Architect is not a title. It's a behavior

An architect is not a position. It's a behavior. Very often people think, once I become an architect, I'll start making decisions. In reality, it's the opposite: you start making decisions, and only then do you become an architect. I never had a moment when someone said, now you are an architect. There was another moment, I realized that just writing code no longer provides growth. You complete tasks, write neatly, understand structure and clean code, and then you hit a ceiling.

The first thing that significantly changed me was working with solutions. I got acquainted with ADR (Architecture Decision Record), RFC, trade-offs. The essence is simple: code lives for a long time, the project evolves, people change. After six months, the question arises: "Why was this done this way?" If you don't have an answer, you start breaking the system. If there is an ADR, you immediately see the context, what options were considered, and why this particular solution was chosen. The second point is working with risks. You stop thinking about how to do it and start thinking about what might go wrong, where the system might break, and what the consequences will be. And you make decisions considering the trade-offs.

At the developer level, you manually check and review. At a higher level, you start automating control. For me, this includes pre-commit hooks, structure checks, layer control; if the code violates the architecture, it simply doesn't pass. This is an important shift; you don't rely on people, you build a system that protects itself.

The most painful stage is responsibility. While you are a developer, you complete tasks, and someone else is responsible for the decisions. When you start to grow, you propose solutions yourself and take responsibility for them. This is not always immediately rewarded; initially, there is more responsibility and expectations, and only later comes recognition and growth. This is normal. If you want to grow in this direction, don't start with the role. Start with behavior, document decisions, think about risks, justify, take responsibility. Not because it's your job title, but because that's how you work.