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A CTO should be technical (blog.southparkcommons.com)

600 points by catapultis · 1443 days ago · 354 comments on HN

Article summary

The article discusses the role of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and whether they should be technical. The comments reveal that the article likely argues that a CTO should have strong technical skills, but the comments provide a more nuanced view. The size and type of company are important factors in determining the required level of technical expertise for a CTO. A CTO's role can vary greatly depending on the company's size and stage of development.

Main themes

  • CTO role and responsibilities
  • technical expertise
  • company size and stage
  • leadership and decision-making
  • hiring and team management
  • scaling and growth

What commenters say

  • A CTO should have strong technical skills, but not necessarily be involved in day-to-day coding.
  • The size of the company is a crucial factor in determining the required level of technical expertise for a CTO.
  • A CTO's technical expertise is necessary for making informed decisions and hiring the right people.
  • A non-technical CTO can lead to poor decisions and a lack of understanding of technical issues.
  • A CTO should be able to have an informed conversation about technical issues, but does not need to be a proficient coder.
  • The role of a CTO changes as a company scales, and technical expertise may be less important at larger companies.
  • A CTO's ability to understand technical issues is essential for earning respect and making good trade-off decisions.
  • A CTO does not need to be able to do everyone else's job, but should have a good understanding of technical issues to be effective.