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Why I code as a CTO

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Re: Why I code as a CTO

#131

Post by xrd »

I stopped reading when he said "I have no direct reports" in the first paragraph. If you are the CTO and have no direct reports, you are pretending to be a CTO because that is not what a CTO does.

(Actually, I did read more, but with contempt stuck in my eyes...)

AI coding tools are great, and the biggest problem they create is that inexperienced people think they can now make technical contributions AND management. Totally untrue. Coding is a tiny part of the technical contribution, and AI tools right now mostly do ONLY that. Troubleshooting and debugging, and communication, and gathering customer requirements are much harder to delegate to AI tools. And, maintenance of code is the real cost center, and AI tools have yet to be proven on that front, and my experiences so far make me think this will be marginal improvements, not 10x improvements.

I'm going to paraphrase his comment about "shipping a vital customer feature by myself because I'm a big boy coder" (maybe I added something there, not sure) because I don't want to deal with the pain of reading it again. I see this all the time where CTOs brag about vibe coding something, and it is always to prove to the team how fast they can go as if that's the main problem. Focusing on that work means you are not writing down coding standards, managing team dynamics, and dealing with the hard problems. Those problems don't go away on their own, they are the real problems, and the downstream effects are what experienced CTOs and technical managers know all too well.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#132

Post by taneq »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #106
OccamsMirror wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cowboy development might fly in an early stage startup. But are you even really a CTO or are you just an overpaid mid-level developer?

I think the answer is in the blog: " I currently manage no direct reports and ship a lot of code. "

That’s not a CTO, that’s a dev.

I was about to ask how someone in the C suite has time to code at all, ever, but here we are.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#133

Post by zkmon »

There are a few serious issues with this kind of "passion" in a work area outside of yours.

* PR reviews for your commits may not be honest, as people may hesitate to reject your code changes.

* You may not have time for your actual responsibilities.

* It may confuse people about your role.

* May be you are not letting some folks do their job.

* You are probably a coder at heart, not a CTO.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#135

Post by Lio »

dbbk wrote: post #129
sa-code wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t particularly enjoy building orgs and figuring out people stuff. Engineering management involves navigating interpersonal dynamics, performance reviews, and organizational design. These are crucial functions, but they’re not where my strengths lie. This bit got me. It's a direct quote from the linked post for those who haven't read it

Then why are you the CTO!! Dude just wants to be a staff engineer

Maybe. If he’s a technical founder though what other position would you hold?

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#137

Post by [deleted] »

brabel wrote: post #125
matwood wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So you think coding is not high leverage on a tech company. At the CTO level of a growing company it is one of the lower leverage things they can do. Setting technical direction, hiring the right people, and putting the right people in positions of power will all have much more impact than writing some code on the weekend.

You’re wrong man. These things you mentioned happen rarely, it’s not what you do day to day. If you don’t do some high value coding you have no clue how to steer a tech company at a technical level.

[deleted]

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#138

Post by swat535 »

mexicocitinluez wrote: post #123
tptacek wrote: post #5

Articles like these are kind of hard to parse because there's no well-defined meaning to the title of "CTO". Our "CTO" codes, probably more than anybody in the company, but that's because he's got a founder-inherited CTO title that mostly just means "he can do whatever he wants" --- we're happy with that, what he wants is practically always great. That's one definition of a CTO. Another CTO type is the opposite: "the…

> because there's no well-defined meaning to the title of "CTO". Our "CTO" codes, Amen. I am a CTO, but spend most of my day coding. I was brought onto a smallish/medium sized company to get their base tech into the modern age, build LOB apps to improve some workflows, and ultimate build a new EMR in that space to replace the one the company is using. I don't have anybody that reports to me. I'm one of 2 tech people…

You can say this about any “C” title, such as the CEO who is spending his time in Figma or marketing or sales,…

In small startups, people wear multiple hats due to resource constraints. Executive roles and responsibilities change when the company grows.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#139

Post by senorrib »

Lio wrote: post #135
dbbk wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why are you the CTO!! Dude just wants to be a staff engineer

Maybe. If he’s a technical founder though what other position would you hold?

Staff engineer. Founders don’t necessarily need to hold CXO titles to work in the startups they founded.
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