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Why I code as a CTO

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Re: Why I code as a CTO

#221

Post by dilyevsky »

prerok wrote: post #84
dilyevsky wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's something you're willing to share out loud? Your company's technical process (which you're fully in control of, Mr. CTO) is so cumbersome that it seriously hinders your ability to execute This is exactly what someone who can't be easily unseated should be doing at a company - demonstrate to middle management that the process they've constructed is whack and take away excuses for not delivering. CEO or someon…

Trouble is, I don't think they'll just get it and then set about to changing the processes. Besides, the process doesn't come from the middle management, it originates from the top, usually the CTO.

Well if they dont and you have to demonstrate that again and again, then you know what to do and hopefully have the power to do it.

> Besides, the process doesn't come from the middle management, it originates from the top, usually the CTO.

Not ime

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#222

Post by dilyevsky »

ambicapter wrote: post #218
dilyevsky wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God forbid you'd actually have to do any real work when there's so many design, retro, and daily sync meetings to attend and so many jira issues to groom.

You're conveniently skipping over the fact that he has full control over those things. He is the CHIEF Technology Officer.

Only indirectly (through management) and still having control is exactly my point. Obviously if you need to do that over and over there’re some other actions need to be taken

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#223

Post by manquer »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #158
manquer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I code as a founder/CTO on weekends, I don't expect weekend work done by anyone else and most people rarely check in if ever on weekends. The job profile of founder-CTO has not a lot of overlap with that of an individual contributor to be leading by example, the overlap is quite narrow even for senior engineering leadership. Until recently[3] leaders with prior coding skills were always discouraged from code contribu…

If you want to work on the weekend - and occasionally I find myself doing so as a staff level IC consultant who does need to spend an inordinate amount of time mentoring, project management, suppprting sales, interviewing candidates, babysitting clients, etc… - don’t send messages on Slack or email outside of business hours. I schedule messages to go out Monday morning and I never mention I worked on the weekend. I d…

I kill slack app on weekends , that is largely to save battery on the laptop working out of coffee shops, but serves the same purpose :)

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#224

Post by varispeed »

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 fondly remember times when at one company CTO was doing round the dev section at 4:50pm and saying everyone close their machines. Go home or to pub, it's an order.

Once I sent an email at 5:45pm as I forgot to say something earlier about the project. I didn't get a response and in the morning got told off that I should never send an email outside of working hours, unless it is a personal matter that cannot wait.

Couple of years later the owners exited and new management replaced everyone with workers from consultancy of theirs. Company no longer exists.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#225

Post by tuwtuwtuwtuw »

jenadine wrote: post #175
zkmon wrote: post #133

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.

> PR reviews for your commits may not be honest [...] True. That's already something I struggle being the most senior in my team. It is hard to find reviewer for my commits who dare to actually reject my code.

That sounds a bit odd. I am the most senior in my team and when I make mistakes, my peers reject it.

If people on the team don't dare to reject code from other members on the team, then it sounds like your team has some serious issues.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#226

Post by ghaff »

LgWoodenBadger wrote: post #216
ghaff wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CTO, CIO, and the head of engineering (the latter of which can often be split among different groups) are often very distinct things, especially at larger companies. And, yes, while the CTO probably has a seat at the table for technology direction is often primarily a public technology face of the company as opposed to someone involved in a lot of hands-on day to day technology implementation.

“Probably has a seat at the table for technology direction” is a wild take to me. So much so that I can’t even formulate a response other than “what…?!”

I'm not sure what you find confusing. Someone can have an advisory and essentially technology evangelist role without necessarily being the ultimate decision maker. (And, at a larger company, a variety of folks--including the board--will ultimately make final consequential decisions.)

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#227

Post by rstephenson2 »

It was hard to tell if he means he doesn’t do meetings at all, though it’s kind of implied. There are lots of high leverage activities around advocating for engineering’s perspectives among the other executives and bringing the business context to engineering, both of which don’t involve directly managing reports.

But I’m also surprised to see so many comments advocating for the CTO disconnecting from the code in favor of doing more people management. As soon as they stop writing code their skills start decaying, their advice and technical direction is reduced to platitudes and thought leadership. It may seem like a CTO who doesn't code will stop making technical decisions and just delegate, but I’d posit that they make decisions regardless, just worse ones.

It seems like this sentiment relates closely to the ideas around dual track career progression, and having technical leadership tied to hiring and managing people. Hiring engineering talent is certainly important to the company, but is quite orthogonal to technical decision making and it seems like a natural place to split the role.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#228

Post by dahart »

tptacek wrote: post #213
dahart wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The one thing I can think of is “organization-wide architecture oversight”, which is a pretty toxic role to assign. I don’t know that I understand what you mean by toxic or why, but I’ve only ever seen the architecture overseer kind of thing in pretty small companies. In big companies, where there are multiple VPs of engineering and product management, that feels like the only time CTO even makes sense, and I expec…

Think about what it says, in a larger team staffed with competent technical talent, to have a single person across all of it reconciling decisions with their own personal mental model. I think it's an attractive idea for a lot of aspirants! Who wouldn't want to be President of Code? But ambiguity is resolved by practitioners at the sharp end of the system.

I see, and I agree completely. I don’t see the CTO as having that role, but you’re right I guess some people do. That’s one reason it makes sense to at least try to put some definition to the role, isn’t it? To help people realize it’s not a technical role, but a people/organizational role that generally only large organizations need…

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#229

Post by 999900000999 »

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…

> During Thanksgiving break, I just decided to build it and knocked out a prototype.

You don’t want a boss that works on Thanksgiving and thus probably expects you to as well ?

I’d actually be ok with this if bro offered half a million total comp. I’ll deal with it for 5 years and then retire.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#230

Post by willseth »

mock-possum wrote: post #61
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With no directs, even “principal” would be a stretch in any company of note. If he spends that much time “coding”, that barely qualifies as a “senior” at large tech companies.

Yeah 60% coding 40% managing juniors is basically what senior dev has looked like me for the past few jobs, even at smaller (~15-30 employees) outfits

This is staff, principal, or even EM scope at many orgs. I have never seen anyone with a senior dev title directly managing juniors.
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