I became an architect through the developer career track. I was a developer, development lead, development manager and eventually became an architect. I felt drawn to architecture and as I trained found that my instincts were good as was my ability to grasp and apply concepts (I feel a kindred bond to this writer and his Mort bio very closely mirrors my path http://pluralsight.com/blogs/johncj/archive/2005/08/12/14077.aspx).
I still love to develop (I wrote about 90% of my current project due to resource problems) and am considered a solid C# coder. However, I don't think my development skills have any direct relation to my architecture skills. In my opinion, they are two distinctly different skillsets. In fact, I would say there are times when my ability to implement a concept gets in the way of my ability to properly design a complete solution. My inner developer often conflicts with my architect self...
What is your opinion? Does a strong developer naturally become an architect? Can architects be good developers? Is there a natural and necessary tension between the two?