Why Tech Depth Still Matters – Even for Senior Architects

 

There’s a common belief in the industry: “As you move up, you should focus more on strategy and less on code.”

While strategy, communication, and big-picture thinking are crucial for architects, there’s one thing I strongly believe:

Tech depth still matters. A lot.

Here are some of the reasons why:

🔹 Bad abstractions create bad systems. If you don’t understand how databases handle transactions under load or how Kafka deals with failures, you might design a system that looks good on paper—but falls apart in production.

🔹 Developers respect architects who "get it." If you can debug a tricky performance issue or explain why a specific microservices pattern is a bad fit for a project, engineers will listen to you. If you only speak in slides and diagrams, they won’t.

🔹 Tooling moves fast, but fundamentals don’t. Kubernetes, serverless, event-driven systems—these are tools. But deep knowledge of distributed systems, concurrency, and scalability will make you a great architect regardless of the tech stack.

🔹 Hands-on experience keeps you relevant. The best decisions often come from personal experience, not just theory. Even if you don’t code full-time, keeping your hands in the tech—through prototypes, reviewing PRs, or experimenting—gives you an edge.

Yes, architecture is about trade-offs, alignment, and long-term thinking. But without real technical depth, those decisions can be shallow.