I think 'Architect' is more of a buzzword than reality. I have known people call themselves architect to shy away from real coding, and they manage to do so using jargons which few people will understand, use politics as the means, AND more surprisingly they get away with all these. These are facts. I believe that you cannot be a successful architect unless you, at one time, have been a brilliant (at least very good) developer. The serious question is, can you call upon an architect for any software system which any technologies? Isn't it that an architect needs to know the technology stack fairly well to architect it? You will need to negotiate with several technology vendors and developers and specialist at the various technology stack. What an architect needs to remember is that there are more knowledgeable and specialist people than him in respective technology stacks. He cannot work in isolation.