AGP Ep 11: Ted Tencza—Deeply technical + Desire for positive impact = Formula for a great CTO
Ted Tencza is the CTO for finder.com.au Australia’s biggest and fastest growing financial and utility deal finder.
Ted started his career as a software developer and wanted to make a bigger positive impact. But he stayed deeply connected to technology and other skilled professionals.
Listen in to hear how this combination (tech + impact) supported his impressive career and accomplishments.
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Alpha Geek Podcast
AGP Ep 11: Ted Tencza—Deeply technical + Desire for positive impact = Formula for a great CTO
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Show notes
- Ted’s links
- Sydney tech leaders meetup group in Sydney
- Ted on LinkedIn
- Ted on codr.tv talking about interviewing tech staff
- Ted’s slides on remote teams
- The Pointy Haired Boss
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Credits
- Music by David Cutter
Topics/Transcript
Topics discussed
- Transitioning from technical role to leadership
- Interviewing for technical positions
- How to not be a pointy-haired boss: trust people as adults
- Working with distributed teams
Questions asked
- 3:15 what got you into technology in the first place?
- 6:00 what was it about the commercial sector that attracted you?
- 6:55 what drew you to leadership?
- 20:33 is there anything else you think needs to be said about not to be a pointy-haired boss?
- 24:16 how did you have that difficult conversation of letting someone go?
- 27:10 do you enjoy leadership?
- 34:12 how was your experience moving to Australia from the US?
Quotable
- 0:50 “You don’t need to be a jerk to be successful”—Ted Tencza
- 7:42 “I wanna give it a go and if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I’ll move on from there”—Ted Tencza
- 7:54 “ As technical people, we are not supposed to good at leadership. So I wanted to do what people said couldn’t be done”—Ted Tencza
- 18:00 “Don’t tell people what to do, tell people what needs to be accomplished and let them surprise you on how they get there”—Ted Tencza
- 23:56 “If you let the underperformer continue, your good performer is gonna get tired of doing two jobs”—Ted Tencza
- 28:33 “I like the interviewing process, not for interviewing itself but trying to be good enough at it to only let the right people into the team”—Ted Tencza
- 43:29 “You’re judged not only on how well you do, but how well the people you train will do”—Ted Tencza