Tech is an industry for dreamers and innovators.
But like any other high-impact field, it can be hard to break into — and when you do get a job, you might work long hours or on high-stress projects.
Whether you’re looking to land one of the most in-demand jobs in tech, find new ways to upskill, or navigate complex situations in the workplace, a career coach supports you through it. Getting professional career advice can help you reach goals faster and develop the hard and soft skills you need to thrive in an ever-changing industry. Seek out the help of a tech career coach to level up.
What is tech career coaching?
A career coach for tech workers collaborates with you to set and reach professional goals, helping you understand your inner motivations and honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses. They can give you the tools to navigate the tech landscape while growing professionally, setting clear, measurable goals and creating a clear action plan for achieving them.
A tech career coach could help you:
- Optimize your resume and LinkedIn profile
- Determine what skills you need to advance in your career
- Adapt to a fast-paced environment
- Improve your job search strategies
- Become a better interviewee
- Transition confidently to a new career
- Learn common tech strategies like Agile development
- Accept or turn down job offers
- Decide on what certifications to earn
- Set short- and long-term career goals
- Develop a networking strategy in your tech field
- Boost your communication skills
- Develop leadership skills
- Find your dream job, whether that’s as a software engineer or project manager
- Establish a better work-life balance
- Move toward more emotionally fulfilling work
- Translate a startup dream into a clear plan
6 benefits of hiring a tech career coach
If you work in tech, you likely already have the drive and inspiration to work in this difficult field. A career coach won’t overstep that instinct or tell you what to do. Instead, they’ll work with you to discover what motivates you in your tech career and help you envision a fulfilling path.
Coaches work with a versatile range of coaching clients and can chart a course toward virtually any goal you have for your tech career. Whether you’re starting your first coding job or transitioning into a leadership role, a tech coach can benefit your career by:
1. Helping you find purpose and direction
In the hustle of a trickly job market, it’s easy to lose sight of what motivates you to work, which could cause you to languish or lose interest in your career. And you’re not alone — according to 2021 research from BetterUp, 55% of employees are languishing at any given time.
Career coaches push you to become more self-aware by encouraging you to open up about your desires and abilities in a safe setting, separate from busy tech environments. There are no right or wrong ideas in coaching sessions, meaning that you can honestly talk through how you’re feeling and what your next steps might be.
Maybe you’re working as a project manager at a tech company and come from a development background. The natural next step for you might be to move into a more advanced leadership role at the company, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice.
You might miss coding and making innovative applications or find that managing people just isn’t for you. A coach can help you determine whether moving into a leadership role will fulfill you or if it’s time to look for a more hands-on position.
2. Thinking outside of the box
When you’re not excited about your current place in the tech industry, or you enjoy your job but aren’t performing as well as you wish, it’s hard to pinpoint the reasons why. Maybe you’ve reflected on your own and spoken to peers and colleagues but aren’t reaching the breakthrough you’re looking for.
This is the perfect time to seek the help of a tech career coach. They have a third-party perspective that others in your life don’t, helping you overcome bias and think of new ideas. A coach can guide you through a productive brainstorming process and push you to discover your truest feelings about your work — while discovering potential pathways to improvement.
If you’re at the top of your company’s high-performing AI development team and find that your peers’ skills now surpass yours, you might feel stunted. It’s not that you’re putting in less effort, but you sense your skills don’t match the people around you.
A coach can help you make these tough admissions and cite them as areas of opportunity. You can plan to take a class to learn a new coding language, suggest new projects that’d be exciting for you and your team, or take the initiative to do more at work.
3. Setting goals and action items
Part of the reason it might be challenging to make significant career decisions is a fear of taking the next step. And in an often volatile industry like tech, that fear might be even stronger. But when you set an achievable, measurable goal with your coach and make a step-by-step plan toward it, you can feel confident that success is within reach.
Maybe you’re starting a data analysis role at your dream company and want to move up quickly. A technology career coach can guide you through setting relevant goals and creating an action plan to meet them. In this situation, that might include taking a leadership class and working on your public speaking skills.
The coach could also help you set milestones, like getting a promotion by a certain date or scheduling a conversation with your boss about taking on more responsibility.
4. Providing support
No matter how accepting your tech team is, it’s isolating to feel dissatisfied with your current position or like an imposter at your company. Venting to the people around you might bring some comfort, but sometimes, there are feelings or thoughts you’d rather not share with them — and there’s nothing wrong with that.
A coach can play a key role in your support system, whether you’re planning to quit your job and can’t yet share the news or would rather not let your peers know you’re upskilling. Your coaching sessions are a safe space to explain your feelings and work through problems without judgment.
If you’re experiencing burnout and falling behind on important tasks during a coding sprint, a coach can help you reprioritize and create a plan to speak to your manager about reducing your workload.
Or if you’re going through a personal life change, like starting a family or grieving a loss, a coach can give you the tools you need to navigate it and encourage you to seek extra help if you need it.
5. Establishing a better work-life balance
Tech companies often have unique employee benefits that make work fun. It might be hard to see that sometimes, those benefits might be there to make up for long hours and stressful deadlines. It’s fun and exciting to contribute to innovative ideas and work for big-name companies — but no job is worth your mental health.
You may enter your first coaching session with a clear goal and ready-made plan toward it, but the coach could suggest you pump the brakes. When you’re especially driven to move up in your career, your self-care, social relationships, and physical and emotional health can suffer — and you have to work on those first. You need a strong foundation to truly bring your whole self to the workplace.
If this applies to you, a coach might help you become more self-aware and set different priorities before reaching new heights in the tech world. You and your coach can work on a plan to establish a better work-life balance and create a sustainable routine, comfortably moving toward your goal instead of taking on too much at once.
You might try to get a promotion this year but also want to spend more quality time with your family. A coach can show you that you can do both on a protracted timeline. You can make more time for your loved ones, enjoy the moments that come with it, and position yourself for a career move that matches the needs of your whole life, not just your professional one.
6. Helping you retool
As of 2023, jobs in tech areas such as generative AI, next-gen software development, and cloud computing are growing rapidly, according to research from McKinsey. Chances are, you’ll need to hone new skills to stay up-to-date in a tech position or land a high-paying job.
A coach can help you develop the job-search skills and technical prowess you need to keep a leg up in the industry, making you a standout candidate and a high-performing employee.
If you’re looking for a new tech job, take advantage of your sessions to perform mock interviews, improve your portfolio, and tackle any imposter syndrome that might hold you back. Your coach can help you prepare answers to tough job interview questions so you can present yourself in a positive light to hiring managers and recruiters.
And if you’re interested in taking on more responsibility at work or learning new skills to support your team, a coach can help you find the right direction. They’ll help you identify what you want to learn, what methods will work best for your schedule, and set SMART goals to track your progress.
What to expect in a tech career coaching program
Career coaching starts before you meet with your coach. In preparation for your first session, get into an open, growth-focused mindset. Consider journaling about your goals and insecurities to enter this headspace and start looking at what your objectives are. You could also look back at past projects to discover what you want to improve.
But it’s okay to enter your first session with a clear head. Sometimes, you’re starting coaching specifically because you don’t know what to work toward. In that case, the most important thing to do is be transparent and ready to talk about your situation, including what you do or don’t like about it.
Every coaching experience is different. But in general, here’s what to expect when you start:
An assessment
Your coach will likely spend the first session conducting a verbal assessment, or they might have you take a survey before you meet. This activity aims to identify your professional strengths and areas of opportunity and determine the current state of your career. At BetterUp, this takes the form of the Whole Person Model, which paints a holistic picture of who you are and what you’re good at.
A comprehensive assessment won’t just look at your job but your whole life — learning how satisfied you are with your personal and professional pursuits, like interpersonal relationships, mental fitness, and hobbies. Your responses to these questions will help you and your coach create a plan to improve your tech career that won’t stifle your life outside of work.
Goal-setting
In a tech or IT career coaching session, you and your coach will work together to brainstorm and set achievable, time-sensitive goals. You’ll consider both short- and long-term objectives and make sure they work together to help you reach overall career aspirations.
If you want to be a CEO in 15 years, your coach can help you devise steps toward that position now, like earning new skills and offering to take on challenging projects. But you’ll also look at goals you can reach in the short term, like meeting new people in your professional network, writing a resume that stands out, or developing a self-care plan.
Obstacle predictions
Next, you’ll flush out potential obstacles in your plan with your career coach. Technology changes rapidly, so it’s crucial to expect the unexpected and find ways to navigate roadblocks as you go.
The job you hope to hold in 10 years may not even exist when the time comes, or a coworker could land the promotion you’ve been working toward. A coach can help you uncover alternative ways to use your ambitions, assess risks and setbacks, and create contingency plans.
How to find a tech career coach
Like any other kind of mentorship or 1:1 relationship, coaching is personal. Your coach doesn’t have to be a tech expert. But they should just be someone who connects with you and helps you feel comfortable. And some experience with the tech world is also helpful.
Before starting the process, think of what you’re looking for from a coach. What do all of your mentors and inspirations have in common? Are they excellent active listeners, motivators, and problem-solvers? Do they practice tough love, or support you with kind words?
Find a career coach with the traits most important to you and a schedule that fits yours. Here’s how to look for one:
1. Create a BetterUp account
Sign up for BetterUp, a coaching platform that connects individuals and organizations with expert coaches. You’ll gain access to a network of digital coaches offering remote sessions, meaning you can work with the right coach for you, even if they live halfway across the world.
2. Match with a coach
After registering with BetterUp, you’ll take a brief survey to determine your needs. The platform will then match you with an ideal coach, whether that’s someone who has experience in the tech industry or with a specific problem you’re having. And if the first pick isn’t quite right, you can try one of hundreds of other coaches until you develop a strong relationship.
3. Complete the Whole Person Assessment
Before your first virtual session, your coach will likely ask you to complete BetterUp’s Whole Person Assessment. This survey identifies your abilities, behaviors, and mindsets in both your personal and professional life. The results orient your coach before the first meeting so you can dive into goal-setting right away — with a focus on growing a tech career that supports your entire being.
Get a fresh perspective on your career
It’s normal to feel like your career development isn’t moving forward the way you want it to. The tech industry is notoriously difficult, whether you’re in the heart of San Francisco and Silicon Valley or just starting a remote career transition from another state. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try.
Work with a tech career coach and tackle tough questions like if you’re in the right role, ready for a career change, or need to take your skills to the next level. Your coaching relationship will bring you toward a more rewarding career with laser-focused goals and an action plan that ensures success.
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