Category: CTO Career

I’ve been involved in high level IT recruitment for more years than I want to remember (as I’m often reminded by younger colleagues).

But one thing experience helps refine is an instinct about what can open the door to that dream CTO job but also, what can quickly slam it shut. 

None of it is rocket science, for example …

– You need to understand your core motivation and what you really want from life and career. Failure to know enough about themselves is a regular reason I see people making the wrong career moves. 

– Timing you can control, Luck you can’t. Having a career roadmap and attaining the skills needed to execute it means you have more chance of creating your own luck.

– Do some research into the company you’re dealing with and the people you’re likely to need to impress.  A little research can go a very long way.

– Dress appropriately.  Ripped jeans and a “Guns n Roses” t-shirt might work at home but will probably make a poor dim impression at the interview.  As I say, not rocket science but amazing how many people I’ve seen make a misjudgment here … first impressions count etc.

– And too much personal information too early, often as a result of overconfidence in the process, can kill the chance dead. I’ll save one particular example for later.

Here are 4 examples why talented candidates failed to secure a CTO role …

1. The Premature Application

Are you actually ready for a CTO role?

Too many people apply for senior roles without understanding whether they’re actually ready and skilled to make it work.

This also comes back to understanding your own motivations and what your optimal career experience looks like.

If you’re looking to fast track yourself into a CTO role then the quickest way to achieve that operational moniker is to start your own company and/or being an early hire in a fast growth startup and get promoted way ahead of schedule …  what we call The Accidental CTO.

But most advertised CTO roles are looking for the complete product and will require you to have acquired the leadership skills, knowledge and judgment to achieve a rapid impact in this business critical role.

When considering your own readiness for a senior role, you need to conduct a strengths and weaknesses audit on yourself to identify and rectify any skills gaps.

There are ways to short circuit this process …

Become a lifelong learner.

Work with a coach or mentor who can help you execute a disciplined career roadmap.

Have a clear plan that enables you to be ready for the right role.

There is often a clear disparity in the quality of applicants between those who have grown around a clear learning plan and those who have tried to “wing it”.

2. Hiding Behind The Keyboard

There might have been a time when you could hide behind the keyboard, stay in your comfort zone and make decent progress with your career.

That option is rapidly disappearing as the CTO becomes a more hybrid and commercial-centric role.

Whether we like it or not, lack of an online presence and personal brand may work against you when applying for senior roles.

You need to show prospective employers that you’re willing to put your head above the parapet,willing to show the world who you are and what you can do.

The obvious starting point is on Linkedin – the first port of call for recruiters (as we know to our cost) but also to prospective employers and those conducting some due diligence on your background.

If your profile is non-existent/dated/full of gaps* (delete as required) then you’re selling yourself short.

But raising your market profile is more than just a polished Linkedin page. It’s about showing who you are and how you think.

Writing content, Getting involved in online/offline debates, becoming a thought leader and keynote speaker.

And that dread of dread … networking. 

Lockdown might have been a dream to those who loathe networking (pretty much all of us) but being seen in the market and cultivating relationships with peers and recruiters, can have an impact further down the line
Reach out, have conversations, get on the radar … become visible.

3. Getting Ahead of The Noise

Recruiters are often overwhelmed with applications, particularly for the really attractive roles.

I’m aware that some recruiters have to manage application numbers into the 000`s and certainly it’s standard practice for most senior roles to be wading through 00`s of applications. 

It can be a daunting challenge working through this kind of volume and being confident you’ve separated the wheat from the chaff. 

You might think recruiters lack a heart (and I wouldn’t argue about some) but even those who genuinely care about the candidate experience can struggle to work their way through this kind of volume and be sure they’ve selected absolutely the right candidates – it’s our equivalent of missing out on signing the next Beatles. 

But how do you move from being cast aside with The Chaff, to being considered one of The Elite?

How do you make your CV and application stand out versus the many competing applicants, many of whom are probably equally capable of getting and doing the job?

You need to make everything clear, concise and focused on demonstrating the attributes a hiring firm is looking for – whilst acknowledging that most hiring firms and recruiters will never get the dream candidate who ticks every box.

You should focus specifically on the impact you have made for previous companies you have worked for – give examples. 

Too many candidates simply list out the roles and headline tasks, without making their key impact stand out. 

As a prospective CTO you will have worked through enough CVs yourself to know what stands out and what doesn’t but make sure the information you’re supplying is relevant to that particular role.

You know the 3 second rule with websites – apply the same philosophy to your CV.

That recruiter might spend more than 3 seconds reviewing your CV but not much more, you have to make sure the key information STANDS OUT.

Don’t be afraid to rework everything for specific roles and bring in help or guidance for an objective assessment of what you’re planning to submit.

You only submit that CV once.

4. The Over Confident

Ultimately people buy from people.

People want to work with people they Like, Know, Trust.

So when you get a foot in the door of an interview process, be natural, be yourself, build rapport but never assume anything.

Show them you’re a people person, that you care about bringing people with you and that you can demonstrate the ability to negotiate and compromise that has helped you deliver real impact in the past.  

But it’s remarkable how great preparation and even a solid presentation can be ruined by the simple truth, first impressions count and never lose sight that the whole interview is forming that first impression.

Clothes, body language, gait, arrival time etc. all have an impact and we know how judgmental people can be … but one surprising curveball I’ve seen more than one excellent candidate suffer from, is overconfidence.

Not just overconfidence about getting the job and breezing through the interview (though I’ve seen my share of candidates do that) but more specifically a growing overconfidence within the interview panel themselves, which leads me to a true story …

When asked by colleagues to look back at an interview process where a fantastic candidate managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, I was immediately taken back to a specific moment.

High performing candidate.

Excellent CV.

Strong performances throughout the process and at the final interview the rapport was excellent.
I sensed an imminent offer but also a sneaking worry that the candidate was beginning to over relax.
We arrived at those end of the interview, softball personal questions.

That’s all he had to negotiate to secure the role and let’s be frank – for me to secure my fee.

And he was asked a final throwaway question about what he enjoyed doing socially.

His answer was a case study in arrogant overconfidence and momentary lack of concentration as a revelation about his private life drew a gasp from the panel and a sigh from me.

In an instant, it was all over.

CTO Academy Career Development Service

If you enjoyed this article and have ambitions for a senior role or indeed, have an interview for one coming up soon …
I offer a free discovery career call as part of our career development service at CTO Academy.

Find out more via our Careers Page or email me direct on [email protected]

I look forward to helping you avoid similar mistakes.

Richard Weaver

Head of Careers

CTO Academy

The latest instalment from Mostafa Khattab, CTO at Wakecap Technologies in Dubai and his “Diary of an Accidental CTO” aka “The Ahead of Schedule” CTO.

We’re grateful to Mostafa for taking time out of his busy day to send us regular thoughts on the learning curve he’s faced when transitioning quickly from the technical to the managerial. We know this chimes with many of you.

“I have tried to detail in these blog posts specific changes in my role as I took on the new, mighty status of CTO and the challenges I personally faced. This blog post I wanted to reflect on the key changes of like before and since I became a CTO.

When I think about the fundamental changes that took over my working life as an accidental CTO, it wasn’t directly about any change of tasks nor that my focus dramatically altered in what I was trying to do and achieve, but it was the real psychological impact of knowing that suddenly I was responsible for everything on the tech side of the business and of course and importantly, I was also now responsible for everyone in these technical teams.

Looking back that has definitely been the most challenging shift of mindset and for me, the steepest learning curve. Having to take ultimate responsibility.

When your focus in on building stuff then the first thing that comes into your mind at the start of each is to double down on .. What am I building today? My focus being around a fairly linear day of progress.

When you become a tech leader and particularly the most senior tech leader in your company, there are so many questions you need to consider and top of the queue are business critical ones.

Did anything go down during night?

Has there been any lost data or security breach?

Who might be throwing difficult questions at me today – team, customer or CEO?

And of course, what is the health and wellbeing of my team!

You can’t be selfish or introspective anymore though you do have to be careful not to focus completely away from the self and the risk of neglecting need to create your own time and space for leading and learning – something again, I’ve had to work out the balance for as I’ve gone along.

But there is a fundamental shift in what rises to the top of your daily “action list” with a need to be much more outward and people focused. No more days hiding behind that keyboard.

Because after you negotiate those early questions and alarms then much of your time will be spent with people, whether clients, partners, senior management or team.

I really didn’t appreciate how much of my time would be wrapped up in discussions and how much I needed to improve my communication and importantly, my listening skills.

You can be easily overwhelmed by the sudden demands on your time because one thing I know for sure about being a CTO, you’re always in demand whether talking with people about how we are going to offer our product and services, scaling strategies, hiring issues, liaising with customers and partners who might be willing to integrate with us etc. Efficient diary management is a must.

Did I mention this is a steep learning curve?

Before, I used to meet less with people and my day was based on that more easily defined and linear focus on technical progress. Any discussions in those less complicated days was about what we are trying to achieve and that was it, from there I started to go.

Now, I need to think about the bigger picture and how I bring multiple people and stakeholders along with me.

And another significant change is to make sure that we are progressing as a team in the way that we should and if we are not doing so, I need to know and report why. Before of course, you are more singular in your approach and your reporting is much narrower.

And finally, I reflect on the way that even the points of operational fun in your role change.

Before becoming a CTO I looked for fun in my general day to day tasks. I enjoyed writing code that worked and I used to enjoy fixing issues that no one else could fix. 

Today I have to remove myself from the code so it’s a good job I’ve really fallen in love with the more open problems of management and leadership, with the ambiguity and sometimes vague specifications – now I wouldn’t have expected to say that 2-3 years ago.

I see in myself the ability to adapt and build and grow into this role as a CTO and a critical part of that step change into a position of responsibility has been to view every new challenge in this role as part of the journey and to really enjoy it.

I have become increasingly comfortable in seeing ideas go back and forth, in encouraging that circulation of ideas and sometimes my solutions fail so that I give my team the space and time to build a better one. 

That’s part of the process of letting go, delegating which was not always easy before, but has started to feel much more natural now.

There are many other differences between the before and after in this role.

Sometimes you need to reflect what has changed in your day to day life to witness for yourself the progress you have made. These are the changes that have been important to me. Whilst the nuances of your character and company will be different, I suspect for those thrust unexpectedly into the CTO role these will be similar.

We would love to hear your story of the before and after you became an Accidental CTO.

Previous Articles from Mostafa : If you’re new to Mostafa’s blog then you can find all the previous articles on his experiences as an Accidental CTO in the CTO Academy Blog archive.

Want help with your own transition into a senior tech role? The CTO Academy sweet spot is working with recently appointed CTOs like Mostafa whether via our online courses, private coaching or group coaching. Find out more via the CTO Academy Website.

We welcome back Mostafa Khattab, CTO at WakeCap Technologies, with part 6 of his experiences as an Accidental CTO aka someone arriving in the top role ahead of schedule.

To those of you arriving for the first time to this blog, we have a full list below for you to catch up but in the meantime, here is Mostafa describing The Art of Context Switching ….

“I hope you’ve been enjoying this series of blog posts, written from the heart of my journey as an early stage CTO and not someone with much leadership experience beforehand.

I have tried to capture the key challenges I faced and mistakes made but slowly, surely I started to get a handle on these things and started to develop my own process and expectations of how to manage this role.

In my previous blogs I talked about stepping up from team member to team manager and some of the challenges related to that role transition – which I know many technologists like me struggle with.

In this post, I’m looking at a skill that any effective tech leader needs to master and that is the of context switching.

As a CTO there’s usually multiple projects we have to juggle with on a day-to-day basis.

In computer programming, context switching refers to storing a running process in its current state so that CPU can shift its resources to other tasks and processes. A user can then tell the CPU at any time to resume the process from the latest state.

Context switches consume a lot of resources, and system engineers try to reduce the need for them.

But technology leaders are not operating systems. When you think you’re simultaneously working on two projects you are context switching between them. And for humans, context switching is a productivity killer.

Here are some ideas on how to effectively manage context switching, or at least make it less harmful to productivity.

1. Document what you do.

In order to start handling context switching, I always need to document what I do in order to make context switching easier for others.

Documenting my work for others not only makes their context switching easier, it also makes me more focused without getting interrupted by others asking for everything.

Now things are well documented and people can go for the documentation anytime they need it.

2. Stay away from your inbox

Really this is a productivity killer and we all suffer from it.

Try to avoid checking your email all the time. Avoid replying to emails instantly and try to specify time(s) each day where you check your email, reply to important emails and clean your inbox.

We all need to reduce our email overload.

3. Disable phone and slack alerts

I always specify at least 2 hours each day without any phone or slack notification in order to have a full focus on what you really matters that day.

Also, scheduling focused time on your calendar will help your colleagues understand that you are busy during certain times of the day and not reachable.

Create some space for the real focus you often need as a CTO.

4. Recognize and prioritize the important vs. urgent

As a tech leader in startups, you will always get confused about the urgency and importance of your stuff.

As a technical person, you need to work hard to understand the business needs in order to recognise and prioritise things before working on them and by understanding the business as well as the technical, you are aiming to find the right balance between the two.

This will enable you to set priorities for what you have to work on and help you achieve more valuable milestones, both within your team but also for the wider company.

5. Let your team understand the context

Onboarding your team into the business context and business use cases will make your team focus more on what really matters and decrease the amount of context switching.

Letting your team understand the business use case will allow them to think deeply about what they are working on and brings more transparency and understanding about the business need, decreasing the risk of your team misunderstanding, misalignment and/or over engineering.

I recommended that you attach the business use case for your team in order to let them focus on the value delivered.

Adding these five steps to my day to day work routine has helped me create more order from the potential chaos you can suffer otherwise. It also helps me master the art of context switching.

Previous instalments of the Accidental CTO;

Part 5: Team Member to Team Leader
Part 4: Identify your Daily Radar
Part 3: Leadership Mistakes
Part 2: The Learning Curve
Part 1: An Introduction

What happens when founders and early hires who helped launch the business and gain that initial traction, close a significant funding round and have a fast growth scale up on their hands?

At best it’s a steep learning curve across all sections of the business and at worst, it’s a constant fire fight as a result of operational chaos and the potential for rapid value disintegration.

The CTO (or most senior technical member of the team who has now become the CTO) is one of those under the most pressure and without the right support for and around them, is also the one most at risk of being overwhelmed. (more…)

Stepping up from Team Member to Team Manager

Welcome back to Mostafa Khattab, CTO at Wake Technologies in Dubai as he continues to walk us through his experiences as someone who in his words, “became a CTO ahead of schedule”.

Welcome to the diary of an accidental CTO, part 5 ….

“I’ve mentioned in previous articles that arriving unexpectedly into this senior role led to challenges that were very different to those I faced as a team member and brought with them many uncertainties and “unknowns”.

As technologists we don’t generally like the unexpected, we like order, some certainty and mostly “knowns” – or at least that was the place I was coming from.

Suddenly as I stepped up into a leadership role where I was not only facing those unknowns but they were unknowns where my decisions would impact directly on my team and how effective they and I could be.

Looking back now I can’t believe how daunting those unknowns might have seemed to me as a team player, had I known about them in advance. But like many challenges in life it’s amazing how quickly you can adapt, particularly if you have a strong support network around you.

1. Understand the new role and expectations

In this article, I will walk you through my experience of the key changes that took place;

Like any new role, it’s important to understand quickly what is expected from you but if you have little or no experience in a leadership role then beware the risks of running before you can walk, this is especially true when working within a fast growth company where change is constant and there is always a new fire to be dealing with.

It’s super important to have good channels of communication with your direct line manager and to establish regular contact so that you can establish clarity from the start about their expectations and that you and your team are aligned with what senior colleagues are expecting or wanting.

I can see from my experience how easily within a fast paced environment an inexperienced new CTO can be swept up in demands on their time and lose the importance of communication and alignment within the team and wider organisation.

2. Look after your team

When you step up from team member to team leader, hey guess what … you are suddenly in charge of a team and they are in your care.

I have always believed in taking care of people working with and alongside me, whatever the managerial responsibilities, but now it becomes a central part of your job description and whereas before you might have been managing situations within your particular silo, now you’re doing it on behalf of everyone in the team.

They say there is no “I” in team well that’s for sure when you’re the CTO because no-one will follow you if you’re only looking out for yourself. You have to pro-actively care and look after the interests of your team and that means understanding the different characters and demands.

Understand what support they need to be effective and happy in their work, particularly crucial during these difficult days of the pandemic and WFH.

3. Listen and communicate

Key part of this need to provide support is to make sure you listening and as my CTO Academy coach tells me, that you are actively listening.

That’s the first and crucial step to effective communication because if you fail to listen correctly and understand the core of the problem, you can’t support them and communicate with them effectively.

I have found that communication with the team can be very challenging especially when surrounded by work pressures and demanding deliverables but it’s a skill I’ve had to learn quickly, probably more than most other leadership skills. The ability to be available for team members and to understand what they’re looking for and communicating themselves, which is not always obvious from the outset.

Another factor in our global world of diverse teams is that effectively communicating what you want to say is additionally challenging when the office language is not your mother tongue – standard being English, right?

As an Arabic speaker it’s additionally challenging and exhausting at times, for me to communicate away from my mother tongue and it also creates the risk of misinterpretation so accept that’s the case both when communicating with and listening to discussions, not everyone can speak super fluently in the generally used language of the team.

Whatever the demands on your time and the pressure you’re under, don’t jump to automatic conclusions when someone is trying to explain in a language that is not their mother tongue and might have delivered the wrong phrase or pronunciation. This might seem obvious but communication can break down for lots of reasons and within multi national teams, I have seen this become a problem.

4. Be Confident

This is really important because we all suffer from imposter syndrome and I think it might be more of an issue when you have been fast tracked into a senior role but be confident about your abilities and why you’re there.

You got this role for a reason. Someone spotted your potential and your ability to make this happen.

Constantly challenge yourself and question your decisions and focus on learning and growing.

But don’t question why you are there. Everyone has it in them to become an effective leader and your team needs you to project confidence on their behalf so they can be inspired to create something great.

Be confident. Back yourself and trust your team.

5. Re-introduce yourself as a team leader

This is a really important point because to others you might still be seen as a team member.

So you might need to push the reset button and help people understand what you do now as a leader.

Share your vision with your team. Let them understand how you operate as a leader, how you define performance and values.

What are your expectations of them as a leader because it might be different from previous line managers they’ve had and importantly, it might be different from their expectations of you when working alongside you.

Be open to questions, be transparent, while confidently sharing your leadership style and strengths which themselves might be evolving as you grow into the role. Don’t be afraid to own and acknowledge those changes in you, they will happen and more quickly than you appreciate at the time.

Being an Accidental CTO is not a static experience.

6. Find the support

I have said this before but I really cannot say it enough. Don’t get isolated. Seek support because in my case I took too long to recognise or act on my need for external guidance.

There was a clear need for me to work with a coach from very early but I was always postponing, I thought I could do it alone, because I always had.

But definitely moving into leadership roles is moving outside my natural skill set and comfort zone. That’s why I started working with CTO Academy and who have accompanied me through this amazing journey.

Until next time, good luck.

Mostafa Khattab

“Identify your daily radar”

Another diary instalment from our great friend Mostafa Khattab, based in Dubai and experiencing at first hand the challenges faced by someone dropped into a CTO role ahead of their planned schedule aka The Accidental CTO.

For those interested in starting from the beginning, you can find at the footer of this article links to earlier segments from this series but for Part 4 in the series, please read on …..

““I’m sure for all of us there is a risk of getting distracted by the many different things you are working on at the same time.  But another steep learning curve for me as an accidental CTO has been the sheer volume of potential distractions that come with senior management and how you need to understand very quickly how too prioritise, delegate or drop certain tasks. For those of us coming up through the ranks as engineers and perfectionists, it’s far from easy to do”

I find it particularly challenging because I have always struggled identifying what should I be focused on each day. Everything always seems to the most important item on my list and I struggled often to see the wood for the trees. This really intensifies with the demands of management and leadership.

After stumbling around in the dark I gradually found a key to performing more effectively and efficiently as a CTO and that was by identifying my daily radar.

The Daily Radar

It took me some time to discipline myself into creating an effective daily checklist. Without it your productivity and impact is dramatically reduced. This seems simple to explain in hindsight, but thrust unexpectedly into this role I really suffered by a lack of daily structure and having to constantly fire fight.

But having an effective daily checklist also needs a deep understanding about your company, colleagues and solution break points around which you can build that daily radar.

Here’s an example of my early morning radar and checklist:

1. Is the system working fine this morning or was there an issue overnight?
2. Has any data loss taken place?
3. Is there any data or security breach?
4. Is there any query or collaboration needed with other teams?
5. Is there any bottleneck that I need to solve myself?

This is now my routine when “opening the shop” each day.

Then there are the wider, more ongoing checklists which include wider operational questions, such as …

1. Are we using the right technology in any new added service?
2. Are we using the right architecture ?
3. Are we good with current deliverables deadlines?
4. How are we coping with the new technologies?
5. Needing to understand team performance and their current load

The Radar Is Always Moving

That radar will always be changing as your team scales up or down. You need to update it based on the new status or deliverables for your company and how you are planning to work on it.

Your objectives will change as will priorities for the radar but it needs always to be consistent on what needs to be done to achieve target deliverables and how to focus your time on having the biggest impact to achieve them.

And you must always be honest with yourself about where a blockage might be (it could be you) and explore how to automate and/or delegate a process that releases you to spend more time focused on the new technologies and value add that your company has promoted you as CTO, maybe ahead of schedule, to achieve.

Avoid being bogged down in the weeds. Put controls and a daily radar in place to make your time most effective.

Mostafa Khattab, CTO, Wake Technologies, Dubai

January 2021

For earlier instalments …

Diary of an Accidental CTO, Part 1

Diary of an Accidental CTO, Part 2

Diary of an Accidental CTO, Part 3

Mostafa Khattab is CTO at Wakecap Technologies in Dubai.

He is sharing with us some of his journey of what we describe as “An Accidental CTO” … aka someone who arrived in the CTO role ahead of schedule and has been grappling with various new challenges and a very steep learning curve.

You can catch up with Part 1 and Part 2 in advance of this latest instalment … but for now, over to Mostafa;

“With Part 3 of my series of blog posts I want to dig further into some of the leadership mistakes I made on this journey and thoughts about what I would do to avoid doing them again in the future.

One thing I know now for sure is that leadership seems easy to understand, but much harder to implement.

Being suddenly promoted to CTO of a fast growing technology startup I was faced by what I personally found to be a very hard challenge, how to balance at the same time between my past life of being a techie with the additional leadership tasks.

Thought it might be useful break my experience down into 4 phases with each having its own challenge, from which the real lessons and learning came from.

Hint: these phases are clearly going to be different for everyone but this is how I have experienced it …

Phase 1: I got excited!

Got the role and honestly thought I was about to fly,

Now I had a team and I was actually leading them. This was ahead of schedule for sure but I wanted to really take this opportunity and run with it. I was super excited, slightly nervous, but knew i could do it.

Initially I set out to talk to everyone, see how I could make their life easier and also help them understand the big picture of the solution we were creating and lead them towards the company vision.

Everything seemed smooth at this stage and to be honest, life felt easy even if I was spending too much time in the office.

The team was still small, the company young, we had some time to try different things.

Don’t let the nervousness overtake you. Really enjoy and invest in this high energy, excitable phase because you just soak it all up and anything you learn or achieve will be beneficial during the more challenging phases, just around the corner!

Phase 2: I got tired!

Suddenly I felt tired. More tired than normal.

The business was starting to face some challenges and as things started to move very quickly, I started to struggle with the pace of the changes, having to start things again from scratch, helping developers achieve business values faster. I was used to more structure but now I was having to cope with the changes and bring my new team with me.

I had to help people overcome the work load, absorb some of the negative energy building and trying to keep morale high. It was no longer just me, I was having to manage other people’s stress and uncertainty.

At times I became overwhelmed with so many new challenges of the work, alongside the new leadership challenges as well. I worked all the day and night, a big mistake, I was leading by day and coding by night which was the cause of mistakes and a real strain on my mental and physical health.

It also started to affect my morale and I sometimes tried to escape from the problems, feeling that I couldn’t handle everything and was losing control.

I definitely felt I needed help, someone who had come across this before. Budget constraints made that difficult so I definitely had to address lifestyle and make sure my morale was maintained until I could get more experience support. I guess the key learning point here is you might feel overwhelmed at times but you need to look after yourself or it can become a vicious circle.

Phase 3: Woah! Too much technical work

Having steadied everything I then found myself getting pulled into more of the technical work than I wanted. I was working in too many stacks and helping everyone to build faster and fixing technical issues. 

Too much time with the technical led to me losing some control on leadership.

The result was that people started leaving, hiring was bad, and morale was definitely down. This turned into the most difficult phase because this was not about me, this was about the impact that my leadership was having on others and the company.

Unfortunately it was not a short term phase, it lasted six months as the problems built up and I started to lose the trust of my team. I could sense and hear the frustration as I allowed myself to be dragged deep into the technical and away from being or having any capacity to be a leader.

Thankfully I was able to recognise the problem and in conversation with management, we all recognised that help was need to lead us away from this difficult phase.

Don’t be scared to talk about challenges. Do not take it all on your own shoulders.

That is not healthy and eventually will be very counter productive.

Phase 4: Back again!

Then we got investment and that definitely helps!

It not only helped us get more experienced people but was also a recognition that the hard work was worth it. We were growing a great business and people started seeing the value of WakeCap. You can only do so much yourself and as a small team. You need to understand your limitations but also give yourself some praise when it works.

I got more experienced people and tech leaders around me and we really took off. I was finally able to focus more on the real CTO role, leading, planning, learning and reporting.

I felt more confident, started understanding where mistakes were being made and getting feedback from other people – you have to take it all on board to grow.

Working with CTO Academy has been just the fresh start I needed.

I was shocked that someone out there can feel my pain and also realising it wasn’t just me, these growing pains were very familiar and shared by other tech leaders around the world.

It was like a dream to find someone with extensive experience to help me out and I have been working with them now for nearly a year and I cannot recommend it more highly. You cannot take this all on your own shoulders, particularly if like me you are a CTO ahead of schedule.

Remaining behind the keyboard, being too technical, not resting enough, thinking I could do it all, postponing asking for help.

None of this was good for me or my impact as a tech leader but I had to learn the hard way. Everyday brings new challenges but create the right environment for yourself to do your best and make an impact.

In this phase also, I made a lot of mistakes, which is postponing some work, I was feeling tired, and I thought it’s time for taking a rest. The bad thing that came in the future is, everything I postponed, never got done.

I hope you got the lessons that I learnt the hard way. I hope this article is beneficial to you as well.

In the next phase, I will talk about my experience after the mentoring sessions and how it helped me understanding my new role dimensions.