Career progression is a very important consideration for most people. Climbing the corporate ladder is part of what drives our daily efforts. But what happens if the next rung on that ladder is one that you're not willing, or desire, to step up to?

In recruiting Enterprise Architects, there are a number of avenues I take in meeting with them and discussing career opportunities. When I speak to EA candidates about their dream job, the answers I get generally focus on a more 'exciting' opportunity and to have more responsibilities for an organization's architecture. Most of the time, Architects are seeking more challenges and excitement within the role of managing a company's overall technology roadmap.

What I find interesting, but not that surprising is that I have yet to hear an Architect tell me that they dream of becoming a CIO. But how can that be, you might ask? Doesn't the CIO yield more power and also understand the technology blueprint for the organization better than anyone?

While the CIO title certainly takes its share of jabs (Career Is Over?), I believe that this is a position that we will see many Architects moving toward. Not necessarily because they desire it, but because the line between the two roles will slowly start to merge.

Enterprise Architects (or at least the many that I have spoken to) love their role and enjoy the challenges of evangelizing new architecture principles, such as SOA, to their clients. And as the needs of the business start to meld more quickly with the technology needs of the organization, then I believe that there will be little difference between these two positions.

Now large companies certainly require multiple layers of architecture AND C-Level talent, but the move within small-to-medium sized companies (SMB) to merge the CIO and Chief Architect positions could be more significant. I would be very curious to hear from Architects and CIOs about this as a possible trend and how it might affect a company's technology landscape and career progressions.

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