Learnings from CTO Craft Conf London
What reflections and learnings did I get from attending CTO Craft Conf London? And how does this relate to this era of my life?The CTO role is much more varied that I had imagined (Pat Kua).
I had preconceived ideas due to my limited exposure and chances of working closely with them. I’d internalised one shape which also included being pale and male.
Also, CTOs are much more focused on people and influencing than I’d imagined, yet they still need a solid technical background and knowledge of processes (Anna Shipman).
What truly caught my attention? How the role of the CTO is evolving and the need for CTOs to understand the ethical and sustainability implications of their decisions (Erica Stanley).
How do we build leadership that sustains communities? Use the triple bottom line: the intersection of people, planet and profit is where sustainability is.
I’m excited that during QCON London there will be a track on performance and sustainability in practice (https://qconlondon.com/track/apr2025/performance-and-sustainability-practice-how-make-software-greener) understanding this will not be optional or a nice to have in the future.
Networking becomes critical as we step into technical leadership roles
Taking time to meet people, including catching up with a lot of familiar faces and learning about other leaders’ journeys helped me see myself as less weird for having taken a detour from being a principal engineer towards becoming a certified professional coach. I felt there was a missing piece in my puzzle and my past experience leading teams without the formal power of management aligns with a coaching mindset. I’m grateful for the honest conversations and I saw what huge difference it makes having a great support network does for engineer leaders (managers and staff+ alike) - when you don’t have the network loneliness can take a huge toll. I was inspired to continue catching up with people I have known for a while and meeting new ones. The effort is worth it and it gets easier the more I put myself out there.
During the conference I thought a lot about the senior and staff+ communities I am part of. I am probably not the only one who thinks becoming a CTO is/was either not for me or a distant possibility to even think of seriously. What I learned is that influencing, being intentional and partnering with others are critical skills for staff+ as well as senior engineer leaders and CTOs. Being a manager or a staff+ engineer have much more in common than you might think. The leap between them not that big, once you understand both roles well and you have learned to be intentional. I recommend checking out our latest LeadDev Staff+ webinar on the manager and IC pendulum https://leaddev.com/event/riding-the-ic-management-career-pendulum
I'm curious, what did you learn? what actions are you taking?