CA's new CTO discusses development, recruiting

27.01.2006

I'm still stuck on that term overdose. So, an IP overdose is a good thing? Yes.

Advanced research is a different direction for CA, yes? We have sufficient scale where we want to do advanced research, and just historically haven't done it. We want to be forward-looking in our advanced research lab. We want a practical view of having high probabilities that what we incubate in our labs will progress through our organization into product. Certainly as technologies progress, the advanced research labs will deliver Version 1, and if the lab has it right, it will be in Lab 2 for productization. If you can free up high-powered engineers and not relate them to building business plans and remove them from go-to-market activities, you can 2x your development efforts. It's a fairly simple process, but the key we're looking to put in place is that our advanced research is looking to capitalize on market trends and capitalize much earlier and incubate in the office of the CTO.

So talk about how you get enough smart folks to do all this in coming years. A modern CTO needs to continue to recruit the best talent. Formally, a part of my charter is to actively evangelize and recruit with universities around the world. We've done this rather well already, since it's a global company.

Which makes me wonder how U.S. grads for software jobs might fit in. Looking at the number of degrees granted over the last 10 years, the U.S. has fallen behind significantly in computer science to other countries, and in fact we are behind India, which has 5x what the U.S. has. This is reflective of a global economy. However, the U.S. market has incredible advantages, and the U.S. has incredible ability to deploy capital beyond any other market. In the U.S., we need to pay attention to closing the gap a bit to enable the next generation of technologists. I praise the other countries that get to 5x, but we need to pay attention to ensure we're bringing up the next generation of technologists. I want to recruit the best computer scientists. For students in computer science classes, I encourage them to get their degrees.

How's it going to work with Yogesh Gupta moved to senior vice president of business development? Yogesh has become a close colleague. He's an industry veteran and a friend and has done a fantastic job in the CTO role for five years. Now he has a very important role of helping drive business strategy within our mergers and acquisitions group. I'm thankful for his leadership and suspect he'll do a fantastic job in mergers and acquisitions.