The challenge of leadership is that of leading people, not of writing code. Dealing with people can be messy, frustrating, and depressing, but it's what needs t

The challenge of leadership is that of leading people, not of writing code. Dealing with people can be messy, frustrating, and depressing, but it's what needs to be done. As a CTO, I code about 30% of the time, but I expect that to go down as our company grows. Much of the time I deal with people who were offended that so-and-so shot down their new design, or they think their career is being harmed because they can't rewrite the entire product in Clojure, or senior management is freaking out because of one minor bug that hits an important customer. If you can see a path to where you want your company and team to be in a few years, then stay and try to move down that path. It is very rewarding to see tangible progress in your product and your team. If you want to be coding all day, find another job.