A day at Cafe Ertebat: On Seniority, Architecture, and Quiet Value

A few days ago I attended a small, invite-only tech gathering hosted by Cafe Ertebat. Think of it as a low-key salon: about a couple dozen people, all of them with at least a decade of experience, almost all with shiny titles: CTOs, VPs of Engineering, technical leads, founders. It was the kind of room you’d expect to be intimidating. It wasn’t. And that was the interesting part. Walking into an “Elite” Room I was invited through two friends and colleagues who referred me to the host. That alone set a certain expectation in my head: if this is curated, and everyone is hand-picked, then the conversation is probably going to be sharp, opinionated, and uncomfortably insightful. ...

November 18, 2025 · 7 min · Kia Raad

Becoming a Solutions Architect

The professional path of a Software Solutions Architect I’ve been working in software for more than 12 years now. I’ve been doing help desk stuff, database management, IT work, networking, low-level and high-level programming, hacking and penetration testing and everything in between. All these experiences and upportunities that I have had, helped me becoming me more well-rounded engineer which is a cruitial attribute to have if one wantes to embark on the mission to becoming an architect, specially a Solutions Architect. ...

July 14, 2024 · 7 min · Kia Raad