Skills Needed to Become a Chief Technology Officer
Now that we are familiar with the required qualifications for a Chief Technology Officer, the all-important question is what skills are actually required to become a CTO. There’s no simple or easy answer to this question. It takes a long time in the technology profession to reach the designation of a CTO. Also, there is no fixed way to get there as many CTOs have been software engineers, project managers, system architects, data scientists, etc. before getting this coveted role.
As an example, the CTO of Amazon, Werner Vogels, has a Ph.D. in Computer Science with 25 years of experience as a Research Scientist, while the CTOs of Facebook and Microsoft, Mike Schroepfer and Kevin Scott respectively have an MS in computers science and also a 25 years experience in the tech industry including being a Software Engineer.
That clearly shows that there’s no one path to becoming a CTO in the future, although you might need at least an MS in Computer Science and at least 25 years of experience!!! However, some common skills that you can acquire which will only help you in becoming a Chief Technology Officer include:
1. Technical Skills
A CTO should have a broad knowledge of all the skills required in the tech field. This includes knowledge and experience in software development, programming, system architecture, product development, etc. In addition to knowing the basic facets of technology, a CTO should also be willing to experiment and have an understanding of all the emerging technologies and how they can be useful for the business.
2. Business Skills
The main role of the CTO is to manage the technical aspects of a company and ensure that they provide the maximum benefit. However, this role also has managerial aspects where the CTO has to manage and supervise the entire IT department so business skills are a must. The ability to use technological know-how to further the business objectives is a very important part of this.
3. Leadership Skills
And last but not the least, a CTO should have leadership skills to effectively steer the technological side of the company in the right direction. They should know how to inspire and retail the best technical talent because great companies are created by teamwork in the direction of a great leader.
How to Become a Chief Technology Officer?
Technology is becoming more and more important for all companies, no matter what sector they are in. In today’s times, when companies need software for daily use and cybersecurity for protecting their information, then by default it pushes a focus on technology whether that’s the company’s primary job or not. A company may be a financial firm, a media house, or even an entertainment firm (like Netflix!) but technology is still extremely important. And thus, Chief Technology Officers are a crucial part of the company.
But there is still a big confusion as to what is a Chief Technology Officer. Everyone has heard of Chief Executive Officers and there are some pretty famous people in the tech world (Steve Jobs and Elon Musk come to mind!) But how are CTOs different? And what are their responsibilities in a company?
Research shows that it takes a lot of hard work and loyalty to a company to become their Chief Technology Officer, with 39% of CTO’s infamous Fortune 100 companies getting this role after working more than 16 years at their company. But what does this role entail? Let’s find out!