People Stack Podcast

We all have doubts. Doubts about ourselves, other people, the external world. That’s normal and natural. What I don’t want is for your doubts to continue to get confirmed. I don’t want your self-doubt to turn into a stagnating salary or getting fired. I don’t want your doubts about others to turn into relationships destroyed. I don’t want your doubts about the world to turn into you staying stuck in a mediocre career. How do you prevent this so you can build your dream tech career - even amid some doubts and challenges? Check out this episode immediately!

More than ever, we’ve been talking with tech managers who are coping with extraordinary career struggles. Out of work for months on end and if they haven’t declared bankruptcy yet, they’ll have to. Stuck in a dead-end job and, every day, it feels like a little piece of them is dying inside. On top of that, they’re dealing with massive health and relationship issues too. Hospital beds and divorces are part of these stories. How do you cope with these extraordinary career and life struggles? I talk about how and - even more importantly - how NOT to do that in this episode. Tune in right now!

Yes, you CAN have any career you want! This is the truth we’ve discovered after thousands of conversations with hundreds of tech manager clients. Here’s the thing… We get in our own way. We block ourselves from creating the careers we want! What are some of the biggest blockers? And how do you overcome them so you can build your dream tech career? Check out this episode immediately!

You’re procrastinating. You’re putting things off… That conversation with your boss, updating your resume, reading that leadership book, sending that follow-up email… And it’s filling you with shame, doubt, an endless spiral toward a permanent residence in Negative Town. It’s so ironic, isn’t it? Those things on your to-do list are supposed to empower you. But you have to get them done first. In today’s episode, I talk about overcoming procrastination so that you can finally tackle even the most uncomfortable actions - And use this as a catapult to upgrading your teams, your paychecks, your career, and your life. Check it out right now!

I’m sure you’ve seen disingenuous folks getting ahead and wondered when their reckoning will come. That’s not license though to trade away one of your most valuable assets to get further faster though. In this episode I talk about why Integrity is the key to making your career dreams possible and what’s at stake when you don’t bring it to the forefront. Listen now to see how doing what you say, and saying what you mean will propel you not just to a short term gain, but a career full of wins.

There is a massive number of tech managers on the job market right now, so competition is fierce. Even if you have a shiny resume & LinkedIn profile along with stellar interviewing skills, that is not enough to be able to thrive in this market. In this episode, I share the 5 lessons we learned to help our tech manager clients thrive on the job market and earn 30%, 40%, even 50+% raises at dream roles. Check it out immediately!

Right now, lots of tech managers are thinking about leaving their jobs. They want to spread their wings, go on the job market, and find even better opportunities at new companies. And right now, lots of tech managers are scared to take this leap. They’re filled with worry, doubt, and uncertainty about jumping into the unknown. If this is you, I absolutely understand and I want to help. I also want you to get how this fear is destroying your career. Check out this episode to find out how to rise about the fear and finally create a career - and a life - full of impact, freedom, and balance.

How’s your career right now? If you’re like a lot of our potential clients, it’s “not bad.” As in - it could be better but I’m okay. I’m not ecstatic with joy and in my dream job, but who is really? I have a stable job, with stable pay, and I’m able to pay the mortgage comfortably every month. Really, it’s not bad. I can’t complain.... If this is the way you feel about your career right, I want you to check out this episode immediately. Because “not bad” is dangerous. It’s actually the most dangerous place to be in your career. Listen now to find out exactly why - and how to fix it!

The number one reason why most of our clients were failing to upgrade their tech careers… ...was because they were not evangelizing their excellence. They were not promoting themselves - they were not marketing themselves. Most of them were doing a lot of hard work on BUILDING their excellence as leaders. But they were doing ZERO to EVANGELIZE their excellence. Are you evangelizing your team's excellence? And are you doing it confidently, consistently, with integrity, and with the right people? If the answer is no, you owe it to yourself, your team, and your loved ones to fix it right now! Because you know as well as I know that there's no way that you're gonna get to that next level in your technical career… There’s no way you’re going to earn that promotion, that raise, that Hell Yes job - without effectively evangelizing your excellence. Tune in to this episode to learn the 3 keys to evangelizing without sacrificing your integrity or authenticity!

Take a look at your to do list. What emotions come up for you? If you’re like a lot of our clients - it’s probably one or more of the following: overwhelm, dread, worry, guilt, shame, apathy. It’s that “omg I can’t even” feeling. Your to do list is dying. Or….maybe you don’t HAVE a to do list. You’re constantly fighting fires without the right tools. So, your to do list is dead already. Either way this is wreaking havoc on your career. Because if you can’t manage your day-to-day tasks, there’s no way you’ll have the time, energy, and focus to build your career. Right now, your career is DOA. So let’s fix this!!! Check out this episode so you can learn how to make your to do list work FOR you instead of AGAINST you - and harness this power to finally earn that raise, promotion, or new job.

Have you ever been told that you need to “wait your turn” for a raise or promotion? As if there’s some invisible queue of people waiting in front of you? Unfortunately, senior leaders use this “wait your turn” language all too often when someone approaches them about a possible bump up the ladder. Want to know what it REALLY means? And how to deal with it so that you can FINALLY earn the career upgrade that you truly deserve? Check out this episode right now!

You work hard. You’re intelligent. You have oodles of tech experience. So why are you stuck in a career where you’re underpaid, underrecognized, and overworked? After having helped hundreds of tech managers to earn 30+% raises and land their Hell Yes jobs, I can tell you one thing for certain: If you’re stuck on the hedonic treadmill, you’re NEVER going to create the career you truly deserve. In this episode, I reveal what the heck the hedonic treadmill is and more importantly: How to get OFF so you can be the commander of your career and build your dream. Do not miss this one!

It’s one of the global laws of wealth: Produce more than you consume. So why then, do so many people forget it when it comes to their careers? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against reading and learning. But you learn way more by actually getting out there and testing stuff, than you do reading it in books, or taking more courses. You do it in the day-to-day process of your work, but not your career. There’s a reason. Wanna hear the truth? Dive into this episode to find it out.

Do you really need to hop from job to job to get a substantial raise as a tech manager? A lot of the folks we speak with think this is the case. They’ve job hopped for the past 5, 10, 20+ years hoping that they’d unlock increased salary, increased impact, and increased freedom. What do they get instead? More of the same! Mediocre pay, mediocre positions, and mediocre career results. So - what’s REALLY the key to achieving your dream tech leadership career? Tune in right now to find out!

If you’re burnt out, you can’t SEE it. Maybe you can FEEL it... But the thing is, we’re so good at coping with stress, we often miss it. Are you TOO burnt out and you don’t even know it? And - is it silently killing your tech career? Do not miss this episode!

Staying in your tent because there may be predators outside is a great way to die of starvation. Allowing immediate, relative comfort to prevent you from taking chances for a better life & better career can cost you a TON! It can cost you the hundreds of thousands of DOLLARS you’re leaving on the table because you’re uncomfortable negotiating. It can cost you hundreds of hours of TIME because you’re uncomfortable working less and being more efficient. It can cost you an immense amount of STRESS because you’re uncomfortable doing anything differently at work, in your career, and in life. The truth is - playing it safe in your career is causing you loads of discomfort & heartache! In this episode, I dive into exactly why this is the case - and how to move out of your comfort zone to create a career with massive impact and freedom. Tune in right now!

Even with a decade of experience, qualified folks are having a hard time getting noticed out there in the job market. Some take it as a numbers game; they apply to as many opportunities as they can hoping to get a call back, but the call never happens. They get a boilerplate “No” or worse, radio silence. That’s hard enough to handle when you have a well fitting resume for a well defined role. What’s a person to do though when they, and the roles they’re looking for, are special? It doesn’t need to be that way. You don’t need cram for interviews and miss out on family, friends and much needed downtime. You don’t need to burn the midnight oil applying to roles en mass. Listen to this episode now to get on the right track for the right role.

On this very special episode of The People Stack Podcast, Jen interviewed Tanaka Mutakwa (https://www.linkedin.com/in/trmutakwa/). He is VP of Engineering at Names & Faces based in South Africa. He started a South African-based tech leadership community to inspire and motivate tech leaders to reach their goals through discussion and the sharing of ideas. We talked about Tanaka’s 4 Areas of Focus of Successful Technical Leadership: People, Product, Process, & Tech Stack. During out chat, we uncovered how to balance these 4 areas as well as some of the common misconceptions new and experienced tech leaders have about managing people, building great products, dialing in process, and using the tech stack to reach goals. You’ll want to give this one a listen right now!

Across every org, every family, and every group of friends there is a keystone person holding it all together. And that ONE keystone person is THE person for their org, their family, AND their group of friends. For some keystones, their efforts appear tireless, and they’re able to accomplish the impossible. For others, they’re running on fumes. They’re one battle away from total breakdown. If that’s you, if you’re the glue, then you know this all too well. And you also know your coping mechanisms aren’t keeping pace with the load. Get into this episode now to see the path to more strength!

In our field we praise logic above all else. We uphold that “thinking it through” is the intelligent choice. The truth is, relying solely on logic is the WORST way to upgrade your tech career and it’ll leave you underpaid, overworked, and underrecognized. Here why: Using logic only leaves your best asset unused: Your intuition. The best choices in our lives have come first from the gut. Afterward we justified with logic. And yet we see time after time folks brushing aside their intuition and leading themselves astray. You can see the evidence of this throughout your life, both the good and the bad. So how do you fight with both hands? Use logic AND intuition? Check out this right now episode to see!