I thought that it would be kind of interesting to define what a Solutions Architect is or what they do based on the knowledge I’ve gathered after about a week of learning and compare it along the way as I learn more. I understand that a Solutions Architect’s role and responsibilities may be different depending on the company or even team that they work for. In my case, I’ll be discussing loosely what they might do when working for Cloud Services.

So far here are some of the things that I’ve gathered as to what a Solutions Architect does:

• They help customers on a day-to-day basis. That’s one thing that doesn’t change with this role.
• They have to have a baseline knowledge in all cloud services but can specialize.
• Every day is very different. They have some routine tasks and customers they speak to more routinely, but for the most part things are always changing.
• They’re constantly learning. New features are released all the time and they’re responsible for being as up to date as possible.
• They work with lots of different teams to solve problems and create solutions

I want to try and keep notes on what I learn from the in-class lessons, the discussions we have and stuff that I read online. I’m really happy with what I’ve been learning so far — it’s all really interesting! And I’m also really happy to be working and learning alongside such motivated individuals. It kind of feels like I went back to school which is fun, but each day I would feel a little bit nervous or anxious. We’ve been reassured many times it’s okay to fail and I’ve failed many times before but it’s still kinda scary.

Some things that I’ve reviewed and learned about more in-depth recently:

• Cloud basics
• Networks
• Storage
• Cloud Computing
• Cloud Storage

I feel like when I talk about topics to someone and ask questions, the information sticks in my brain a little better. It’s pretty cool to talk to Nikola about general cloud topics because he actually understands what I’m talking about. Sometimes I get a bit nervous to ask a question in the chat. I found that it helps me to write it down first and then say it out loud. They usually give us enough time to ask questions by the 4th time they’ve asked “Does anyone have questions”, I can finally ask my question clearly and concisely.

Some things I still want/need to do:

• Play around in the console and work on the labs more in depth
• Make study summary sheets on what we’ve learned (should I move to making notes on the computer instead of hand-writing them? Maybe…)
• Start studying for my Cloud Practitioner Certificate
• Create Goals for the next few months (including some fitness goals to maintain a healthy lifestyle 🙂 )
• Be fearless: ask more questions!
• Maybe make some blog posts defining cloud definitions/ topics???