IMHO, there's no such thing as a Software Architect. Take this for what you will, but people that label themselves as being architects are an instant red flag, as that's usually corporate slang for I'm incompetent, but I can draw diagrams and have meetings.
The industry is simply separated in developers that suck (because they lack either the experience or the ability) and those that don't and that are thus capable of making good decisions.
As to how to get there, there's no simple recipe, but in general you simply have to (1) read a lot, like books, papers, other people's source code and (2) you have to get burned by a lot of bad choices you've made and learn something from those mistakes. Both have something to do with getting out of your comfort zone.
The industry is simply separated in developers that suck (because they lack either the experience or the ability) and those that don't and that are thus capable of making good decisions.
As to how to get there, there's no simple recipe, but in general you simply have to (1) read a lot, like books, papers, other people's source code and (2) you have to get burned by a lot of bad choices you've made and learn something from those mistakes. Both have something to do with getting out of your comfort zone.