00:00So you've decided you want to become a solutions architect, but the problem is you have no idea
00:05how to get started. Maybe you've watched a few tutorials or maybe you've even gotten yourself
00:09a certification. Now to land a cloud job, we all know what's needed. A good resume, a portfolio of
00:15projects, and real technical expertise. But trust me when I say this, the hiring bar in 2026 is
00:21completely different to when I first got hired by AWS as a solutions architect in 2021. With the
00:27rise of AI and the real risk of agents being able to replace solutions architects, we have to think
00:32completely differently. The key skill to becoming a good solutions architect is no longer just
00:38problem solving. It's about building relationships, being detail-oriented, and knowing how to leverage
00:43AI agents to your advantage. Think about it this way, AI can design an architecture, but it can't sit in
00:49a
00:49room with a skeptical business owner and earn their trust. That's where humans have the upper hand. And
00:54so in this video, I'm going to walk you through what a solutions architect is, the exact 90 day
00:59roadmap you can copy, as well as some bonus skills you can build to really stand out. By the way,
01:04a big
01:04thank you to Scribe for sponsoring a portion of this video, but more on them later. All right, let's get
01:09into it. So a solutions architect is a trusted technical advisor for companies who want to make
01:14use of cloud computing. They're responsible for mapping out the blueprint or the solution based on
01:19what the customer wants. For example, a migration from on-premises to the cloud, or a move from a
01:25traditional application to serverless. There's hundreds of different scenarios, but a solutions
01:29architect job is to pretty much act as a bridge between the business and the tech. And so what has
01:34made this skill so valuable and high paying is that it requires both technical depth and people skills,
01:40which historically has been a bit of a rare combo. Now with all that being said, we're ready to take
01:44a look
01:45at the roadmap. Month number one is to learn cloud fundamentals. Month number two is to build real
01:50world projects. And month number three is all about getting job ready and actually start applying.
01:55Ticking off everything on the list will bring you significantly closer to getting hired as a
01:59solutions architect. In fact, once you're done, you can also apply for other cloud roles since a lot of
02:04the skills overlap. So make sure you download a copy of the PDF for yourself and let's dive in.
02:09All right, month number one is all about building a proper tech foundation, starting off with AdaBurst cloud.
02:14First, create an AWS account and play around with the services and features. As you probably know,
02:20there's a free tier so you can experiment without paying any charges. Next, take this free cloud
02:25fundamentals course. It's going to give you a good introduction on cloud services. Make sure you
02:30learn all the core AWS services because that's what you're going to be working with every day as a
02:35solutions architect. After that, study the AWS SWOR architecture framework. It's kind of like a
02:40beginner's handbook for solutions architects. Once that's done, build your first cloud project
02:44with this free course. And finally, consider getting an AWS certification. Getting the AWS
02:50solutions architect associate cert is an optional step, but it does map out a pretty solid learning
02:55path for you to follow. Now, the next phase in month number one is to really understand cloud
03:00architecture and design principles. You'll need to familiarize yourself with common architecture patterns
03:05and learn how to design for things like high availability and fault tolerance. Some other
03:09focus areas include disaster recovery, cost optimization, as well as security and compliance.
03:15Moving on to infrastructure provisioning, here's where you'll learn how to use AWS CloudFormation
03:20and Terraform. You'll write code to deploy basic cloud resources instead of just doing things manually.
03:25Add variables, outputs, and store state remotely, and update infrastructure by editing code. Okay,
03:31this pretty much covers what you need to know from a theory perspective, but if you want to dive a
03:35bit deeper, also consider allocating some time to learning these other technologies and concepts.
03:41Alright, month number two is where the hard work begins. It's the part where most people skip or take
03:45shortcuts in, and that is building cloud projects and documenting them. Because anyone can say they know
03:51AWS, but when it comes to an interview, they're going to be asking you questions to see whether you've
03:55truly worked with the technology. And so, here are the projects that I'd build. A highly available
04:00web application, a disaster recovery solution with automated failover, a serverless architecture,
04:06a multi-tier app with proper security controls, and cost optimization for an existing architecture.
04:12Those projects pretty much cover all the main pillars of the AWS Wall Architecture framework.
04:17And if you want to go deeper, try building a hybrid cloud solution connecting on-prem to AWS,
04:22also designing a data analytics pipeline, and creating a microservices architecture with containerization.
04:28Now, if you want the exact step-by-step instructions to projects that will help you become a solutions
04:33architect, you can check out this course on my learning platform, Zero to Cloud. It also comes
04:37with a Slack community where we help you resolve any issues you face, all the way until you've
04:42successfully built and documented all the projects. Speaking of documenting projects, here's what I'd do.
04:47Choose a place to document your projects, whether that be LinkedIn, Medium, or GitHub. Create detailed
04:52architecture diagrams for each solution and explain your decisions clearly along with any recommendations
04:58and trade-offs. You don't have to document every project in detail for your portfolio, just the ones
05:03you believe will help you stand out. This brings me to something really important, and honestly,
05:07I wish someone told me this earlier, and that is a platform called Scribe. Now, how many times do you
05:13find yourself explaining the same processes over and over again, especially when working in a team?
05:18Whenever someone asked me, Lucy, how do I configure this S3 bucket? What permissions would you like me
05:23to send? I had to jump on the call with them or send them a bunch of screenshots. But now,
05:28with the
05:28help of Scribe, I'm able to record my workflow in real time, and it builds out a step-by-step
05:33guide
05:33automatically without any extra work. So, how I'd do this is I'd hit record in the Scribe Chrome extension
05:39and just perform the processes like I normally would. In this case, creating an S3 bucket to store project
05:45files. When I'm done, I just hit stop recording. And just like that, Scribe captured every single step
05:51and instantly generated a guide with screenshots and descriptions. Everything from creating the bucket,
05:56naming it, and enabling versioning, all documented automatically. No need for me to document any of
06:02this process on my own. I can also customize it, add notes for my team, and then share it however
06:07I want,
06:07as a link, a PDF, or embedded in Confluence. Now, here's the best part. If you need to edit something
06:13in your own
06:13guides, you can do so directly. And once you do, there's no need to share it again. Scribe automatically
06:19updates it for everyone who has online access. Something else I love is their guide me feature.
06:24It puts the guide directly into your browser and walks through each step interactively. It literally
06:29shows you exactly where to click. Pretty cool, right? And so, if you want to start using Scribe and
06:34want to stop explaining the same processes to your team over and over again, just head to
06:39scribe.how.lucy. You can also click on the link in the description below or scan this QR code.
06:45It's free to get started and you can unlock even more features with Scribe Pro.
06:49All right, let's move on to month number three, which is focused on turning all your knowledge
06:53and skills into a job offer. So first, it will be helpful for you to take an interview prep course,
06:58something like my AWS interview mastery one, just to be more familiar with the interview process
07:03and the type of questions that they'd ask. Next, rewrite your resume to align with the
07:07solutions architect role. After that, practice answering architectural design questions and
07:12whiteboard scenarios. For the non-technical part of the interview, practice answering behavioral
07:16questions using the star format. That's situation, task, action, and result. And finally, run some mock
07:23interviews to gain extra confidence. As for the application process, apply consistently across
07:28multiple platforms, reach out to hiring managers and recruiters directly, and share your journey
07:32publicly for visibility. While you wait, be sure to track your applications, follow up, and find weak
07:38areas to improve based on any feedback you get. Last but not least, network with solutions architects
07:43and attend cloud meetups. And there you have it, our entire 90-day solutions architect learning roadmap.
07:49To further improve your chances of getting hired, I'd recommend building these three key skills,
07:53all related to AI. The first is vibe coding. The second is AI agent automation. And the third is
07:59expertise in AWS AI services like SageMaker and Bedrock. I'll link a video here where I walk through
08:0510 apps you can vibe code in 10 minutes. But yeah, if you can walk into an interview and say,
08:10here's my cloud portfolio, and here's an AI agent I built on top of it, then you'll be way ahead
08:15of 90%
08:16of candidates. Alright, this brings us to the end of this video. Please let me know your thoughts in the
08:20comments below, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye for now!
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