Explore: Digital and tech

Solutions Architect, Start-ups
Amazon Web Services

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My name is Mirabella,

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and I work as a solutions architect for startups for Amazon Web Services.

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There’s no such thing as a typical day in my job.

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During the day, I may be going out and meeting customers.

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Either going to their offices or virtually, it depends on their preferences.

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I could go and do events such as these.

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Or I could go and talk to multiple customers at once.

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The favourite aspect is definitely the interaction with people.

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It’s something that I’ve always really wanted and seeked throughout my careers.

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I get to meet different people from different aspects of life every day.

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They can be people from academia, they can be people

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with a business background or people with a very, very technical background.

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So they tend to be very, very diverse,

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and I get access to this amazing pool of very, very creative people,

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and I just interact with them on a daily basis.

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When I was back in school, over in Romania, which is where I was born and grew up.

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I actually studied maths and computer science in high school.

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But to be very honest with you, it was never a career choice that occurred to me.

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That is why when I decided where to go to university and what to study,

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I went for a different subject that I really enjoyed.

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So I decided to go and study languages.

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After I left university, I joined a major graduate scheme

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with an accounting company.

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Once I was there, I realised that I wanted to learn more about technology.

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So I applied for a re-qualification programme.

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I studied to become a software engineer in the evenings whilst

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I was still at my first job.

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And I finally ended up getting a job helping developers

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get their applications onto the cloud.

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Whilst I was there, it came as a suggestion from a friend

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that I should consider applying for AWS, as it was something that I was working with every day

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For this role, I think it’s very important to have good communication skills.

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You’re going to have to go

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and communicate with people that are very, very different.

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So you definitely need to have this ability to think on your feet

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and be able to come up with the best answer for that potential question.

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I would definitely reassure people that if they don’t know

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what they want to do in the future, that is OK.

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That’s how I built my own path.

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I just went, tried the best option that I had in front of me at that time.

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If it didn’t work out, then I just tried again.

 

“I just tried the best option that I had in front of me at the time. If it didn’t work out, then I just tried again.”

Mirabella enjoys dealing with people. She grew up in Romania, studied languages at university and then joined a graduate scheme with an accounting firm. Deciding to follow her interest in technology, Mirabella then attended evening classes to qualify as a software engineer. She now works as a solutions architect, helping customers to solve their business problems using technology.

More information about IT business analysts, architects and systems designers

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£57,200
average salary

The UK average salary is £29,813

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37
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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82%  male 
18%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Workers in this unit group provide advice on the effective utilisation of IT and design IT systems in order to meet the business objectives or to enhance the business effectiveness of the organisation.
Qualifications
Entrants usually possess a degree or equivalent qualification, although entry with other academic qualifications and/or significant relevant experience is possible. There is a variety of relevant vocational, professional and postgraduate qualifications available.
Tasks
  • Liaises with internal/external clients in order to analyse business procedure, clarify clients’ requirements and to define the scope of existing software, hardware and network provision;
  • Undertakes feasibility studies for major IT developments incorporating costs and benefits, and presents proposals to clients;
  • Communicates the impact of emerging technologies to clients and advises upon the potential introduction of such technology;
  • Provides advice and assistance in the procurement, provision, delivery, installation, maintenance and use of IT systems and their environments;
  • Examines existing business models and flows of data and designs functional specifications and test plans for new systems in order to meet clients’ needs;
  • Researches, analyses, evaluates and monitors network infrastructure and performance;
  • Works closely with clients to implement new systems.
Employment by region
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Top 10 industries for this job
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Computer programming, etc 31893
Head offices, etc 11620
Financial services 10261
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Retail trade 8024
Auxiliary  services 6385
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Warehousing, etc 3740
Public admin. & defence 3173
Information services 3139
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