Like so many words in software development today, the term “architect” has become vague and overloaded. A quick survey of open architect roles along with their requirements and job descriptions underscores the diversity (and often incompatibility) of existing definitions. For some, rightly or wrongly, an architect is primarily a kind of super-developer (a senior developer++, if you will) responsible for the patterns and conventions adopted by the rest of the team. For others, an architect is just a cloud platform expert. There are enterprise architects, solution architects, system architects, and application architects, to name but a few. Many more definitions and variations exist in the wild. Some define the scope of an individual’s contributions; others define the area of expertise within which the individual must specialize. This muddies the waters surrounding expectations of the role and may lead to impostor syndrome as it is easy to find a variety of “architect” jobs or positions that you or I am yet seemingly unqualified for.