You'd have to look at small businesses or startups if you wanted to go straight to a CTO type role IMO -- having not held something equivalent prior. But assum

You'd have to look at small businesses or startups if you wanted to go straight to a CTO type role IMO -- having not held something equivalent prior. But assuming you interview well and have the right skill set you could probably pretty easily do that. Startups need people that are more versatile and willing to take on a lot of challenges. Generally the one negative with early startups is the pay will not be what you are used to, so you have to weigh that based on your personal situation. You could also look at product roles, e.g. where you are a product manager or something similar. Again since you want to be hands on technical you'd have to do this in a smaller company or startup where you could do so. As for my experience, it wasn't that difficult to do. I just sought out positions which seemed to gel well with my experience and desires. Honestly, when I joined the current startup I am at, I joined as a Senior Firmware Engineer. I am doing more now that uses more of my total experience, but that was how I joined and I loved it cause I initially really wanted to spend some time just in code.