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Sorry to hear this. I've been through a similar transition. 1 of 2 devs 5 years ago, growing a team to 45+ engineers today. I felt a lot of what you describe. I
by nbclark 10y ago
Sorry to hear this. I've been through a similar transition. 1 of 2 devs 5 years ago, growing a team to 45+ engineers today. I felt a lot of what you describe. I was somewhat aware of the split (as it was happening) between technical creativity and being the face of the team (but not actually building). I realized that building, being creative was something I didn't want to lose. I hired directors and promoted (eventually) one to VP. He and I work very closely, but the clear distinction is he runs the engineering team, and I am responsible for running the architecture group, facilitating engineering culture and leading research.
Thankfully my CEO was supportive of the split I defined, and it has allowed me to not lose my identity. But for a good 2 years there, I was struggling to find the right fit.
And as for getting yelled at about bugs, that's just part of the job. It's hard not to take personally, but when you realize that CSMs get yelled at so much more about bugs than we do in engineering roles, it helps put the pain into perspective.
- madaxe_again 10y agoYeah, having support within the business probably helps. I was hung out to dry one time too many. I likewise promoted and hired to try to make the situation tenable, but wasn't allowed to change my role to be less client/organisation focussed - by that point I was truly shut out of the dev team. It's also very hard not to take personally when nobody else is willing to take any responsibility - everything ends up escalated, usually with clients making death threats and other such fun. Perhaps I'm just thin skinned, but I reached the point where halving my net worth just to escape was the best option.
- nbclark 10y agoSorry for the tough situation. Hope all has worked out better since.
- madaxe_again 10y agoWell, it's been a day since I left, and all I've managed is to increment my age by a year! Today I need to go and actually announce my resignation to the team. Only the directors know. Either everyone will cheer, or worse yet, there will be no reaction at all. I made a rod for my own back - it just took me a decade to realise it. I guess I'm just not cut out for this.
- agibsonccc 10y agoI've found dividing up the support among engineers helps this a lot. Lack of empathy is a big factor here. Having engineers understanding customer problems also leads to easy consensus and easier cross collaboration among teams. Would love input contradicting this. I'm still learning a lot myself but this has worked for us.
- madaxe_again 10y agoNail on head. There was zero empathy from anyone for anyone, except for from me for everyone. Again, part of my problem is that I probably care too damn much. If our teams, our clients, were upset it would upset me, and I spent most of my time feeling like a bloody counsellor rather than a CTO. We actually did pull development into support on a rota - and after a month of me spending two hours a day dealing with angry toxic engineers who are threatening to walk out because they've been made to look in the support inbox, or placating clients who've been brusquely told their issue isn't seen as a problem, we backed down. It turned into out and out warfare, people were naming their damn factions. Does say something that the only technical person in the company other than support to do support was me.