1) You should choose the right development application. The one that is more fit for your application. Not the one that is in vogue. Do not put your resumee first. Allways consider the technical means that you have on your disposal.

2) Do not build skycrapers if is not necesarily. Diminish the complexity if is not needed.

3) Allways communicate with your client and your team to find the fit solution for your needs.

4) Allways try to find the right ballance between server, client, programmer needs and usability, security and so on.

5) Allways seek the value of the requested features. You might end-up with with expensive solution to a non important feature.

6) As said Skyscrappers aren’t scalable. Work modular. Make releases often. You will be able to fix more quickly the bugs that might occur. Also, you will be able to anticipate the scalability issues.

7) When you are trying to provide a detailed answer to a customer, try to be as short as possible in your answer. Do not end-up with technical explications. Your client might just get start to bore after first word. He might not be a technical person. The terms like “scalability”, “optimization” might not be in his dictionary with the meaning you want to transmit.

Try to get certain datas about the project. Try to put as many questions to clarify the quantity. Answers like “many”, “soon”, “more” should not be accepted as viable options.

9) If you are a software architect and  developer in one project, you should be able to see the micro and the macro. Written specifications do not worth anything. Those are there just to help you figure out how it will end up the project. The main goal is finishing the project.

10) There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution. Each project has own tricks. You only should be able to see which you need to implement, and also, to refine the technical part to be as optimal as possible.

Last days I attended at eLiberatica 2nd edition. This participation has changed my way of thinking completely, and revolutionized a few things to me. Among these I mention that i have I decided to focus on project management. After I attended several conferences held by project managers with experience (Razvan Gliga - IBM, Ovidiu Negrean - http://www.lucrez.in/IT, Lucian Parvu - Luxoft Romania / former ITC Networks, Maria Diaconu and Alex Bolboaca - MosaicWorks / OpenAgile community ) also from a dutch PM named Jurgen Appelo ( ISM e-Company ) and a US Craftsman named Corey Haines, i have got the conclusion that is time to start a career into Project management and software architecture.

I think this is the time to make a stand for my career and myself. I will try to become the best in my branch. I know that my youthful thinking dictates me that i should start right away to work when i have a new task, but in the last time i have spent more time to think about another things like software architecture, database optimisation and many more.

The  erepublik way, and also Andru Beldie meant a turning point into my thinking, even if i haven’t noticed on the right moment. The problems treated into Erepublik project remained in my head as existential problems for any software application. Of course … “There is no one-size-fits-all sollution”, but the main problems could be same in the most of the projects. We speak here about Scalability of any level (database, storage, bandwidth, processor power and so on), application optimisation (database mostly), application complexity (how could we make the project with as less resources consumed, without make it more complex than it should be), what technologies to use (in order to have a viable alternative, without complicating things more than they are), and so on. I think those kind of problems should have a software architect. When i wake -up in the morning, and one of these come in my mind first, then i think i have a problem. Either I have some problems with my mind, either i have to become a project manager.

Lately, i wrote my own code being concerned about the impact that might have on the server, the load or other effects. I do thing way too much about servers and about my own code. As it said Corey Haines: “Write your code as if the one who will maintain it is a psychopath who knows where you live.”, well, i am really doing that. I am trying to improve my code as much as possible …

I have reasiled that, if i would become a good software architect or a project manager, i should start again to learn. This time much more than i have learned few years ago.

I will try to come in the future with more details about the technologies that i have learned or about which i have read about. It is really the time to GROW