Earlier this year I offered to coach four women over six months. It's been such an interesting and rewarding experience that I'm doing it again!
I'm particularly interested in coaching women tech managers. This is open to current managers, or individual contributors who are strongly considering a move into management. “Tech” roles can include a variety of positions: developers, designers, project managers, quality engineers, content writers, etc. Please still apply if you’re keen, but don’t particularly align with one of these specific roles. These were just the ones that came to mind!
Bit about coaching
Most people have never had a coaching session, so it’s hard to know what to expect. Coaching allows you to talk through a problem with someone who isn’t also trying to talk through their problem, prove how smart they are, or in charge of your salary. We’ll reflect on a particular problem you’ve brought. I’ll ask more questions than I answer, and you’ll do most of the thinking and talking. Then I’ll help you frame an action plan and some goals for the next session. I’ve also got another post about how to prep and some rough timing for the session.
Details:
- Six sessions
- One hour each
- Once roughly every three weeks (July - November)
- Expect homework each session, around an hour a week or less
- Free! Kind of...
“Payment”
As before, I really don't want your money - I want to help you and give back to our wonderful community! However, to make this work you need to be as committed as I am. The best way I know to quantify commitment between strangers is with money. So here are the rules for payment:
- You pay $300 upfront that I'll hold, but not spend.
- I'll transfer you $50 back after every session you attend. That way you get the whole amount if you show up for all six sessions.
- If you reschedule with less than 12 hours notice I will keep $25 to offset the annoyance.
- If you simply don't show up then I keep the full $50. Again, I'd rather do the session, but if I gave up my evening sitting on a video call alone then I'd like to get my nails done.
I've done this kind of payment before and have a track record of not stealing from anyone. The initial payment wouldn't be due until after our “get to know you” session - don’t give money to strangers on the internet!
If $300 is prohibitively expensive for you (student, unemployed, etc) please mention this in your application and we’ll figure something out. Again - I don’t want your money, I want your commitment.
Apply
Hard requirements:
- Identify as a woman
- Tech related role
- Currently a manager (or strongly considering it)
- Available for sessions during the evening AEDT
- Good enough internet connection for an hour long video call
- Sessions in English
- Applications due by June 21
I'll contact everyone during the last week of June. I'll schedule a 30 min “get to know you” session to double check that we want to commit to this process together.
Additional info
Here's a bit more about me, so you know what I have experience with and where I might help you.
- Completed a computer science degree in the US; some friends have done coding bootcamps, but I don't have first hand experience here
- Lived and worked in Silicon Valley for a couple of years
- Moved to New Zealand and then Sydney (covering visa stress, feeling like an outsider, and settling in)
- Worked for a couple of small startups
- Now work for Atlassian
- Moved from developer to manager
- I've been involved in the community over the years, working with: Women Who Code Sydney, Rails Girls, Girl Geek Dinners, and run a few programming related study groups
- I also have a passion for public speaking, especially for new or hesitant speakers