Salary surveys worldwide regularly place software architect in the top 10 best jobs, yet no real guide exists to help developers become architects. Until now. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of software architecture’s many aspects. Aspiring and existing architects alike will examine architectural characteristics, architectural patterns, component determination, diagramming and presenting architecture, evolutionary architecture, and many other topics.Mark Richards and Neal Ford—hands-on practitioners who have taught software architecture classes professionally for years—focus on architecture principles that apply across all technology stacks. You’ll explore software architecture in a modern light, taking into account all the innovations of the past decade.This book examines:Architecture patterns: The technical basis for many architectural decisionsComponents: Identification, coupling, cohesion, partitioning, and granularitySoft skills: Effective team management, meetings, negotiation, presentations, and moreModernity: Engineering practices and operational approaches that have changed radically in the past few yearsArchitecture as an engineering discipline: Repeatable results, metrics, and concrete valuations that add rigor to software architecture.About the AuthorMark Richards is an experienced, hands-on software architect involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of microservices architectures, service-oriented architectures, and distributed systems in a variety of technologies. He has been in the software industry since 1983 and has significant experience and expertise in application, integration, and enterprise architecture. Mark is the founder of DeveloperToArchitect.com, a free website devoted to helping developers in the journey to becoming a software architect. He is the author of numerous technical books and videos, as well as a conference speaker and trainer, having spoken at hundreds of conferences and user groups around the world on a variety of enterprise-related technical topics.