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Step back a bit to evaluate your situation. "I could not keep my head up with friends or family if I do not escalate this" Really? As you noted, you're many l

Step back a bit to evaluate your situation. "I could not keep my head up with friends or family if I do not escalate this" Really? As you noted, you're many levels below the CTO. Why would the CTO's decision affect your ability to be in harmony with your friends & family? This indicates you have far too much emotional attachment to your work. Remember, you work for a business and at the end of the day that business is going to make decisions irrespective of how you feel about them. You should document and communicate your concerns in a non-combative way and then move on. Invite the CTO for a coffee to talk over the decision from their perspective, again not so you can combat them on it but so you can understand where they are coming from. If you can't come to understand and accept their decision and/or if you truly believe the CTO is immoral then it's time for you to find another job, fighting them in this one will very likely get you nowhere.

elmerfud 3y ago
If the CTO and managers really as described fighting over this won't get him nowhere it will get him exactly one place and that's out on the street. Often times not all decisions are clearly concisely explained in a way that lower level people can understand. One of the reasons that senior leadership sometimes goes with third-party software to pin integrations around is to lessen the reliance on in-house knowledge. This is often not directly stated but it is the goal of some people in senior leadership they trust external organizations that they can partner with more than they trust their local talent. There can be many many reasons for this and it's usually not because they don't believe their people are talented. Oftentimes leadership will have great admiration for the technical talent of their people but they also realize that talented people are not slaves and can choose to leave at any point. They mitigate this risk by using external utilities from vendors. It's very common for the top talented people to push back against this because it feels as if it's an attack on their abilities when in reality it's mostly a risk mitigation scheme. All companies do this as they grow and change and you either grow and change with it or you move on. The option of moving on is exactly why companies choose the strategy you're describing. So it is a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle but it is what it is.
- deleted 3y ago
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- throw89 3y ago
  I won't give up more details so I can stay anonymous. But I can assure you that I have good knowledge of both the existing systems and the proposed solution. It's not a matter of the decision not being well explained. The most outrageous is the completely backwards development process.
mdmglr 3y ago
> Invite the CTO for a coffee Depends on the company. I tried that. The CTO’s own internal profile (on our corporate Facebook-like thing) said “email me to have a coffee”. I fell for that. It’s a good way for the CTO to find out who they can’t trust. Did not help my career in any way.

elmerfud 3y ago

If the CTO and managers really as described fighting over this won't get him nowhere it will get him exactly one place and that's out on the street. Often times not all decisions are clearly concisely explained in a way that lower level people can understand. One of the reasons that senior leadership sometimes goes with third-party software to pin integrations around is to lessen the reliance on in-house knowledge. This is often not directly stated but it is the goal of some people in senior leadership they trust external organizations that they can partner with more than they trust their local talent. There can be many many reasons for this and it's usually not because they don't believe their people are talented. Oftentimes leadership will have great admiration for the technical talent of their people but they also realize that talented people are not slaves and can choose to leave at any point. They mitigate this risk by using external utilities from vendors. It's very common for the top talented people to push back against this because it feels as if it's an attack on their abilities when in reality it's mostly a risk mitigation scheme. All companies do this as they grow and change and you either grow and change with it or you move on. The option of moving on is exactly why companies choose the strategy you're describing. So it is a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle but it is what it is.

deleted 3y ago
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throw89 3y ago
I won't give up more details so I can stay anonymous. But I can assure you that I have good knowledge of both the existing systems and the proposed solution. It's not a matter of the decision not being well explained. The most outrageous is the completely backwards development process.

mdmglr 3y ago

> Invite the CTO for a coffee Depends on the company. I tried that. The CTO’s own internal profile (on our corporate Facebook-like thing) said “email me to have a coffee”. I fell for that. It’s a good way for the CTO to find out who they can’t trust. Did not help my career in any way.