“Where do you see yourself in 10 years” – when asked this question during an interview, many professionals with a software development background, be it senior developers, lead developer or team leaders, choose the CTO as their dream career path.
Realistically, it’s achievable but challenging. A study conducted by Evans Data Corporation found that there were 23 million developers worldwide in 2018. That number rose to 26.4 million in 2019 and is predicted to reach 27.7 million within the next five years. Let’s compare that to the biggest data source for job titles which is LinkedIn – nearly 1.5 million users claim to be Chief Technology Officers.
So there’s a lot of competition but with some quality advice, there’s no reason to get discouraged.
To get the most reliable answers I spoke to some experienced CTOs and tech managers – all of whom started as software developers – whose hard work reached leading positions and ultimately, the dream job. I asked them for tips that they wish they were given when climbing up the IT career ladder. Interestingly enough, they all agree that tech skills alone, while of course being very important, won’t guarantee you the successful CTO career.
Which skills you should then work on in order to increase your chances for the C-level promotion?
Tip 1: Be exposed to more and more challenges to grow over time
“CTO is a job for engineers who know the technical ins and outs but also contribute business ideas and show leadership skills. If you want to become really good at it, you need to get up from your working station and learn everything practically on a daily basis” – says Reiner Kraft, the CTO of YUNAR. He advises software developers to start at the team leadership level with responsibility for a small group of engineers, and then build-up. “There’s your team, there’s the company and there’s everything on the outside and it all comes together in a unique mix and imposes unpredictable challenges.”
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