Ask HN: CTO contemplating returning to developer role – seeking advice

I did this. I was a developer my whole adult life and jumped from that to law school in my 30's. Graduated, become an attorney, decided I wanted to code again after a few years, and became a developer again. By the time I made the decision to switch back, I was out of hands-on development for about the same amount of time as you. I worked on a lot of different things as a developer, so it was hard to pick just one thing to brush up on. I figured I would try to get an interview for something I was interested in, then brush up on whatever tech stack the company was looking for. I applied for a job that required a niche skill I had and was surprised I got a call after my first job application. I got past the HR phone screen and had about a two-week gap to prepare between the HR phone screen and the first technical interview. I was doing well on the technical parts of the interview, but the hiring manager was noticeably checked out the entire time (he even took a phone call during the interview). I got the feeling he didn't review my resume before the interview and was annoyed I got past the initial phone screen since I hadn't coded professionally in years. The team member he had on the interview with him was much more interested and kept the interview going.

A week later, the HR person called back and said the hiring manager was concerned by how long it had been since I was a developer. That's what I expected would be the problem, so I changed strategies. I decided to get my foot in the door and work my way back up to the level I was at before I went to law school. That worked and I got a job that paid way less than my attorney salary and about 25% less than I was making as a developer at my last position (not accounting for inflation). I've enjoyed the job enough that I put "working my back up" on hold.

I don't know your situation and how big a pay cut you're willing to take, but that worked for me. Don't get discouraged, it's definitely possible. I'm "caught up" in my tech stack and feel comfortable enough to interview elsewhere, but I don't want to right now.

oh! I am a CTO, and, I code everyday. so, you don't need to step back (actually, anything you choose, it should be a step forward). no-one can stop the things you love to do. also, no-one can justice on the things you do to feed yourself too. find the thing you love, the thing can feed yourself, do it, both. at the end, goodluck with your choose.

> Few things to note with transition comes different pay scale. You may have less say in overall direction or even the best practices and standards.

Definitely be prepared to be paid less and have your opinion matter less.

But that may be okay. With less authority comes less responsibility. That may even be what you are seeking.

I've experienced this at my current org, where sometimes I'll just give a suggestion based on my experience. I am in a peer dept of the engineering org and see and hear a lot, but am not an engineer. My suggestion may or may not be heard and acted on. Which, to be fair, is exactly the same position when an engineer makes a suggestion about something in my wheelhouse.

I also think that performing this transition coupled with a move to a new company is probably a good idea. While it is fine to trial this with your current company, moving companies means a clean break. I can see folks deferring to you in the old org, making the new CTO's life more difficult.