What does a CTO actually do?

Question

IT Interview Practice · Accepted Answer

A **CTO (Chief Technology Officer)** owns the technology vision of a company and ensures technology serves the business strategy. The role is far broader than writing code: it spans strategy, organization, and external representation.

## How to think about the role

The scope shifts with company stage, but the core responsibilities are consistent.

```text
CORE CTO RESPONSIBILITIES
- Technology vision & strategy  → where the tech goes and why
- Architecture & key technical decisions → the bets that are hard to reverse
- Engineering organization → hiring, structure, culture, leaders
- Business alignment → translating product/business goals into tech plans
- External → recruiting, partnerships, due diligence, sometimes sales
```

## Concrete example

At a 40-person startup, a CTO might spend a week deciding whether to migrate to a managed database, interviewing a VP Engineering candidate, presenting the roadmap to the board, and unblocking a stalled architecture debate, while writing almost no production code.

## Trade-offs and pitfalls

- **Pitfall:** staying in the code too long and neglecting strategy and people.
- **Pitfall:** drifting so far from engineering that decisions lose credibility.
- The balance between depth and breadth is the hardest part of the job.

## Why it matters

The CTO is the bridge between business ambition and technical reality.

When the role is done well, technology becomes a competitive advantage rather than a bottleneck.

Understanding what the role truly involves helps you evaluate whether you want it, and how to support or grow into it.

It is leadership first and engineering second.

How to think about the role

Concrete example

Trade-offs and pitfalls

Why it matters

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