The People Stack Podcast

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!