Q&A: Lessons Learned From a Career in the Trenches

The career journey is often full of twists and turns and is dependent very much on the worker as well as the environment and ecosystem they inhabit. Much is within their control, but there’s also a lot they need to be on the lookout for. Lessons often arrive in unexpected ways. The lessons, especially early on, can shape a person for the rest of their career. The lessons they receive can be passed on to the next generation, preparing them for what is ahead.

Ahmed Munir, principal architect for Charter Communications, talked about the journey and the lessons he’s learned and how they’ve guided him forward:

Question: What were the most unexpected career detours that helped you move from hands-on technical roles into architecture leadership?

Munir: Two detours stand out:

1. Owning outcomes outside pure technology. Stepping into roles tied to revenue, billing accuracy, operations, or governance forced me to think beyond “does it work” to “does it scale, does it make money, and can the organization sustain it.” That shift was pivotal.
2. Being pulled into ambiguity before feeling ready. Programs with unclear ownership, political tension, or cross-functional conflict accelerated my growth. Architecture leadership is forged in ambiguity—not in clean, well-scoped projects.

The lesson: The detours that didn’t look like promotions at the time ended up expanding my decision-making surface area the most.

Q: Which specific skills proved most critical when transitioning from developer to architect and later influencing the C-suite?

Munir: Three skills mattered more than any technical stack:

1. Problem framing over solution design. Executives don’t need architectures, they need clarity on options, risks, and trade-offs.
2. Business fluency. Understanding revenue, cost, risk, and timing turned architecture from an IT function into a business lever.
3. Executive storytelling. Translating complexity into simple, defensible narratives-built trust faster than technical depth alone.

Key shift: I stopped optimizing for technical correctness and started optimizing for decision quality.

Q: How did mentors or sponsors shape your journey, and how did you attract and maintain those relationships?

Munir: Two things helped me:

• Mentors taught me how to think. They challenged assumptions and helped me see beyond my immediate role.
• Sponsors created air cover. They put my name forward before I would have done so myself.

Three things that worked for me were:

1. Consistently delivering on hard, visible problems
2. Asking for feedback, not favors
3. Making my impact legible to leaders without self-promotion.

The important distinction: Mentors advise. Sponsors advocate. You earn both through credibility and follow-through.

Q: Looking ahead, what emerging architect roles or responsibilities should aspire architects prepare for?

Munir: Architecture is moving upstream. There are four key areas to prepare for:

1. Operating-model architecture (not just systems)
2. AI and data accountability – not just enablement
3. Governance as acceleration, not control
4. Cross-platform orchestration across SAP, cloud, data, and AI ecosystems.

Future architects will be judged less by diagrams and more by business outcomes and decision velocity.

Q: What practical steps should attendees take in the next 6 to 12 months to intentionally architect their careers?

Munir: These five concrete actions are ones all should take:

1. Solve a problem leaders care about – Even if it’s not in your job description
2. Develop one business skill whether it’s finance, operations or strategy alongside technical depth
3. Practice executive communication – Short, clear, decision-oriented
4. Seek exposure to ambiguity, not just mastery
5. Build relationships horizontally, not only upward.

Simple guiding question: “If my role disappeared tomorrow, what decisions would the organization struggle to make without me?”

This Q&A gives SAP leaders, IT teams, and ERP program stakeholders a practical look at how Munir’s career has evolved and the lessons he’s learned as a professional. Interested readers can hear Munir share additional insights during his session at SAPinsider Las Vegas 2026.