Solutions Architect learning path: everything to study, topic by topic

Eliciting, documenting, and validating functional requirements using use cases, user stories, and acceptance criteria

Defining quality attributes: performance, availability, reliability, maintainability, and security constraints

Identifying technical, business, regulatory, and organizational constraints that shape architecture decisions

Identifying stakeholders, understanding their concerns, and mapping influence and interest to drive architecture communication strategies

Structured architecture documentation using the C4 model, architecture decision records (ADRs), and diagram tooling for effective communication

REST, GraphQL, gRPC design principles, versioning strategies, and API gateway patterns

Message queues, event buses, pub/sub patterns, event sourcing, and CQRS for system integration

Designing data movement between systems including ETL, CDC, data replication, and synchronization patterns

OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, JWT, API key management, and federated identity patterns

Applying EIP patterns: content-based routing, aggregators, splitters, correlation IDs, and saga orchestration

Designing networks and systems with zero trust principles: verify explicitly, least privilege, assume breach

Identity and access management architecture: RBAC, ABAC, policy engines, and privilege escalation prevention

Encryption at rest and in transit, key management, HSMs, envelope encryption, and certificate management

HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, GDPR, and FedRAMP compliance architecture and audit readiness

Forecasting resource needs, sizing infrastructure, and planning for growth with quantitative models

Multi-layer caching: CDN, application cache, database cache, cache invalidation patterns, and consistency trade-offs

L4/L7 load balancing, algorithms, health checks, session affinity, global load balancing, and failover strategies

Vertical vs horizontal scaling, read replicas, sharding strategies, connection pooling, and NewSQL approaches

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud design, portability patterns, vendor lock-in mitigation, and cross-cloud networking

Function-as-a-service architectures, event-driven serverless, cold start mitigation, and serverless anti-patterns

Container orchestration, Kubernetes architecture, service mesh, and container security patterns

Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi patterns, state management, module design, and GitOps workflows

FinOps practices, reserved vs on-demand vs spot, right-sizing, cost allocation, and architectural cost trade-offs

Architectural patterns for integrating AI/ML capabilities: LLM integration, RAG pipelines, embedding strategies, AI guardrails, model serving, and prompt engineering at the architecture level

Architecture Development Method (ADM), enterprise continuum, architecture building blocks, and capability mapping

Architecture governance boards, decision records, fitness functions, and compliance monitoring for enterprise systems

Technology evaluation, adoption lifecycle, build vs buy analysis, and managing technology portfolio risk

The 7 Rs of migration, strangler fig pattern, big bang vs phased migration, data migration strategies, and cutover planning

Strategic and tactical DDD patterns: bounded contexts, aggregates, context mapping, ubiquitous language, domain events, and anti-corruption layers for complex domains

Collaborative domain discovery workshops using event storming to identify domain events, commands, aggregates, bounded contexts, and process hotspots

Defining and implementing automated architecture fitness functions to objectively measure and enforce architectural characteristics

Designing systems that safely evolve over time using guided change, incremental migration, and architecture runway

Systematically measuring, prioritizing, and governing technical debt at organizational scale

Establishing ADR practices across multiple teams: templates, tooling, governance, and architectural knowledge management