

Why CTOs shouldn’t write code at work - jennita
http://katemats.com/why-ctos-shouldnt-write-code-at-work/

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plinkplonk
Does it even make any sense for a good engineer to remain an engineer even in
startups?

It seems that power (and stock and money) gravitates to executives who don't
code. Why not be a CTO who 'doesn't code at work' anymore? Why spend your time
working late nights and burning out on fulfilling someone else's dream?

(there _are_ good answers to these questions, especially if you think in terms
of economics, but it behooves a good engineer to think about them and find her
own answer)

From the article, after the author stopped coding,

"I still was technical. I often wrote code on the weekends. Although the type
of work I did is what I call tinkering. I would want to know about a new
language or technology, and so I would build little sample applications
(typically analogous to a slightly more advanced “Hello, World!”) – just to
learn enough to form an opinion. And I read a lot of articles, source code,
and documentation on things that struck my fancy."

sounds like a plan.

I particularly like the "I was still technical" sentence.

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kate_mats
Thanks for the comment plinkplonk - I think it is super important to be
technical. In reading some of the other comments on the post, I really think
the decision was based on priority and the fact that in the free 1-2 hours I
had working on adding code to our production systems actually didn't add
enough value.

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calhoun137
This article gets a little bizarre at the end, until you realize she forgot to
mention that she is no longer CTO.

