Do CTO need to CODE? Yes!

This is very straightforward answer.

Sometimes people confuse our industry with others like healthcare and we tend to think that software is different in term of professionalism. People thing doctor is more details than programmers.

But do you want the head of doctors that handling your kids in the emergency room hasn't practice his craft for a while? Or the chief surgeon that handle your operation hasn't practice and try to give direction to young surgeon in the operating room?

Of course not.

The same thing happened with trading. People think that trading is easy. People just buy and sell crypto all the time with single button click. But doesn't mean because clicking is easy people just become trader overnight.

Software is not easy. Writing code is easy, but it's not just that. It takes practice to write a great book. It's not just a bunch of sentences wrapped together. It needs to have meaning. It needs to solve the problem. It needs to have proper structure and pattern and style.

But people always think that hardware is not easy right? Why?

Because if you made a mistake it can't be rolled back. You waste your money to buy more hardware. If you failed to combine and the component breaks, you are done. You need to buy the same components again, well, if you can. Or you just run out of money.

Every profession has their own discipline, practice and ethics. So it's not ethical if you don't practice and master what you need to do. Regardless what is your position. You can't claim you are the CTO if you don't practice your craft. You might give the advise to young people, but one day they will realize that you are irrelevant and then start finding a new company as they are not growing.

Of course CTO is a very important people that needs to attend meeting after meeting and do important stuff. It's jobs is not to produce code anymore. But it's not an excuse for not coding. You got paid large sum of money. You need to find a time to practice. It's fine if you are not. But sometimes when you are in the meeting with another CTO that practice his craft it will show you the lack of practice reflect the lack of confidence in the way you talk.

And no. Only reading the latest stuff it's not enough. It might give you an illusion of understanding. It's better than nothing. But you need to try for yourself.

Cheers