Question
Hello,
I am looking for practical advice and some insights into applying and landing an executive position in Tech as a CTO of VP of Engineering.
I have 15+ years of experience in tech and SW engineering. I've built a successful career in tech and was a Lead Engineer a few times.
Founded a startup and became CTO of the company for more than 5 years. Build a product from scratch, managed and grew the team up to 10 people. However as you can guess the company has not been quite successful on the sales front yet.
For my next phase in life I am looking for different opportunities from a Director of Engineering in large companies to a CTO in startups. Focusing mostly on the NA West Coast (Bay Area, Seattle, e.t.c.).
I have about 6 months to prepare and find the best opportunity. I would be happy to hear a piece of solid advice or book a call.
Answer
Good to see that you got wonderful exposure and hands on experience in tech space.
Hope you got a reasonably done resume. If you have sufficient supporting documents, good presence in professional networks, and reasonably updated about opportunities around, you could land up on your next big opportunity in a matter of three weeks.
I would not recommend to park 6 months for preparation as the economy is not that good.
So if you are ready, begin today with a plan in place.
1. Your objective is clear and established a target job
2. Load your resume in a couple of tech job portals, angel, LinkedIn etc.
3. Collaborate regularly in LinkedIn and stackoverflow kind of forums
4. Set targets every day - like find and apply for 20 opportunities, follow up with recruiters, talk to consultants, startup investors etc.
5. Monitor what is happening, evaluate progress and see what is the end result
6. Find some quality time and attend short online courses to refresh yourself. Do not forget to promote your certificates via professional forums.
Good Luck
