Can good developers be good CEOs?

3 points·chintan39··10 comments

Both roles are 180 degree apart. both needs very different skillset to deliver awesomeness. Having said this, you cant judge if good programmer will be a good CEO or not untill he functions as a CEO or if he had previous experience of being a CEO.

If the good developer has good management and business skills then yes they can.

From a sample size of one: there exists a very famous developer-CEO: Bill Gates

Bill was a terrible programmer... So was the facebook kid

According to what?

Bill's OS was a mess... didn't write DOS, but "fixed" it... which was the most god awful mess ever to be loading on a box...

Facebook in the early years used to crash on a daily basis... I guess you don't remember that... My wall would disappear altogether sometimes... he didn't invent HipHop which is actually amazing...

He did a great job on the TRS-80 Model 100 OS, very nice integrated environment, good UI and BASIC.

I think some good or crappy developers could make great CEOs, its not how you code but how you handle decisions and manage a business. Different skills, some have it, some don't.

Lets think of some developers that went on to be great CEOs; Richard Garriot (origin Systems). Nolan Bushnell (Atari). That "facebook guy" seems to do pretty well for himself and company. Also those two Google guys.

I think part of it is more a desire on such developers to change gears and become more business management oriented. Some folks might enjoy the change or challenge, others might not be suited or resent not being developers anymore.

What... the question was not "programmers that did well" it was "Can GOOD programmers be CEOs?" The ones that have made it big were mediocre at best....

Can they be? No, they are programmers. Can they become? More interesting question!

they can't...

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