Skills of a SharePoint Architect

Read http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/07/23/depth-and-breadth-in-a-sharepoint-architect-skills.aspx to see a good list of skills for a SharePoint Architect. Joel Oleson breaks the recommended skills into 4 areas: Core, Solutions, Extended, Interop/Integration. Here's his long list for Core.

IIS 6/7, Windows Server 2003/2008, DNS/WINS (Name Resolution), TCP/IP, SQL Server 2005 Admin (Backup, Monitoring, Logshipping or Database Mirroring), Basic Firewall rules/Proxy, IT Infrastructure Design, Hardware Acquisition (RAM, CPU, Disk I/O, etc.), Performance Monitoring, Capacity Planning, Growth Management, Windows Workflow Foundation, Client Troubleshooting & Support (IE, Firefox, Safari, Office XP, 2003, 2007, etc.), HTML & Client side scripting (Javascript, AJAX, DHTML, XSL, XSLT, XHTML), Exchange/SMTP integration (Inbound/Outbound email + contact objects), High Availability (Microsoft Cluster Services, Windows Network Load Balancing), Storage (Appliances, HBAs, SANs, Archive Storage), Backup Solutions (Various Tape, Hardware and software snapshots, software nearline and offline storage, DPM 2007, etc.), Hardware load balancing & ISA Secure Web Publishing, IAG (Internet Application Gateway), Whale Communications, Single Sign on integration, Connection Monitoring & Troubleshooting (ADO.NET, Web Services, CDO), Global Deployments & Multi farm deployments, Environments (i.e. Dev, Test, Staging, Production - Staged deployments), SDLC (i.e. MOF, ITIL, MSF Frameworks), Virtualization (Virtual Server 2005, Virtual PC, VMWare).

Read his blog for his list on Solutions, Extended and Interop/Integration. Being a SharePoint Architect is no easy skillset to master overnight :) Perhaps its best to track which skills are most associated with SharePoint. See http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/sharepoint.do for the following list: .NET, Microsoft, SQL Server, C#, ASP.Net, SharePoint Server 2007, Windows, SQL, MS Excel, XML.