

Ask HN: How does a software engineer become an executive at a big company? - zatkin


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noahc
Stop being a software engineer and start focusing on solving business and
people problems. My experience has been that if you're good ( at both software
and business) the company will try to move you in the 'leadership' direction
as opposed to push you into a Sr. dev role.

Companies need more executives that understand technology, because there is a
huge technology war going on in old tired industries right now and even the
not so bright see technology as the future. Software really is eating the
world.

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codeonfire
They don't. At one particular tech company, I examined all 100+ VP's. Only one
had a software engineering background and no longer works there. Merely
talking about engineering will get you labelled as a serf in any big company.

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mbrodersen
Focus on office politics and not on actually doing anything useful.

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dorfuss
More generally: From my (limited) experience 90% of the executives studied law
or economics and simply worked for the company long enough to out live all
competitors. At one the "Big four" companies I worked for the managing
director had a degree in strict sciences, and worked his/her way up by
specialising in security in the financial sector.

Three psychological factors before they got to the highest echelons: they were
efficient, they knew the business VERY well, and they liked taking risk (many
did extreme sport like freediving etc.).

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tixocloud
Learn how to build relationships, fix business problems and spot opportunities

