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Why I code as a CTO

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Re: Why I code as a CTO

#191

Post by wonderwonder »

sa-code wrote: post #115
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #67

Man, if I'm trying to decide which company to work for, and I see a blog post from its CTO crowing about regularly checking in code on Saturdays and Sundays, I'd start backing slowly away. And when I got to the bit that said "AI has made me three times as productive," I'd turn and run. Your job at the top is, more than anything else, pushing down a healthy culture. That includes things like setting an example of not…

> 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

Also: "I currently manage no direct reports and ship a lot of code." So essentially he is just a staff engineer with a fancy title

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#192

Post by [deleted] »

dangoodmanUT wrote: post #185
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #67

Man, if I'm trying to decide which company to work for, and I see a blog post from its CTO crowing about regularly checking in code on Saturdays and Sundays, I'd start backing slowly away. And when I got to the bit that said "AI has made me three times as productive," I'd turn and run. Your job at the top is, more than anything else, pushing down a healthy culture. That includes things like setting an example of not…

It seems like you're confusing technical founder CTO at a startup with professional CTO at a large org. For the later, what you said makes some sense, and it definitely seems like you're more familiar with this archetype. For the former, the article appears correct. If you've not worked at an early stage startup before, the culture is _very_ different. As a side note: This article is doing it's job. People that are a…

[deleted]

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#193

Post by fogzen »

dangoodmanUT wrote: post #185
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #67

Man, if I'm trying to decide which company to work for, and I see a blog post from its CTO crowing about regularly checking in code on Saturdays and Sundays, I'd start backing slowly away. And when I got to the bit that said "AI has made me three times as productive," I'd turn and run. Your job at the top is, more than anything else, pushing down a healthy culture. That includes things like setting an example of not…

It seems like you're confusing technical founder CTO at a startup with professional CTO at a large org. For the later, what you said makes some sense, and it definitely seems like you're more familiar with this archetype. For the former, the article appears correct. If you've not worked at an early stage startup before, the culture is _very_ different. As a side note: This article is doing it's job. People that are a…

Working at a startup can be rewarding, but it often means putting in founder-level effort while the founders capture most of the upside.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#194

Post by alexnewman »

I manage too many to code. I can hardly qa it all. Instead i have been vibe coding on my own for fun. I usually do it before anyone else wakes up. I like to think it helps me stay fresh

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#196

Post by dijksterhuis »

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 are what you do

> I am a CTO

> "but I don't really do CTO things"

so you’re not a CTO according to your own definition of what a CTO does then.

my previous employment i was “lead engineer”. i got to pick that title. had a 1 day per week part timer reporting to me. similar company description. making technical decisions. strategy meetings with CEO and founder etc.

i was not a lead engineer and ive since changed my linkedin page/cv to just say “engineer”. who or what was i leading? a contractor in ukraine who did work for us one day a week? nah, need a team (ie more than 1) to be able to lead.

do the brave thing and call bullshit on yourself. this is something good leaders do.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#197

Post by dccoolgai »

Lots of naysaying this, and I don't necessarily disagree with the general skepticism, but there's something I learned in Military Science class in college that I found interesting: in the U.S. marines, every marine from generals to janitors is rated and trained as a capable combat marksman with a rifle regardless of their specialization.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#198

Post by morsecodist »

This is such an interesting comment thread because people have such wildly different opinions and from my perspective the entire disagreement just comes from company size.

I am a "CTO" and I always put that in air quotes because I have one direct report and I spend the lion's share of my time doing IC work. I know what I do is not what people picture when they hear the title and I feel weird saying it. I use it because I do have to make the strategic technical decisions, there is no one else. When people are marketing technical B2B SaaS I am the one they are looking for.

From my perspective there just isn't nearly enough for me to do as a CTO to justify me not coding. If I were to hire someone just to manage them that would be an unjustifiable expense at this point. But I also get that as soon as we get to a reasonable size this would be totally unsustainable.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#199

Post by santoshalper »

sa-code wrote: post #115
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #67

Man, if I'm trying to decide which company to work for, and I see a blog post from its CTO crowing about regularly checking in code on Saturdays and Sundays, I'd start backing slowly away. And when I got to the bit that said "AI has made me three times as productive," I'd turn and run. Your job at the top is, more than anything else, pushing down a healthy culture. That includes things like setting an example of not…

> 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

Dude is a staff engineer, not a CTO.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#200

Post by submeta »

BoxFour wrote: post #149
submeta wrote: post #54

I have a question to the CTOs here, honestly asking: How can you have your team work on cutting edge technology without understanding the technology by getting your hands dirty, open your terminal, tinker with the technology, look into it, play with it, try to get a grasp of it. How?

I don't think this is a really convincing argument: There are plenty of leaders who haven't "done the job" in decades, and we don't question that. It's incredibly common in professional sports, for example. Mike McCarthy hasn't played a down of American football in 40 years, and never played at a very high level. But we don't question his ability to get others to perform complex motions.

This is not really a good analogy. Tech is different.

I am not saying you should sit down and write code. But in IT you know the difference between a tech lead who knows technology, who knows what works, for what reason. And the one that just demands results but knows nothing about the details of the technology. Has never gotten his hands on it.

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