Career pivots / 3 min
From senior individual contributor to manager: prove it before you ask
For senior specialists in any function: what decision makers look for in a first-time manager, what stalls the move and how to build the evidence.
Home / Insights
Field notes on how hiring really works, and how to make moves that change your outcome.
Career pivots / October 20, 2026
How a designer moves into front-end development: what employers need to see, the routes from most to least likely, what to build first and how long it takes.
3 min read →
Career pivots / 3 min
For senior specialists in any function: what decision makers look for in a first-time manager, what stalls the move and how to build the evidence.
Career pivots / 3 min
What the jump from product manager to Head of Product requires: what the role is evaluated on, the gaps that stall candidates and the proof to build.
Stay or quit / 5 min
Thinking of resigning with no job lined up? A four-part test covering runway, leverage, health and the story you will tell, and what to do first.
Career growth / 4 min
Seven signs your career has stalled, why working harder does not fix it and the moves that change how the market and your employer read you.
Career pivots / 4 min
How to move from UX design to product management: what hiring managers decide on, the four gaps that block designers and the proof that closes them.
Leadership / 3 min
How a senior engineer shows leadership before holding the title: the signals a promotion committee needs and how to describe them in management terms.
Promotion / 4 min
What a promotion committee needs to see before it says yes, what it ignores, and how to build your promotion case months before the review.
Compensation / 5 min
How to estimate your market value from real evidence, spot the signs you are underpaid and choose between a raise, a promotion and a move.
Decisions / 5 min
Five tests to decide whether to stay, negotiate or leave: structural or situational, the path, your leverage outside, the real cost and the market.
Strategy / 4 min
Take a course, network more, update your LinkedIn. Why generic career advice fails, and the four kinds of proof that change how the market reads you.
Job search / 6 min
Many applications and no replies usually means a signal problem, not a talent problem. See what recruiters screen for and how to fix what they see.
Recruiter view / 6 min
The first read of a CV is a scan, not a read. See the order recruiters scan in, what stops them and how to build a CV that survives the first pass.