The Pragmatic Engineer Documents a Wave of CTOs and VPEs Walking Away From Their Jobs
The Pragmatic Engineer·medium signal
Gergely Orosz reports a growing pattern of CTOs, VPs of Engineering and Heads of Engineering leaving high-status, in-demand roles for career breaks, with reasons tied mostly to AI and to founder mode. The signal is that the disruption narrative has moved up the org chart from junior engineers to the people who were supposed to be managing the transition. For anyone reading engineering hiring signals, leadership attrition is a leading indicator that individual-contributor headcount data misses.