
Ask HN: I have the opportunity to pick my own title, any ideas? - matterio
I&#x27;m being offered a position for a  startup. I&#x27;ll be the programming lead in a team of three or so. The CEO is giving me the opportunity to pick my own job title.<p>My responsibilities are going to be the actual programming of the app, providing good estimates and suggestions on different user stories—IE helping him prioritize features—and designing the architecture of the app as a whole. To some extent I&#x27;ll also be founding the programming culture there too—the CEO is non-technical, I would be the one actually driving the development process. &quot;CTO&quot; seems to have the connotation that I won&#x27;t actually be coding, which is a negative. I&#x27;m thinking maybe &quot;lead developer,&quot; but that doesn&#x27;t seem to cover the extent of what I&#x27;ll be doing, either. I&#x27;ve googled around but haven&#x27;t found any great alternatives.
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dennybritz
I don't think "CTO" has the connotation that you're not coding. Quite the
opposite in the early stages of a company. If the team is only a handful of
people then everyone will expect the CTO to be coding.

This may be an interesting read: [http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/want-to-
know-difference-b...](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/want-to-know-
difference-between-a-cto-and-a-vp-of-engineering/)

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matterio
That looks like it's going to be incredibly useful, thank you.

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eip
His Holiness Via Lactea Maximus, Grand Emperor of the Galactic Cluster,
Potentate of the Southern Quadrant, Imperator of Countless Worlds

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smt88
I wouldn't worry about whether people will believe you can code. Just use CTO.

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mikeegg1
When asked for my title I used to reply, "head geek".

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jeo1234
Chief Engineer. Or maybe Chief Engineering Officer.

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a3n
Lead Software Developer.

