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Thank you for the response.
I have tried very hard to keep the technology stack current (Azure, Angular & yes IoC). Partly to avoid my own career stagnation and partly to ensure that we are able to recruit good people. Big data and AI would be a hard sell, as clearly, our data aint that big! Also, it's the non-technical buzzwords that are missing. It's hard to BS "change" or "stakeholder" management (apart from keeping the MD off the code).
The good thing is, I don't think I would have a problem walking into another senior developer role tomorrow, it's just that that option feels like going back where I was 5 years ago.
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You're welcome. You and I are in the same exact situation man.
I spent the past two years of being a technical project manager, but never got certified with a PMP, etc. Everything I learned was on the job over two-some-odd decades of being in the business. Being in the job market now, all I can say is if you do start looking then start looking now before you get too unhappy with your position. Expect a lot of companies to say no thanks to you as a CTO, but there will be a few that say yes to you officially being one. Most likely for a smaller company to start with, but at least it will be legitimate then.
Two jobs ago, the CTO of the company at the time who's a buddy of mine, told me he started his path into management from the get-go. Late teens / early 20s sort of thing. So even he had to build up the CTO history, he just started sooner. The CIO of the last company I was at, which is one of the largest company's in the world for what it does, had to build his way up too... he just did it inside the company. So one way or another, you have to start somewhere.
JohnBug wrote: It's hard to BS "change" or "stakeholder" management (apart from keeping the MD off the code).
Just to play devil's advocate, that largely depends on the company. But yeah, you're right... in a successful business I agree. Numbers don't lie. And when you start talking to legitimate people in the business, it's hard to BS anything. This whole BS aspect of it comes when dealing with people who have no idea what they're talking about. And that's most of the industry. It doesn't mean lie. It means you have to speak their language a bit simply because they don't know any better.
It's like sales. People don't buy something unless, for the most part, they already think they need it or at the very least can comprehend it... in *their* view. If you want to get a point across to someone not technical, sometimes you have to speak their language and not ours.
JohnBug wrote: The good thing is, I don't think I would have a problem walking into another senior developer role tomorrow, it's just that that option feels like going back where I was 5 years ago.
Same here man. All I can say is what I'm keeping in the back of my head... if it doesn't make you happy then don't do it. If you go back to being a dev and you don't like it, it's bad for the employer too. I had to fire someone before who would've otherwise have been awesome just because she was miserable all the time. So, if it doesn't make you happy, push forward man. In the long run, your coworkers will be grateful.
Jeremy Falcon
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Also, mention the other skills you have. Say how you helped the company since its inception. I've hired devs before and what I've learned from that is it's hard to find a good worker. So, if you're a good worker you'll always have a job IMO... just as long as you convey that to the world. The trick is, is to make yourself stand out from the bad ones (and there are a lot) so the world knows you're a good worker.
Most people do just enough to get past the interview and the boom back to not caring about their work. Don't be that person. Find a way to let people know you're not that person so you stand out. And then I believe the rest will handle itself so you won't have to worry so much about which titles to use.
Jeremy Falcon
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Startups like generalists because they don't have enough people. Large companies like specialists, the larger the company, the more specialized they like them.
Get the CTO title officially recognized, and then put it on your resume. You could look for a CTO role in another startup, or perhaps even in a small company, but unlikely you'll get that position in a larger company.
As for non-CTO jobs, same deal -- smaller companies will value your generalism more than larger ones will.
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patbob wrote: Startups like generalists because they don't have enough people. Large companies like specialists, the larger the company, the more specialized they like them.
That's not a bad way to look at it. That said, throughout my 20+ year career as a software developer, I've always worked for small startups that eventually have all been acquired by larger fish (one of them being Microsoft).
Personally, I'd rather hire/work with someone who can demonstrably be useful in multiple areas, than an expert in a very narrow field. It's too easy for people to "turn into Wally" (see Dilbert) and disappear in a large company and coast for years on a skillset whose value diminishes over time. You can't do that at a startup, so from my perspective, working for a small startup is never a "waste of a career", as the original poster put it.
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dandy72 wrote: from my perspective, working for a small startup is never a "waste of a career", as the original poster put it. I complete agree. After all, what's the point of a career? I concluded a long time ago that it was to earn an income while enjoying what I did and, if possible, have fun while doing it. If I'm doing that, it isn't "wasted".
dandy72 wrote: Personally, I'd rather hire/work with someone who can demonstrably be useful in multiple areas, than an expert in a very narrow field I absolutely agree -- that's one of the things I look for when interviewing candidates.
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Just saw three large women leaving the gym. as they walked past me I mumbled under my breath
"fat cows"
Enraged one of them replied "what did you say?"
"You herd"
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dandy72 wrote: I miss Al Bundy... We feel your pain:
- Get Married
- Have Kid
- Look In Mirror
Problem Solved !
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I wasn't implying I wanted to be Al Bundy.
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I was just giving you a viable solution to your missing him.
For all I know, you'd rather be Bud, or Kelly, or even Peg.
Who am I to judge?
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Al Bundy got a wife upgrade as Jay Pritchett, so there's that.
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I have a feeling Jay's wife won't hold up over time as well as Peg Katey Sagal did.
(Maybe his solution is to keep upgrading every few years? Sounds costly...)
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I liked Katey. I didn't like Peggy.
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You're too herd on them, they WERE leaving the gym after all...
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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I have come to the conclusion that the only difference in your posts from day to day is that the size and mephitic odoriferousness of the clumps of excreta from the sewer of your mind that runs directly through the Lounge ... vary.
I shall continue to report every malodorous missal, in the vain hope CP will one day install a septic field that could spot. and block, toxic waste discharge without also blocking the normal rowdy effluvuia passing into obscurity.
Of course, that's saying what I think as politely as possible,
«Differences between Big-Endians, who broke eggs at the larger end, and Little-Endians gave rise to six rebellions: one Emperor lost his life, another his crown. The Lilliputian religion says an egg should be broken on the convenient end, which is now interpreted by the Lilliputians as the smaller end. Big-Endians gained favor in Blefuscu.» J. Swift, 'Gulliver's Travels,' 1726CE
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You can get off your pedestal anytime now. The joke was funny, regardless of the author.
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have pity, pompey only comes to the lounge whenever his facebook friend(s) all abandon him
- he's the joke nobody wants.
Sin tack
the any key okay
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B.C. is a bit of a strange cartoon I am not really aware of it crossing the Atlantic, might be bit like Andy Capp... which gets odd looks your side O the pond.
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I enjoy both BC and Andy Capp.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Oh, has he travelled then? I always thought he stalled at Austrila, BC I am not aware of being syndicated this side O the pond...
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I was introduced to Mr. Capp when I grew up in South Africa. He was firmly entrenched there.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Grew up in Canada; Andy Capp was a regular in the newspaper.
One of the places I worked had a yearly golf tournament; one of the developers wrote a system to track scores, handicaps, etc.
The GIF for the application was a picture of Andy Capp.. if you understood the joke, it was hilarious.
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Actually Reg Smythe once admitted that Andy Capp's name was derived from "handicap". However I think that had to do with horse racing, not golf.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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