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Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#71

Post by jmspring »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #14

I did this from a hands-on CTO role at a 20-person startup to a senior engineer at a 200 person e-commerce outfit known nationally in the UK. I was miserable for a long time, and sat down one day and made a list of all the things I liked about the job and all the things I hated. Everything in the “like” column was dev work. Everything in the “hate” column was the management work. So I slept on it for one night, quit,…

I’ve been in the same boat. My soon to be ending role was as a lead/IC but the actual work was more devops than actual development. It was cushy and pays well, opting to get more hands on writing code and building things which is much easier than at a large company.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#72

Post by ipaddr »

vrinsd wrote: post #66
subpixel wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps when you’re willing to trade a prestigious title for some sanity and personal satisfaction you’ve already determined that it doesn’t matter what your peers think or what gets decided. They key is that you can’t just stop doing what you hate but you have to be able to lean into what gives you some satisfaction.

In my experience its's less about caring what people specifically think of you, and more about how you are treated in whatever team you're on. Example: I made a trade from a key role to a dev role in one job change. In dev role I was working with a technology I had significant experience with in my prior "key" role. In the new role, when the topic came up, I suggested we avoid certain vendors since in my prior role I…

Save your opinions for your own projects. Let someone pick the wrong vender and pay more. This won't affect your profit share because developers don't get it anyways.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#73

Post by ipaddr »

excto wrote: post #27

I'm an ex CTO. I ran the company as basically 2ic for 5 years before I quit. Before I quit they offered me profit share which was stupid because profit can easily change. I do not regret leaving at all from a mental health perspective. I was losing my friends, family and myself. I do regret leaving because afterwards I'm just a loser developer, lumped in with the guy that moves the button left a bit, when before I wa…

You left previous job because you didn't have enough control but moved into a job with less control.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#74

Post by vrinsd »

ipaddr wrote: post #72
vrinsd wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience its's less about caring what people specifically think of you, and more about how you are treated in whatever team you're on. Example: I made a trade from a key role to a dev role in one job change. In dev role I was working with a technology I had significant experience with in my prior "key" role. In the new role, when the topic came up, I suggested we avoid certain vendors since in my prior role I…

Save your opinions for your own projects. Let someone pick the wrong vender and pay more. This won't affect your profit share because developers don't get it anyways.

Normally I'd agree with you, the exception is if you're the poor "schmuck" that has to deal with the aftermath of said opinions or decisions.

I don't know about other developers & engineers but I've already learned quite a few lessons the hard way and don't need to burn my evenings and weekends knowingly doing something the wrong way.

You might say "That's OK, that's what they're paying you for" but if you've been in this situation, usually someone less knowledgable, bordering on clueless will draft a schedule and you'll be the guy to make it happen. So a bad technical decision turns into a pressure cooker which then turns into more stress. Which is similar to another poster who said (I'm paraphrasing) "each job will suck in different ways".

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#75

Post by vrinsd »

yieldcrv wrote: post #28
convolvatron wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the only problem with this is that as an IC when your manager is really doing poorly and not grasping their job, its _really_ hard not to say 'dude wtf, that's just not right'. that can go pretty badly. so you really have to work hard to stay extra constructive and support them as if you were _their_ manager, without the authority that usually implies. and that's a heavy burden as an IC

hm, that might be happening to me, I'm an IC right now I make it pretty clear during hiring that I don't have aspirations beyond IC anymore. Been there done that kind of vibes, I like to build. I say my value add is that I can add a vote for whatever policy or method would improve an org, people seem to like that. But I'm currently on a team where leadership is doing everything outside of the sprint cycle, random dem…

This reeks of a situation where the people in the management position(s) really aren't the right people for the job and having a logical discussion or trying to explain how or why something should be done differently falls on deaf ears (or worse, antagonizes them).

Maybe I'm projecting from my own experiences but this usually is because the leadership has a "top down" mentality, "we know better because we are in this role" and your other team members who are likely less experienced than you can't tell the difference between "dissenting with evidence" vs. "being contrary".

Seems like the best plan is to keep your eyes open for other opportunities when it's no longer tolerable.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#76

Post by vrinsd »

jgrahamc wrote: post #2

This is kind of what I did. I was VP of Engineering etc. at different companies and wanted to go back to coding, see: https://blog.jgc.org/2012/02/programmer.html . Of course, I then ended up being CTO again!

Wow, Madge! I once deployed Madge PCI Token ring NICs. Worked damn well.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#77

Post by [deleted] »

hnfong wrote: post #40
ed312 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an eng manager, I always make it super clear (many times) when new engineers onboard they're always welcome to say "this doesn't make sense" ask for more details. Sometimes (maybe even often) they're right. I also enourage them to "assume good intent" from other devs and managers. Fundamentally no one manager knows everyone and no one engineer is right about everything.

Yea, the problem is that bad managers likely end up being bad because they don't have this humility.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#79

Post by yieldcrv »

vrinsd wrote: post #75
yieldcrv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hm, that might be happening to me, I'm an IC right now I make it pretty clear during hiring that I don't have aspirations beyond IC anymore. Been there done that kind of vibes, I like to build. I say my value add is that I can add a vote for whatever policy or method would improve an org, people seem to like that. But I'm currently on a team where leadership is doing everything outside of the sprint cycle, random dem…

This reeks of a situation where the people in the management position(s) really aren't the right people for the job and having a logical discussion or trying to explain how or why something should be done differently falls on deaf ears (or worse, antagonizes them). Maybe I'm projecting from my own experiences but this usually is because the leadership has a "top down" mentality, "we know better because we are in this…

Yes, it is top down management, and comically ineffective for application development

We’ll see.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#80

Post by jgrahamc »

vrinsd wrote: post #76
jgrahamc wrote: post #2

This is kind of what I did. I was VP of Engineering etc. at different companies and wanted to go back to coding, see: https://blog.jgc.org/2012/02/programmer.html . Of course, I then ended up being CTO again!

Wow, Madge! I once deployed Madge PCI Token ring NICs. Worked damn well.

I probably wrote code for those, although I actually started coding on the Madge token ring NICs during the ISA/EISA days.
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