MuleSoft Global Field CTO Matt McLarty Shares the Secret to a Long-Lasting Career in Tech
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Matt McLarty is the global field CTO and vice president of the digital transformation office at MuleSoft, a Salesforce company. MuleSoft is an integration and API platform which empowers companies to unlock and integrate their apps and data to create seamless experiences.
Why does MuleSoft have a digital transformation office?
Mulesoft has been around for a while [as a] technology vendor for integration [and] APIs to help companies plug things together… [to] help automate workflows.
We found… a lot of the organizations we’re working with historically would be focused on… working with IT groups… or… plugging into third-party digital services. But more and more… the digital agenda or digital transformation is [becoming] much higher on the business agenda. It’s not just an IT thing anymore.
… The Digital Transformation Office… work[s] with the business and IT leadership of our customers and help[s] them map what their intentions are in business strategy into the actual execution plan.
Why you shouldn’t focus on learning a specific coding language or technology
If you look at the trajectory of my career, it looks like it was planned because it’s followed all these industry trends. But really, it was… be[ing] really agile to react to changing market dynamics.
We can’t predict the future. Like, you go back three years, how many companies were planning their pandemic measures?
… The individuals [who] have done best are the ones that adapt as quickly as possible to the changing dynamic.
… I started my career… in COBOL, [the] mainframe language. You can make a lot of money as a COBOL developer in 2022 because no one knows [it]—the skill set is aging out.
Don’t hang your hat on particular technologies because, my God, they just come and go. You don’t know which horse to bet on.
Learning the applicability of the technologies we’re working on [and] understanding business domain knowledge is just as important, and I would say, more long-lasting.
The key to success for your tech career
You [have] got [to have] the composable approach to life… What are [the] components that we can put together in these different contexts? And that’s… a way of enabling optionality and composition.
… From a personal level, think about what [and] where you [can] add value in aggregate but also in these composable chunks. Then, you can start to look at [which] fields are open to you [and] what are the new roles that are open to you.
Why you should consider a tech job outside of the tech industry
Every company is hiring… [or] needs software engineers—every industry, they’re all hiring… Software jobs are needed everywhere. There [are] needs for software developers across every industry.
