A solution architect is a builder who learns by doing. A prototype is worth a thousand pictures. It helps to reduce miscommunication and ideate solutions. Presenting a POC and prototyping is an integral part of the solution architect's role. Prototyping is the pre-solution phase, which helps to deepen your understanding of the application design and user. It helps you to think and build multiple solution paths. With the testing of the prototype, you can refine your solution and inspire others, such as teams, customers, and investors, by demoing your vision.

A solution architect is a technical leader who works closely with the development team. In the empowered agile team of developers, a solution architect needs to show a piece of code as a POC, in addition to a PowerPoint presentation. A solution architect doesn't need to be part of the development team but works in collaboration to convey the solution to the dev team in their language. Successful delivery is only possible if the solution architect can understand the deep technical aspect of a solution that comes with continuous coding, hands-on.

A solution architect is often seen as a mentor and player-coach; having some hands-on coding helps them to establish credibility. A solution architect needs to take a strategic decision regarding which programming languages and tools the team should use. A hands-on approach helps to identify any gaps that may not fit for your team or solution need—always learning new technology helps the solution architect to make a better decision on behalf of the organization. Let's learn more about the techniques of continuous learning.