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I am a CTO, going from 2 engineers to a total engineering org of approximately 20. Much of my time is non-coding, but I don't believe you have to totally give

I am a CTO, going from 2 engineers to a total engineering org of approximately 20. Much of my time is non-coding, but I don't believe you have to totally give it up. I try to leave a day per week free of meetings to code / review code. I keep some projects that, while useful for the company, can be worked on irregularly and slowly, and are not super essential to be accomplished quickly (which is why they aren't prioritized for the engineering teams).

yarper 8y ago
Giving up coding is what you do for your team, so they don't have to deal with the half finished B grade work you did inbetween doing the serious shit they can't do
- seibelj 8y ago
  Wow! What an extraordinarily unhelpful and bad attitude you have
  - kochthesecond 8y ago
    While crude, I believe he is right. I have seen it too many times with project managers and now my CTO. Trying to still code and fix that terrible bug with already too little time. Ends up slowing down everyone because he never can get anything finished, or breaking things on a Thursday at 6:49pm because of the half baked solution he thought was good enough, but exploded in production, which he then has to spend 1 more hour fixing and 6 more hours cleaning up the aftermath. Spend your time reviewing and mentoring and try replacing yourself with someone who has time. You now have important shit to do.
    - seibelj 8y ago
      I have determined that I can still code sometimes and not ruin engineering. Nothing is black and white
      - kochthesecond 8y ago
        That is good. You know your situation best
  - yarper 8y ago
    I realise it might be shocking to hear but it's genuine and meant sincerely, I think you're probably making a mistake and because you are cto are not being picked up on it
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    No, you have the bad attitude. You're getting some good advice and you are responding in a way that shows that you are not open to input. Which is exactly why you should stop coding.
    - seibelj 8y ago
      I disagree, every CTO I’ve worked for has their own side projects, no need to lose your mind over it
  - knappe 8y ago
    To be honest, you're not yet at the scale where this much of a concern. You're either "flat" and about to need to put in structure or you already have it. If you already have the structure in place, then you have at most 4 direct reports and at worst 2 (ideal team sizes being 3-5). I say this not to downplay the work you've done, but instead to put it all in perspective. You're in the `11-50 Engineers: Clinging to coding.` stage.
- dang 8y ago
  Come on, there's no need to attack somebody like that just because your experience is different. Instead, share your experience so we can all learn from both sides. There isn't nearly enough information in seibelj's comment to draw a conclusion either way.
jacquesm 8y ago
You're not going to like this advice, but I'll give it anyway. There is nothing more irritating than a CTO that continues to code. For one it will seriously disturb the team dynamic because you are going to set the standard for everything, whether you like it or not and if you've hired smartly (better at the job than you would be) you've now dragged down the whole team with you. Also, you are going to be there part-time as a coder, and whoever ends up drawing the short straw to review your code will be very much aware that they are reviewing the work done by a c-level exec. That review will be less than a similar review done on the work done by a peer. So if your company is dear to you leave your coding for some hobby project and allow the people you have hired to do their very best under your guidance.
kulu2002 8y ago
Imagine your children are in high-school and you are still doing their homework.

yarper 8y ago

Giving up coding is what you do for your team, so they don't have to deal with the half finished B grade work you did inbetween doing the serious shit they can't do

seibelj 8y ago
Wow! What an extraordinarily unhelpful and bad attitude you have
- kochthesecond 8y ago
  While crude, I believe he is right. I have seen it too many times with project managers and now my CTO. Trying to still code and fix that terrible bug with already too little time. Ends up slowing down everyone because he never can get anything finished, or breaking things on a Thursday at 6:49pm because of the half baked solution he thought was good enough, but exploded in production, which he then has to spend 1 more hour fixing and 6 more hours cleaning up the aftermath. Spend your time reviewing and mentoring and try replacing yourself with someone who has time. You now have important shit to do.
  - seibelj 8y ago
    I have determined that I can still code sometimes and not ruin engineering. Nothing is black and white
    - kochthesecond 8y ago
      That is good. You know your situation best
- yarper 8y ago
  I realise it might be shocking to hear but it's genuine and meant sincerely, I think you're probably making a mistake and because you are cto are not being picked up on it
- jacquesm 8y ago
  No, you have the bad attitude. You're getting some good advice and you are responding in a way that shows that you are not open to input. Which is exactly why you should stop coding.
  - seibelj 8y ago
    I disagree, every CTO I’ve worked for has their own side projects, no need to lose your mind over it
- knappe 8y ago
  To be honest, you're not yet at the scale where this much of a concern. You're either "flat" and about to need to put in structure or you already have it. If you already have the structure in place, then you have at most 4 direct reports and at worst 2 (ideal team sizes being 3-5). I say this not to downplay the work you've done, but instead to put it all in perspective. You're in the `11-50 Engineers: Clinging to coding.` stage.
dang 8y ago
Come on, there's no need to attack somebody like that just because your experience is different. Instead, share your experience so we can all learn from both sides. There isn't nearly enough information in seibelj's comment to draw a conclusion either way.

jacquesm 8y ago

You're not going to like this advice, but I'll give it anyway. There is nothing more irritating than a CTO that continues to code. For one it will seriously disturb the team dynamic because you are going to set the standard for everything, whether you like it or not and if you've hired smartly (better at the job than you would be) you've now dragged down the whole team with you. Also, you are going to be there part-time as a coder, and whoever ends up drawing the short straw to review your code will be very much aware that they are reviewing the work done by a c-level exec. That review will be less than a similar review done on the work done by a peer. So if your company is dear to you leave your coding for some hobby project and allow the people you have hired to do their very best under your guidance.

kulu2002 8y ago

Imagine your children are in high-school and you are still doing their homework.