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CTOs, go fully remote yourself!

Opportunities from living somewhere else

Inkmi is a website for CTOs, VPs of Engineering, senior engineering leaders, and senior developers to find their CTO dream jobs. I am giving tips on salary, promotions and your CTO career on the Inkmi Blog.

CTOs and engineering managers have hired remote developers from other countries for a long time, even before the pandemic. With the pandemic, remote became the new orange—despite many companies who want to turn back time.

But CTOs are often living in the cities of the companies they are working for. While developers in their department work from different cities and countries, many CTOs don’t. They have difficulties going fully remote.

But fully remote brings many new opportunities. I was living in a different city for fractional and transitional CTO gigs. We moved from Berlin to the Baltic sea to enjoy life. So I wasn’t eager to move back to Berlin for a fractional CTO role. I was anxious about going fully remote with the team. With no difference to the results of my work. Although I’m an office-first guy, managing by walking around I could adapt and deliver in a fully remote role.

The biggest obstacle to going fully remote for CTOs for sure is the top management team. If the CEO wants top managers to stay in the office and wants physical meetings, there is nothing you can do except find a different job. Remote CTOs in the same city can still easily join board meetings, investor pitches, or crisis management situations in person when needed. Fully remote CTOs must work harder to maintain their executive presence and influence, especially with traditional boards or investors who value face-time. Sometimes it’s possible to commute a day a week to the company, but be advised from my consulting days, 2x 3h commutes a day are draining.

The biggest benefit to going fully remote is the price arbitrage. Living in a cheaper country, but working in a high-paying country lets you make much more money. Living where houses are cheap lets you build up wealth faster. The same goes for food, restaurants and everything else. You can earn high and life cheap.

The second benefit is nature. You can live in nature or a small town, where you feel more at home compared to a big city hub, where most of the startups are. I love living by the sea, and still work for companies in big cities all over Europe as a CTO coach. As a CTO, you will only work for one company, but you still can life where life is best, for you, your spouse or your children. Independently of where the job is. Fully remote CTOs can choose environments that fundamentally change their lifestyle—like being close to outdoor activities, family, or specific communities that align with their interests.

And if you’re fully remote, there is no expectation you come to the office.

Its great for the company too. When CTOs themselves move and embrace remote work fully, they set an example for the rest of the department (or company!). It can make it easier to encourage a more geographically diverse workforce and create a company culture that truly values remote work as the norm, rather than an exception.

You can experience different cultures without the effort to move there. Want to learn how a Portuguese company works? A company in Paris? Rome? Today there is no need to move around to be exposed to different people. Moving around is no problem, but exciting when your 25 but gets more and more stressful the older you get. Or a different way around, learn about a new culture by moving there (Norway here I come!) but keep your well-paying job in a different country.

“I need to be there for critical moments” you might think. But wait, there were incidents in the data center, did you go there? To the cloud provider? Even to the office? I remember many incidents where I sat in my pajamas with the team on a video call, solving an incident. Fully remote. Worked. Just suppress your reflex to be physically present.

CTOs who stay remote but move away from the company’s city may find it harder to stay as deeply connected to other C-suite executives and the board. They might miss out on informal networking and relationship-building opportunities that often occur in person within the company’s urban setting.

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