> software developer for about 12 years, the last 8 of which I have been the CTO As others have pointed out, you can't really be CTO and a software developer u

> software developer for about 12 years, the last 8 of which I have been the CTO As others have pointed out, you can't really be CTO and a software developer unless you're at a tiny company (like 3 people tiny) and you claim that you're "growing like crazy" which implies that you couldn't have been CTO at a small company for long. This then means that you've been a software developer for 12 - 8 = 4 years. You're not and never have been a very senior IC, and there's nothing wrong with that if you're in a CTO role. You're probably not a bad developer, but you don't have the experience and skills of a really great senior IC. The skills required of a good CTO have almost nothing in common with those of a strong, senior IC. The only reason it's useful for CTOs to have developer experience is to help communication, but nobody looks up to their CTO for advice on solving day-to-day software problems. My guess is that if you're worried about your developer skills you might be lagging in some of your CTO duties (totally possible I'm wrong here). I would first make sure you're providing the high level leadership and support of that role. It's also possible that you don't really want to be CTO, if you want to be developer you can easily find a place where you can transition into an IC role. Overall it sounds like you should reflect a bit on what you want, where you currently are, and how to get to where you want to be. Do you want to be a great CTO? do you want to be a great developer? or is there something else you're looking for?