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Coaching for Staff+ Engineers Deciding What's Actually Theirs to Want

You've been put forward for a step up. Or maybe nobody's asked, but you can't shake the feeling that you're supposed to want the next one anyway.

Either way, you can't tell if this is genuine ambition, or just the only way you've ever known how to think about growth.

Who this is for

This is built for Staff, Principal, and Distinguished Engineers, Tech Leads, and Software Architects at established, tech-enabled companies, usually just put forward for a step up they're not sure they want.

If any of these sound familiar, you're in the right place:

  • "I don't know if I actually want this promotion, or if I just feel like I'm supposed to want it."
  • "Progression has always meant moving up for me. I don't know how to think about growth any other way."
  • "I'm being offered a step up and I can't tell if my hesitation is fear, or a real sign it's not right for me."

I mainly work with Staff, Principal, and Distinguished Engineers, Tech Leads, and Software Architects deciding whether a promotion is actually theirs to want. That's who I built this for. If you're a manager or technical leader outside that group and it still sounds like you, reach out. I take a small number of clients outside this profile when the fit is genuinely right.

Why me

I spent nearly twenty years on the ladder myself. Senior Engineer, then Principal Systems Engineer, then a management step-up I said yes to before I'd actually decided anything. I've sat exactly where you're sitting.

One client, six months after we worked together: "I no longer measure my career by the next step up, and I'm settled on the question I came in with in a way I wasn't before."

Read more client stories here.

What this works toward

Clarity on what you actually want from your career. Not a generic framework. A way to judge any future career move against what genuinely matters to you, instead of reflexively chasing the next title.

That's the full engagement, "Clarity Before You Climb." But that's not where you start.

How to start

Before anything else, start here. Two ways in, pick whichever fits:

Option 1 - Before You Climb: The Want Audit (£3.60) A short, guided diagnostic. No call needed. Start the Want Audit.

Option 2 - A live Gameplan Call (from £250) If you'd rather talk it through with me directly: a focused 1:1 call where we name what's actually going on and what to do next.

After payment, you'll be taken to my calendar to pick a time.

Whichever you pick, if it's a fit, I'll walk you through what working together looks like next.

- Blanca