Ask HN: What and where do CTOs read?

13 points by sitajay ↗ HN
I'm curious which blogs, online publications, digital magazines, etc do CTOs read daily/weekly to stay up-to-date and learn new things. (apart from HN)

2 comments

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I typically read industry vertical publications to keep up with the industry trends, currently I am in healthcare so I keep up on relevant industry publications there and FDA/FTC announcements. I also own a small business in the Marine industry (boating/yachts etc) so I read professional boat builder and other industry publications there.

HN - mainly for what is the startup world talking about, trends and just cause it is fun.

Techcrunch - again, mainly to keep up with startups and fundings

CNN/Fox/NBC/CBS -- I do read articles from them all when the articles are business or world related. I personally dislike Fox and CNN but just because I dislike them doesn't mean I shouldn't read what they are putting out there and form my own opinions. Keeps me well read to also stay up in current event type conversations.

Forbes, Fast Company, Fortune -- Mainly again to keep up and learn what is being said.

Github code -- I read a ton of code each week not only ours but other open source projects so I can both learn how problems are being solved and see new languages being utilized to solve real problems not just "hello world".

Overall I'm a voracious reader of most all things to do with business, technology and financial matters. Books, magazines and blogs are always on the list, but I am cautious on the source of the content to know if I am reading a press release disguised as news etc.

Also, I keep tabs on twitter on specific people and companies to see what is happening and read links they post etc. Always follow my competitors and anyone I find that might have interesting content.

I've been working a lot more on engagement and content rather than just passively consuming new stuff.

  - Rands Leadership slack channel (rands-leadership.slack.com)
  - HN (duh)
  - I've started answering questions in Quora
  - Twitter recently (I had to get over my social media cynicism)
  - Investing time in reaching out to people on LinkedIn and following people there as well.
  - Gary Vaynerchuck's content
  - Anything from the Basecamp guys (Jason Fried and DHH)
  - Rob Walling of Microconf fame
  - I participate in some subreddits (reddit.com)
I find that by pushing more on engagement the learning becomes much more subtle and relevant to what I need _NOW_ rather than just ending up as a factoid or bookmark I will never go back to.