Normally C-Level job positions offer high rewards as they are one of the highest paid jobs. To reach a C-Level position in one's career, the person has to be highly educated. Getting a high scoring MBA degree is almost a must from reputed institutions. Reaching C-Level positions or aiming for the same in their career requires one to be exceptionally good at academics, scoring close to 80-90% in their examinations. C-Level career prospects are high flying jobs for which one needs experience, qualification, dedication, and education.
The job responsibilities of a chief technology officer may vary from industry to industry and company to company. For example, the job responsibilities of a chief technology officer in the field of web technology would be different from the same designation in the telecommunication industry.
The chief technology officer is responsible for setting up the organization's vision with respect to technology and reporting to the chief executive officer. He holds the topmost position in the field of technology and has a larger contribution in the organization's growth and development as well as be an important part of the organization's strategic planning.
The major responsibilities of a chief technology officer are to develop and manage a technology team which is the best in the industry and continuously look after the research and development and also work towards the project management. They take the lead role in executing strategies for technological platforms, build external relationships and partnerships. They are the ones on whom the organization looks up to for guidance and they should be able to provide required leadership to the organization's technology needs. They should be able to foresee and take actions accordingly towards any major changes in the field of technology that may affect the organization. They have to come up with the technical standards and regulations and should further ensure that those standards are being practiced for development of the company's product and operations.
For a company which is in the process of starting up a website, the functions of a chief technology officer may look similar to that of a V.P (Engineering) or that of a system administrator, or in some cases a lead developer. At the initial stage, a chief technology officer becomes accountable for the performance of the system and has to get himself fully involved in all or some of the above mentioned job responsibilities. Once the company starts growing, then they can then take up just the charge of a CTO.
The primary role of a chief technology officer is to ensure proper execution of the organization's business objective by deploying and developing the organization's website presence. This will require the CTO to foresee the organization's web-based services that are offered, implementing the web applications, and also prepare for risks and growth.
The chief technology officer needs to take part as a management team at a senior level while setting up governance rules and methods for control and director to check that the targets are fulfilled and risks are controlled in the best possible manner. They also need to ensure that the organization's resources are being used optimally, especially in the field of office networks, software development, computers, and telecommunications.
The qualifications required for a career as chief technology office will be a university degree primarily in computer science and also having degree in business administration or any other similar discipline.
Apart from other academic qualifications, a chief technology officer must possess great leadership qualities. They should have excellent communication skills and should also be able to prioritize the needs and accordingly manage them. They should be expert in communicating their views and thoughts on technology to the non-technical people as well. They should have an eye for detail and be able to motivate and guide others. They are the people with high analytical abilities which also need to be able to evaluate and give solutions to the problems.
Most large scale organizations would pay more than $500,000 annually to their C-level employees and salaries could go up to $900,000 depending on performance and achievements of the individual.
