Becoming a Fractional CTO
What the role is and challenges that come with it, getting into fractional CTO roles, and lessons learned.
Q: I’ve heard the term ‘Fractional CTO’ more and more. What is this role, how do people move into it, and what are career paths as a ‘Fractional CTO?’
With the cost of senior engineers and engineering leaders going up, I’ve noticed more startups retaining CTOs on a fractional contract basis. In a recent issue, Daria Shulepova, co-founder and recruitment partner at Growth Levers, shared her observations about this role growing among early stage startups. From The Scoop: the 2022 hiring market, as seen by tech recruiters:
“I see a growing demand for fractional CTOs. With fractional CTOs, companies and startups tap into great talent who can help build a strong tech infrastructure without having to pay a full-time salary.”
This topic on Fractional CTOs is, indeed, intriguing. I cannot think of anyone better to discuss it than an engineering leader who made it their career.
Sergio Pereira has worked as a startup CTO since 2014, in full-time CTO jobs and in fractional CTO roles. Over the last few years, Sergio has been a fractional CTO for more than 10 companies across a range of industries, tech stacks, and growth stages.
In this issue, Sergio will cover:
What is a fractional CTO?
Sergio’s first fractional CTO job.
Taking the plunge: leaving full-time employment to be a fractional CTO
Challenges of fractional roles
Getting into fractional CTO jobs
Are fractional CTO roles growing in popularity?
Lessons learned
With this, over to Sergio.