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Why I code as a CTO

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Re: Why I code as a CTO

#231

Post by tptacek »

icedchai wrote: post #220
tptacek wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very similar to my own role, but I didn't have (nor would I have accepted) that title.

On my resume, I usually list it as “Lead Engineer” since it fits the roles I’m applying to better.

I think a founder/early gets away with "CTO" on their resume, esp. if they're the only person in the org with the role (ie: it's a PM-style CTO, and there isn't a VP/PM; or: it's a VP/E-style CTO, and there isn't a VP/E). But outside that circumstance, given the choice, I'd rather have the VP/PM or VP/E role than "CTO".

(As we get deeper into these threads I am further out on a limb.)

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#232

Post by acron0 »

ghaff wrote: post #226
LgWoodenBadger wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“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.)

How can the Chief Technical Officer not be the one chiefly responsible for technology decisions?

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#233

Post by mexicocitinluez »

kgwxd wrote: post #179
mexicocitinluez wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Then why even mention the CTO part?

Because it's the official title at my company?

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#234

Post by [deleted] »

dijksterhuis wrote: post #196
mexicocitinluez wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

[deleted]

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#235

Post by ghaff »

acron0 wrote: post #232
ghaff wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

How can the Chief Technical Officer not be the one chiefly responsible for technology decisions?

Because, title notwithstanding, they may not be the person solely responsible for technical decisions especially at the detailed (or macro) level.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#236

Post by mexicocitinluez »

tptacek wrote: post #215
dijksterhuis wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

People here want "CTOs" to be brave enough to call bullshit on their "CTO-hood" but nobody here is brave enough to call bullshit on the title itself, which is the truer and more important observation.

What's the purity test for being a "real" CTO?

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#237

Post by LouisSayers »

He's probably right that no-one else can do what he can, because competent Devs aren't going to work for a company that operates like this.

If you have to build something because "Devs are too busy working on other things", then you're just bad at prioritising tasks.

If your team "can't do what I can" then you're bad at hiring.

I don't mind if a CTO works on a bug ticket, but make it part of the usual process, not hero driven development. Otherwise, what's even the point of having a process in the first place?!

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#238

Post by tptacek »

mexicocitinluez wrote: post #236
tptacek wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People here want "CTOs" to be brave enough to call bullshit on their "CTO-hood" but nobody here is brave enough to call bullshit on the title itself, which is the truer and more important observation.

What's the purity test for being a "real" CTO?

Like I keep saying, I don't think there's any such thing. The title by itself has the same kind of meaning as "employee of the month".

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#239

Post by KaiserPro »

dilyevsky wrote: post #76
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…

> 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…

> This is exactly what someone who can't be easily unseated should be doing at a company

I mean yeah, but hes the fucking CTO. If hes the CTO, _he_ is responsible for that process. Its his job to evolve it to make it fit for purpose.

What he's done is basically created a whole bunch of process debt, which is much harder to correct than tech debt.

Re: Why I code as a CTO

#240

Post by KaiserPro »

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…

> An engineer unfamiliar with that part of the codebase would spend quite a lot of time figuring out those details.

Your job is to delegate, yes, the first delegation is hard, but the engineer either grows, or doesn't (then you need to move or yeet).

Yes I understand that you want to code all the time, then you're not a CTO. A CTO leads from the front, leads with process, and context. Your job is to provide context so that your team can execute.

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