Do You Need Strong Coding Skills to Be an Effective Architect?

I believe that, in the majority of situations, a strong coding ability is essential for a software architect; in the companies where I have worked, architects who deliver solid designs also have competent coding skills.

In our current company, the most challenging modules are typically tackled by me and another technical expert.

Architecture is not merely about drawing diagrams or holding meetings.

How to set up the foundational framework?

How to split services into micro‑services?

How to delineate core modules?

How to design a rapid‑development framework?

Should we use Spring Cloud, Dubbo, or another solution?

How to design the database?

How to use caching effectively?

When should a message queue be introduced?

There are no standard answers to these questions; each decision requires trade‑offs based on team capability, business characteristics, system scale, and future direction, and a wrong choice can be costly to correct later.

Beyond these considerations, once the architecture is defined, the architect must personally implement the most difficult parts. If an architect only creates diagrams and delegates core modules to others, the final system can easily drift from the intended design.

Many designs look perfect on paper, but when the code is written, hidden high coupling, insufficient performance, or limited extensibility become apparent.

Only by running the "core path" oneself can the viability of the architecture be verified; problems can be adjusted early rather than after months of development.

Code is the truth.

Consequently, at the beginning, architects usually take charge of the most critical, complex, and high‑risk components, establishing a mature implementation pattern that later developers follow to fill in business logic.

A good architect rarely detaches from code; while they may not write daily business code, they must continuously code.

If a programmer cannot handle complex modules and remains at the CRUD level, it is not advisable to move into architecture too early, because architectural judgments stem from long‑term coding experience and intuition.