Life in the Ivory Tower: Confessions of a Former Developer Who Turned Into an Architect

Up until a couple of years ago, I was riding the waves of the latest technologies, shipping code, and mocking the "suits" who spent their days writing documentation that was never read. But then, the unthinkable happened. I joined a new organization and transitioned to the dark side. I became one of them: an Enterprise Architect. Or as I like to call myself: a fake enterprise architect.

I quickly found out that my new reality meant dealing with consultants pitching one-shot solutions as the ultimate silver bullet (pun intended), and uncovering the psychology of IT by learning why technical decisions are rarely about technology. At the same time, I wanted to stay in touch with the real world where frameworks evolve and pipelines run. But how on earth do you find the time for that?

This talk is a transparent look inside my shiny new office, commonly known as the Ivory Tower. Whether you're a developer trying to challenge corporate IT decisions, an architect struggling to explain them, or you just want to make fun of enterprise architects (the real ones, that is): this session is for a broad audience, sharing lessons learned trying to bridge the gap between two worlds that should never be disconnected.

Expect to walk away with:

• Tips on how to keep your technical skills alive while moving up the corporate ladder
• A look into the psychology behind IT decision-making and why it's never just about the code
• How to foster real collaboration and break down the walls of the Ivory Tower