Careers in SOA

As the erstwhile EAI jobs become SOA jobs, it’s interesting to see how many dimensions are there to this job and how to enhance one's skill to be on top of it.

Technical (Type 1-4) - It is also possible that one person might have to be involved in all these types (also to be occupied through-out the project life-cycle), so one has to prepare for it. Also some of the work is product specific roles. By the way, learning the technology might not guarantee success, as they say attitude is the key :)

Work-Type1- This goes to the folks good in linux/unix, mostly the unix admin or dba - they can help in installing all the software (linux, database, app servers, jdk, etc.), RAC install, DR setup, backup activities, code migration, system upgrades, applying patches. These people can grow to be Infrastructure/Data Architects or Cloud Architects :)

Work-Type2- This goes to folks good in JVM, App Server, SOA Server, product architecture, call them 'Specialists' - they can configure the SOA/App servers, clusters, tune them as required, monitor system health, read log file, create SRs, finding patches, system sizing, create solutions for a product stack etc. These people can grow to be Technical/Solution Architects.

Work-Type3- This goes to the folks good in Java, XSLT, JMS, EJBs, transactions, SQL, PL/SQL, BPEL API, Adapters, they are the Developers - (Here I am not including the skills which are more primary in a E2.0 space including JSF, Spring, Hibernate, Struts etc., however a Developer may have to work on some of these if the project demands) . This group can grow to be Application/Solution Architects.

Work-Type4- Lets say this is the group of Architects, who take care governance aspects of the organization, including documentations as per Enterprise standards, coming up with the physical/logical architectures, enterprise security, hardware provisioning, roadmaps, big picture etc. This group is the Enterprise Architects.

Work-Type5- This is the group of project managers, sponsors who take care of planning, budgeting/financials, status tracking, business users reporting etc. This group is the Managers/Leaders of organizations.

I have not included the sales, testing, business analyst, training roles in these categories. Also assumed all role types know SOA and its principles.