Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#81

Post by DelaneyM » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

personjerry wrote: post #77

DelaneyM wrote: post #38

tl;dr: in your situation many people go off and get an MBA. Don't do that. There's a reason there's only one CTO in HBS' 60,000 person alumni database (I am she.) I was a very hands-on CTO for years after a decade of coding, and broadly enjoyed it. But as the teams I managed grew it became increasingly unfulfilling. When you're CTO, you're often excluded from business decisions which have a bigger impact on your team…

Any idea what your new venture will be?

Oh sure.

Software eats fulfillment, basically.

Currently FBA (http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/benefits.ht...) is a 3B$ business without any competitors. There are good reasons for that: it's capital-intensive, technically/operationally/managerially challenging, and can only really be learned by doing.

I've just finished architecting & implementing a 30k package/day distribution system from scratch, I know I can do better. FBA is a surprisingly low bar to clear (they're mathematically/structurally constrained), and the industry hasn't really improved since the 90's. And with the right structuring it can be mostly funded through debt & advance receipts.

Basically, I'm going to pick up where FlexPort (https://www.flexport.com/) leaves off (literally! Ha, logistics joke!) Except in an even less sexy vertical. :)

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#82

Post by unhappycto » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

WhitneyLand wrote: post #43

lwhalen wrote: post #32

What I'm about to say may be considered harsh, but I promise I don't mean it to be. Quit. Just leave. Go back to coding. It's obvious you don't enjoy management, there's no shame in admitting that. Rather than inflict your misery on the rest of the team, get back to your wheelhouse where you can be happy, your team can be happy, and ultimately your company (current or future) can be happy. I have worked in a job wher…

Here's the problem with that reasoning. As OP implies she has enjoyed leading/managing within her own companies. Before my company was acquired it was thrilling to perform these duties even though it was more grueling. So it's not necessarily a matter of not being cut out for that kind of work.

You know, maybe it makes me sound bad but I do enjoy leadership on a smaller scale and where I am ultimately in control. I know one-man bands don't get very far (usually) and some people management is expected even in your own business. I guess my point here is that yes, you're right I have enjoyed leadership previously and thought the step up would be similar but it's not.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#83

Post by koide » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

PedroBatista wrote: post #28

koide wrote: post #13

That's life. The higher you go, the more crap you have to eat so those who deal with executing can execute without distractions. If you don't want to eat crap, you have to stay at a lower level (team lead/distinguished engineer/r&d labs) On the other hand, being that high should indeed get you ownership and control, if you don't have it question your relationship with the CEO/rest of the company. You should own and b…

So.. about that non-eating crap low level job, any open position for me? :)

Depends on your skillset, but indeed we are hiring devs for our Madrid office. We are not ready for remote yet. We pride ourselves, among other things, in eating all the crap at the top.

Required Skills: C#.

Caveat: We want people that like learning new technologies, as we do use some other tech stacks other than .NET's. We will train you if you don't know it yet, as long as you are interested and capable.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#84

Post by amelius » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

reboog711 wrote: post #20

amelius wrote: post #2

Can you re-architect the product from scratch? This should be doable if the raw building blocks (modules etc.) are properly designed and easily incorporated into a new design. If this is not the case, then all the more reason to rewrite the code!

Over the years; I have found very few valid business reasons to re-write a code base that is still supporting the relevant business. As a CTO, there is a good chance the poster would not be materially involved in such an effort. From a business perspective; something that works is more important than something that is well architected.

Tell that to the Facebook team who recently rewrote their entire front end codebase using React.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#85

Post by sailfast » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

DelaneyM wrote: post #74

sailfast wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately, there's no real place in the world for a highly technical business leader. While I certainly see evidence of this in the workplace, I also see that this kind of leader would be exceptionally valuable to any organization. Do you find that the issue here is that companies already at scale have separated concerns so highly that the management skills are more valued (so technical leaders go to startups /…

> While I certainly see evidence of this in the workplace, I also see that this kind of leader would be exceptionally valuable to any organization. You'd think!! I have a few theories as to why this is so: The most charitable interpretation is that, since technically competent business leaders are so incredibly rare (set aside that every engineer thinks they can do it), there's no design pattern for that leader. Owne…

Thanks - this is really interesting and thought provoking feedback.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#86

Post by elliottcarlson » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

spydum wrote: post #11

Sounds exactly like the CTOs job. I think too often the folks in SV abuse the CTO title when they really mean senior architect or engineer. I'll offer advice but it comes from someone with no experience: Take this opportunity and grow from it. So it's not the job you wanted or expected; you can still find a way to be successful. Really get to know the teams, figure out who has the emotional and intellectual capacity…

> I think too often the folks in SV abuse the CTO title

I believe part of it is overall title inflation, which makes it confusing for some people to understand what the actual role is and what you will be doing.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#87

Post by tamana » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

DelaneyM wrote: post #38

tl;dr: in your situation many people go off and get an MBA. Don't do that. There's a reason there's only one CTO in HBS' 60,000 person alumni database (I am she.) I was a very hands-on CTO for years after a decade of coding, and broadly enjoyed it. But as the teams I managed grew it became increasingly unfulfilling. When you're CTO, you're often excluded from business decisions which have a bigger impact on your team…

? The mid/senior leadership of the best known companies hires all thr available techie MBAs. There are few CTOs because a 50K employee company only has 1 CTO. Others are CEO, COO, CIO.

A mid/senior person at a big company is similar to a CxO at a small company.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#88

Post by goshx » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

DelaneyM wrote: post #38

tl;dr: in your situation many people go off and get an MBA. Don't do that. There's a reason there's only one CTO in HBS' 60,000 person alumni database (I am she.) I was a very hands-on CTO for years after a decade of coding, and broadly enjoyed it. But as the teams I managed grew it became increasingly unfulfilling. When you're CTO, you're often excluded from business decisions which have a bigger impact on your team…

It's funny how you hit the MBA nerve there. I've been considering going that route, but with the intention to get more involved with people from different backgrounds than anything else. I don't want the MBA to move away from my position as CTO, but to improve my abilities in other areas of the business and networking purposes. Would you still recommend not getting the MBA in that case?

This is all in preparation to take the entrepreneur route, while I can't simply take it right now.

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#89

Post by tamana » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:51 PM UTC

DelaneyM wrote: post #74

sailfast wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately, there's no real place in the world for a highly technical business leader. While I certainly see evidence of this in the workplace, I also see that this kind of leader would be exceptionally valuable to any organization. Do you find that the issue here is that companies already at scale have separated concerns so highly that the management skills are more valued (so technical leaders go to startups /…

> While I certainly see evidence of this in the workplace, I also see that this kind of leader would be exceptionally valuable to any organization. You'd think!! I have a few theories as to why this is so: The most charitable interpretation is that, since technically competent business leaders are so incredibly rare (set aside that every engineer thinks they can do it), there's no design pattern for that leader. Owne…

Why would a techie want a MBA job below VP level? Most don't want to be advertising account managers or business analysts either. Does that matter?

Re: Ask HN: I don't enjoy being a CTO. Now what?

#90

Post by DelaneyM » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 2:57 PM UTC

goshx wrote: post #88

DelaneyM wrote: post #38

tl;dr: in your situation many people go off and get an MBA. Don't do that. There's a reason there's only one CTO in HBS' 60,000 person alumni database (I am she.) I was a very hands-on CTO for years after a decade of coding, and broadly enjoyed it. But as the teams I managed grew it became increasingly unfulfilling. When you're CTO, you're often excluded from business decisions which have a bigger impact on your team…

It's funny how you hit the MBA nerve there. I've been considering going that route, but with the intention to get more involved with people from different backgrounds than anything else. I don't want the MBA to move away from my position as CTO, but to improve my abilities in other areas of the business and networking purposes. Would you still recommend not getting the MBA in that case? This is all in preparation to…

An MBA provides only one thing: the opportunity to stop doing engineering.

Do you want to stop coding/building things, and instead build teams & business? Then do an MBA. There really is a lot to learn; it's not the irrelevant piece of paper it's often made out to be. The usual caveats apply (right school/program, work hard, etc.)

Do you want to be a higher-impact engineer? Don't do it. Apply to YCombinator, build more part-time projects, start a "sell stupid shit" on eBay company and learn the ins & outs of incorporation/taxes/financial tracking/etc.

Getting better at business & networking is a great idea, but an MBA for that alone is overkill.