Kantrovich
User Experience Architect
Cargill
http://www.cargill.com/
Personal Web Log:
http://crocolyle.blogspot.com/
Daily commentary on usability, information architecture and web design.
-----Original Message-----
From: kathleen_at_kleininfodesign.com [mailto:kathleen_at_kleininfodesign.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 1:05 PM
To: joe_at_joelamantia.com; sigia-l_at_asis.org
Subject: RE: SIGIA-L: Is Rome burning? Unreasonable expectations and the
fate of IA as independent...
Hi
I think you're feeling the job-hunting blues. Note the job title is "web
developer." I wouldn't look to an IA to have many of these skills.
Job hunting is such a difficult task - be sure to give yourself plenty
of
mental health breaks. During a grueling hunt in the past I rewarded
myself
with visits to area museums. It saved my sanity (and gave me a better
perspective on the job hunt). - Kathleen
Klein Info Design
information architecture/project management
kathleen_at_kleininfodesign.com
www.kleininfodesign.com
206-781-2615
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sigia-l_at_asis.org [mailto:owner-sigia-l_at_asis.org]On Behalf Of
Joe Lamantia
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 8:47 AM
To: sigia-l_at_asis.org
Subject: SIGIA-L: Is Rome burning? Unreasonable expectations and the
fate of IA as independent...
All,
Here's another of the "everything in one" impossible job descriptions
that I've seen become so much more common in the past year. The awesome
combination of skill / experience requirements (Oracle 9i expert and
designer, with a CS degree?) in this gives me genuine pause.
The massive amount of work this community is engaged in to reach some
level of self-definition will all be for naught if there are few jobs
that recognize the independent value of the discipline. At this point,
I'm unfortunately too deeply engaged in my job search to recommend much
in the way of a solution, but am wondering if anyone else is beginning
to fell a sense of alarm at this?
We know that HR often synthesizes these sorts of things from ten
different lists of skills, and that any progress towards chaning that
practice will be slow and grudging at best - but we still need to
explore how to counteract the assumption that knowing a DB and
middleware langauge qualifies one to execute a complete portal interface
and functionality redesign.
Joe Lamantia
Link: http://www.hotjobs.com/cgi-bin/job-show?J__PINDEX=J129211NB
Excerpt:
<---------------------------------------
Job Description
Provide Professional Services and Technology expertise to our clients
and other NET2S teams for complex projects. Design and develop an
e-Portal platform to integrate various applications/components that
comprise the OSS/BSS infrastructure. Also revamp the intranet and design
the extranet.
Qualifications
Degree in Computer Science or Communication Technologies (BS or Master)
3+ years hands-on experience <
Excellent command of Oracle 9i products (including Oracle 9i application
server)
Strong Java/J2EE/XML/Corba Development skills
Experience in OSS/BSS environment
Architect/Designer capabilities
Involvement in the entire development of the project life cycle
Able to mentor and transfer knowledge to the customer engineering team
Leadership abilities + excellent interpersonal and communication skills
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