How many years of overall experience in technology should someone have to become a CTO in SMEs and Startups?
2 - 3 Years14%
4 - 5 Years40%
5+ Years24%
10+ Years19%
Other (please specify)0%
751 PARTICIPANTS
Director, Information Security in Education, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
4-5 as a general rule. But 2-3 is acceptable for technologies or solutions that are either new or rapidly changing at a pace that anything longer doesn't really indicate relevant expertise. CTO in Services (non-Government), 51 - 200 employees
I was surprised that the highest percentage is at 4-5 years. To gain enough relevant experience in that amount of time to manage software engineering teams, DevOps, R&D, etc along with the appropriate people management skills, maturity, and communications skills to work effectively with other company departments seems unlikely.CTO in Education, 51 - 200 employees
I selected 5+ years, but it is far more complicated than that. I have known people with a couple of years of experience who made great CTOs. I have known people with 20+ years of (often very senior) experience who could never be a CTO (especially in a startup).The most important thing to me is someone who has learned to seek out and accept help and guidance is those areas where they are not strong. No one can be an expert in everything.
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CTO in Software, 201 - 500 employees
Without a doubt - Technical Debt! It's a ball and chain that creates an ever increasing drag on any organization, stifles innovation, and prevents transformation.We are not doing regression testing10%
25% manual, 75% automated49%
50% manual, 50% automated28%
100% manual, 0% automated8%
Don't know2%
694 PARTICIPANTS
Software category14%
Organizational structure45%
New operating model18%
Buzzword21%
567 PARTICIPANTS
Founder, Self-employed
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