Of all the CTOs, CIOs and CSOs I have met, there hasn’t actually been a common path any of them took to “earn” their title.
It is true, some simply give themselves the title for their own company and start going. Without a work history or a solid project behind them, they will quickly find that respect from other people in the industry is slow to follow.
As being a C-level anything is about Leadership and Big Picture thinking, you need to take yourself out of the code and be able to lead a team.
In a startup, you may need to frequently flip back and forth between big picture and detailed Thinking (which is incredibly difficult if you aren’t an experienced manager, and even if you are.)
My suggestion is to pick your lane – do you enjoy management or do you enjoy “doing stuff.” If it’s the leading, then apply for jobs in the type of department you want to manage And soak in as much mentorship as you can 🙂
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-path-way-to-be-a-CIO-CTO-after-you-finish-your-MS-in-Information-Technology-with-a-background-of-BS-in-Computer-Science-and-no-work-experience
Originally Posted On: 2015-09-19