What Type Of Person Thrives In The Tech Industry, According To A CTO At Scholarly
Kelly, Scholarly's CTO, highlights the importance of strong technical skills—"really, really good at writing code"—combined with business acumen and customer empathy for success in the tech industry. The ability to ask "why am I writing this code? What is the customer expecting?" is key to thriving, according to Kelly.
Coding, Customer Empathy, Software Development Lifecycle, Business Acumen, Problem-Solving
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Kelly Sutton
CTO
Scholarly
Loyola Marymount University
N/A
Computer Science
Education, Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Strong coding skills and understanding of the software development lifecycle are crucial.
2. Business knowledge and customer empathy are essential for success.
3. Asking 'why' and understanding customer expectations are key to thriving in the tech industry.
Transcript
How would you describe people who typically thrive in this industry?
In tech generally, especially if you're going to be a software engineer, I've seen people thrive the most. If they get really good at writing code and learning the software development lifecycle.
Then, add on top of that, knowledge of the business and a lot of customer empathy. Really ask questions like, "Why am I writing this code? What is the customer expecting?"
Keeping in mind the nitty-gritty technical details of what you're doing, while also thinking of the customer, really helps people thrive.