I agree with you. Of course, I don't know the full story but given what I have seen in the past I would guess it's the second option. Some of the coders simply

I agree with you. Of course, I don't know the full story but given what I have seen in the past I would guess it's the second option. Some of the coders simply can't deal (or, more accurately, their egos) when someone less skilled is above them in the hierarchy. If this is the case, I'd say just fire him. It sucks now, but will save from a lot of pain later on. For instance, when you hire someone else who might happen to be less skilled than the CTO. Good software developers know that there are less skilled people, they used to be like them, and deal with that appropriately (i.e. with respect and without offending). And then there are prima donnas who can't deal with working with another human being for whatever the reason is. At the end of the day, being a good software developer is not all about writing code. Far from it.