3 ms·

I've been a CTO a couple of times (VMware, startup), I don't think I'm a good one (I am better as an individual contributor, rather than as a manager), but I ha

I've been a CTO a couple of times (VMware, startup), I don't think I'm a good one (I am better as an individual contributor, rather than as a manager), but I have one piece of advice for you: ignore books, or use them as secondary source of truth. You should instead TALK to long-time or former CTOs and ask them for advice. You won't find that advice in any book. It's invaluable.

rwmj 3y ago
How/where did you find former CTOs to talk to?
- _jal 3y ago
  ...you just found one and talked to him.
  - nsoldiac 3y ago
    not always a him
    - fdsalkjvlkjlkj 3y ago
      I'm pretty sure you can safely call him a him in this case.
    - _jal 3y ago
      When does Simone become something else?
      - Jtsummers 3y ago
        Simone as a feminine or masculine name depends on the language and country. Simone in French is feminine, and in Italian (so a reasonable interpretation here given the last name) is masculine. In the US (and, from what I've seen, other English speaking countries) the name is brought in from French and generally considered feminine (barring being in an Italian community, I've met a couple Simone <Italian last name> men, but often the name becomes Simon after a generation or two in the US for men like how Roberto or Juan will become Robert or John for Spanish-language immigrant families). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_(given_name)#Simone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_(given_name)#Simone - Pick any of the Italians off the list and they're almost certainly men, most of the non-Italian Simone's are women. Of course, it's still safer to look them up if you don't actually know the person in question and want to use he or she.
        _jal 3y ago
        I can't tell if this is typical hn pedantry or genuine misunderstanding, so I'll point out that I was not referring to "some entity named Simone", I was referring to the particular Simone in this very comment thread, for whom we have strong evidence about preferred pronouns. > Of course, it's still safer to look them up if you don't actually know the person in question and want to use he or she. Physician, heal thyself.
    - piuantiderp 3y ago
      Nor a she. Hope no offense is taken by such a small matter
      - belter 3y ago
        https://youtu.be/ifV7IkGVqaY https://youtu.be/ifV7IkGVqaY
    - dangus 3y ago
      "They/Them" would be appropriate if we didn't know the person's gender or if they were specifically non-binary. However, in this case, we do know that this specific person is "he/him" thanks to the username and public profile, so the comment parent to yours was appropriate and your comment less so. (Your comment is less appropriate because the analogy would be if you said: "Nice to meet you, Jim. Not all people in your position are men, though.")
    - simonebrunozzi 3y ago
      I'm a he/him, but I take no offense if people think I'm a she/her, given that my first name (Simone) can be both feminine and masculine, depending on the culture/background. (I'm Italian, in Italy it's only masculine)
- xtracto 3y ago
  The slack community in https://randsinrepose.com/welcome-to-rands-leadership-slack/ https://randsinrepose.com/welcome-to-rands-leadership-slack/ has a pretty good number of CTOs and other leaders.
  - stavros 3y ago
    This looks interesting, thanks!
  - mooreds 3y ago
    Plus one for this. There's a #startup-cto channel there that is full of good folks to chat with.
- mooreds 3y ago
  I mentioned this in another comment but ctolunches.com is a group of engineering leaders that I have participated in from time to time. 7 CTOs is another one that I have heard of but haven't participated in.
- simonebrunozzi 3y ago
  I guess it was easy for me. Before becoming CTO at VMware, I was Senior Technology Evangelist at AWS, and was very well known in the Cloud Computing space. I met a ton of startups and larger companies, mostly on the technical side, so I knew a lot of people. I also helped many of them a lot during my years at AWS, and most of them were very eager to give me a hand / provide advice.
ajb 3y ago
On that subject, Someone I knew used to use the bartech cto network. But I'm not sure if it still exists, as I now can't find any trace of bartech online. There is this page: https://discourse.bartechcto.net/login https://discourse.bartechcto.net/login but it seems to be invite only.
mooreds 3y ago
Yes, so much is contextual and it's really hard to get that from books. But conversations, whether with peers or a coach, can help you because they have that context.

rwmj 3y ago

How/where did you find former CTOs to talk to?

_jal 3y ago
...you just found one and talked to him.
- nsoldiac 3y ago
  not always a him
  - fdsalkjvlkjlkj 3y ago
    I'm pretty sure you can safely call him a him in this case.
  - _jal 3y ago
    When does Simone become something else?
    - Jtsummers 3y ago
      Simone as a feminine or masculine name depends on the language and country. Simone in French is feminine, and in Italian (so a reasonable interpretation here given the last name) is masculine. In the US (and, from what I've seen, other English speaking countries) the name is brought in from French and generally considered feminine (barring being in an Italian community, I've met a couple Simone <Italian last name> men, but often the name becomes Simon after a generation or two in the US for men like how Roberto or Juan will become Robert or John for Spanish-language immigrant families). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_(given_name)#Simone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_(given_name)#Simone - Pick any of the Italians off the list and they're almost certainly men, most of the non-Italian Simone's are women. Of course, it's still safer to look them up if you don't actually know the person in question and want to use he or she.
      - _jal 3y ago
        I can't tell if this is typical hn pedantry or genuine misunderstanding, so I'll point out that I was not referring to "some entity named Simone", I was referring to the particular Simone in this very comment thread, for whom we have strong evidence about preferred pronouns. > Of course, it's still safer to look them up if you don't actually know the person in question and want to use he or she. Physician, heal thyself.
  - piuantiderp 3y ago
    Nor a she. Hope no offense is taken by such a small matter
    - belter 3y ago
      https://youtu.be/ifV7IkGVqaY https://youtu.be/ifV7IkGVqaY
  - dangus 3y ago
    "They/Them" would be appropriate if we didn't know the person's gender or if they were specifically non-binary. However, in this case, we do know that this specific person is "he/him" thanks to the username and public profile, so the comment parent to yours was appropriate and your comment less so. (Your comment is less appropriate because the analogy would be if you said: "Nice to meet you, Jim. Not all people in your position are men, though.")
  - simonebrunozzi 3y ago
    I'm a he/him, but I take no offense if people think I'm a she/her, given that my first name (Simone) can be both feminine and masculine, depending on the culture/background. (I'm Italian, in Italy it's only masculine)
xtracto 3y ago
The slack community in https://randsinrepose.com/welcome-to-rands-leadership-slack/ https://randsinrepose.com/welcome-to-rands-leadership-slack/ has a pretty good number of CTOs and other leaders.
- stavros 3y ago
  This looks interesting, thanks!
- mooreds 3y ago
  Plus one for this. There's a #startup-cto channel there that is full of good folks to chat with.
mooreds 3y ago
I mentioned this in another comment but ctolunches.com is a group of engineering leaders that I have participated in from time to time. 7 CTOs is another one that I have heard of but haven't participated in.
simonebrunozzi 3y ago
I guess it was easy for me. Before becoming CTO at VMware, I was Senior Technology Evangelist at AWS, and was very well known in the Cloud Computing space. I met a ton of startups and larger companies, mostly on the technical side, so I knew a lot of people. I also helped many of them a lot during my years at AWS, and most of them were very eager to give me a hand / provide advice.

ajb 3y ago

On that subject, Someone I knew used to use the bartech cto network. But I'm not sure if it still exists, as I now can't find any trace of bartech online. There is this page: https://discourse.bartechcto.net/login https://discourse.bartechcto.net/login but it seems to be invite only.

mooreds 3y ago

Yes, so much is contextual and it's really hard to get that from books. But conversations, whether with peers or a coach, can help you because they have that context.