When I first started learning software engineering, becoming a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) was never part of my plan.
Like many students, I began by learning programming fundamentals, building small projects, exploring new technologies, and trying to understand how software systems work behind the scenes. My goal was simple: learn consistently, improve every day, and build things that solve real problems.
Today, while still a first-year Software Engineering student in China, I serve as the CTO and Shareholder of AnyWin Human Tech Limited.
This is not a story about a title.
It is a story about responsibility, growth, and the opportunities that can emerge when you continue building and learning.
An Opportunity I Never Expected
Many people believe leadership positions only come after years of professional experience.
In the startup world, things often work differently.
What matters most is not your age, degree, or job title. What matters is whether you can solve problems, take ownership, learn quickly, and continue moving forward when challenges appear.
As I spent more time building projects, learning new technologies, and contributing to larger systems, my work gradually expanded beyond writing code.
I started thinking about architecture, scalability, user experience, long-term product vision, and technical decision-making.
Those responsibilities eventually opened a door I never expected.
Building InWuxi
One of the most significant projects in my journey is InWuxi.
InWuxi is an international city gateway platform designed to connect global users with local services, organizations, businesses, communities, and opportunities within Wuxi, China.
The vision goes far beyond a traditional website.
We are building a multilingual digital ecosystem that helps international residents, students, professionals, entrepreneurs, and visitors navigate city life more effectively.
The platform currently supports four languages:
- Chinese (中文)
- English
- Korean (한국어)
- Russian (Русский)
Our mission is to reduce language barriers and make city services, information, and opportunities more accessible to people from around the world.
The web platform has already been developed and published, representing a major milestone for the project.
At the same time, we are expanding the ecosystem through additional software products, mobile applications, and future platform services that will strengthen the overall user experience.
The long-term vision is to create a scalable framework that can eventually be replicated across multiple cities, enabling a broader international city network throughout China.
What Being a CTO Actually Means
Many people hear the word "CTO" and immediately imagine someone who spends all day writing advanced code.
The reality is much broader.
Being a CTO is not only about engineering.
It is also about responsibility.
My responsibilities include:
- Technical planning
- Software architecture design
- Product development strategy
- Long-term technology vision
- Scalability planning
- Engineering decision-making
- Technical leadership
Of course, I still write code regularly.
I remain actively involved in implementation, architecture design, backend systems, authentication, databases, APIs, and platform development.
However, leadership requires thinking beyond individual features.
A CTO must constantly ask:
- Will this scale?
- Is this maintainable?
- Does this align with the long-term vision?
- How will future developers work with this system?
Those questions often become more important than the code itself.
The Technologies Behind the Journey
Throughout this journey, I have worked with a wide range of technologies across the software stack.
Some of the technologies I regularly use include:
- React
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- tRPC
- Drizzle ORM
- MySQL
- Authentication Systems
- AWS Services
- Python
- C#
- SQL Server
But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is this:
Technologies change.
Frameworks evolve.
Programming languages rise and fall.
The ability to learn remains valuable forever.
The engineers who continue learning will always be able to adapt to whatever comes next.
What I Am Still Learning
One common misconception about leadership roles is that people assume you already know everything.
I certainly do not.
Despite being a CTO, I continue learning every day.
Currently, I spend a significant amount of time improving my understanding of:
- Data Structures & Algorithms
- System Design
- Distributed Systems
- Software Architecture
- Backend Engineering
- Artificial Intelligence Systems
The more I learn, the more I realize how much there is still left to learn.
That realization keeps me motivated.
Lessons I Learned Along the Way
Opportunities Often Arrive Before You Feel Ready
Many opportunities appear long before we feel fully prepared.
Waiting until you feel completely qualified may mean waiting forever.
Sometimes growth begins when you choose to accept responsibility before you feel comfortable.
Consistency Beats Motivation
Motivation comes and goes.
Consistency creates results.
Small improvements repeated every day eventually become significant progress.
Responsibility Accelerates Growth
The fastest periods of growth in my life came when I accepted responsibilities that felt slightly beyond my comfort zone.
Responsibility forces learning.
Responsibility forces adaptation.
Responsibility forces growth.
Titles Matter Less Than Impact
People may remember your title for a moment.
They remember the products, systems, and value you create for much longer.
Impact always outlasts titles.
Looking Forward
Becoming a CTO while still a student was never my original goal.
However, this experience taught me something important:
Opportunities often arrive before we feel fully prepared for them.
The real question is whether we have the courage to embrace them.
My goal is not to collect titles.
My goal is to build technology that solves meaningful problems, helps people, and creates lasting impact.
I am still learning.
I am still making mistakes.
I am still facing new challenges.
And perhaps that is the most exciting part of being an engineer.
The journey has only just begun.
"Every line of code written through sleepless nights shapes the future someday. Because great software is never built by computers alone—it is built with patience, mistakes, failures, and the courage to start again."
— Sadekul Islam (Li Ao)