{"id":10640,"date":"2022-03-20T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-20T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1382854"},"modified":"2022-03-20T11:00:46","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T11:00:46","slug":"ctos-share-how-to-move-from-a-dev-role-to-the-c-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=10640","title":{"rendered":"CTOs share how to move from a dev role to the C-suite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article was originally published on .cult<\/a> by Mikaella C<\/a>. .cult is a Berlin-based community platform for developers. We write about all things career-related, make original documentaries and share heaps of other untold developer stories from around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever wanted more control over the direction of your company? When is it time to rethink your role?<\/p>\n

One study from Honeypot<\/a> found that many developers become less satisfied with their working environment and company culture as they age, describing an increased risk of ageism from 29 onwards. As we grow more accustomed to working life and professional responsibilities, it\u2019s common to become frustrated with elements that might feel outside your control as a single developer.<\/p>\n

Some issues might be set by management or a C-level team, which you have little say in. And while there are all kinds of ways to negotiate for and manage<\/a> a better working life, some developers choose to change up their own role dramatically \u2014 perhaps even by building their own company.<\/p>\n

The path from developer to CTO isn\u2019t straightforward, but it is well-paved. And there are all kinds of reasons to pursue it, and different ways to get into the role. Maybe you were the first developer on the ground at a company; maybe a friend approached you with a big deal. Or you might be actively searching for that big C-level role.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re dreaming about the future or ready to start pursuing that role right now, there are strategies you can use to build yourself into the best (and most hirable!) CTO you can be. Take a page from other developers who have done the same thing.<\/p>\n

1. Move beyond your standard toolkit<\/h2>\n

The best developer in the world isn\u2019t going to make a good CTO if that\u2019s all she can do. As Reiner Kraft, CTO of Yunar explains, there are three main fields when it comes to a CTO\u2019s responsibilities:<\/p>\n

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Business (crunching the numbers and income), product (what we want to deliver) and technology (how are we going to make the product we want to deliver). Eventually, you\u2019ll need to focus on orchestrating these three together. Become both the visionary who sees the big picture and the catalyst who makes things happen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

These three fields cross over so many different spheres of work and responsibilities that, to a certain extent, the exact nature of a CTO\u2019s role is decided by the CTO (and the company they work for) themselves. Greg Brockman, former CTO of Stripe and now the co-founder and CTO at OpenAI, writes that while every CTO he spoke to, \u201cviewed themselves as the facilitators of the technology organization,\u201d the way this actually functioned differed:<\/p>\n

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Sometimes this was about connecting senior engineers. Sometimes it was mentoring. One thought-provoking case for me was a CTO who was effectively head of product.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This flexibility and breadth of responsibility means that you need to broaden your toolkit to look beyond software and programming. As a CTO, you\u2019ll be responsible for huge swathes of a company\u2019s work, from culture to recruitment to business<\/a> and more. You\u2019ll want to get involved in some of these areas as soon as you can. There\u2019s lots of small but valuable ways to take on more responsibility at your current company:<\/p>\n