The leadership problem that technical competence doesn’t solve.
Coaching for engineering leaders at the point where the technical work has stopped being the hard part. Conflict, credibility, delegation, executive presence — the human-systems layer nobody trained you for.
- Stopped weekly escalation pattern in 3 weeks, got architecture buy-in
- Director reclaimed 10 hours/week through delegation, team engagement up 20%
- Zero attrition during merger, maintained team stability under chaos
Two audiences.
The coaching addresses one failure pattern from two directions: the new manager meeting it for the first time, and the senior leader watching it repeat across a team.
New & Struggling Managers
You got promoted because you were technically excellent. Now you’re supposed to manage people, navigate politics, and make decisions with incomplete information—skills nobody taught you.
Senior Leaders Developing Teams
You’ve got managers who are technically strong but struggling to lead. Escalations shouldn’t reach you. Good engineers are burning out in leadership roles. You need development that addresses root causes, not symptoms.
Practical Tech Leader — the book.
Forty years of organizational pattern recognition, compressed into a working manual for engineering leaders. Not a motivational book. A legibility book.
Why this particular combination.
Most coaches who understand the technical substance of your work have no formal training in what happens psychologically when teams go sideways. Most coaches with that training have never held the pager. The two skill sets rarely meet in one practitioner — which is where your challenges tend to live.
Deep Technical Credibility
40+ years building software systems at scale. I’ve been the CTO making architecture calls under pressure. I understand distributed systems, technical debt, and the politics of refactoring. I speak your language.
Therapeutic Training Applied to Leadership
Licensed therapist trained in human dynamics, emotional patterns, and relational conflict. I see what’s happening beneath the surface: the trust gaps, the unspoken resentments, the fear masking as technical disagreement.
Practical, Implementable Strategies
Not theory. Not fluff. Real frameworks you can use in Monday’s standup, Tuesday’s one-on-one, Wednesday’s architecture review. Tools that work when you’re stressed, understaffed, and under deadline.
Integrated Approach to Stuck Points
Technical challenges often have emotional roots. Team conflict masks architecture misalignment. Career stuck points hide self-doubt. I help you see and address both dimensions because that’s where lasting change happens.
About Rebecca
I’ve spent 40+ years in software engineering—building systems, leading teams, making architecture calls, navigating organizational politics, and learning what actually makes technical leadership work.
But along the way I kept noticing something: brilliant engineers were crashing when they hit people problems. Technically excellent leaders couldn’t influence peers. High performers burned out managing teams. The technical skills weren’t the issue—the human dynamics were.
That led me to pursue formal training in therapy. I wanted to understand the emotional and relational patterns that shape how we lead, make decisions, and navigate conflict. Now, as a licensed therapist, I bring both technical and psychological expertise to my coaching work.
Credentials & Background
- 40+ years in software engineering and technical leadership
- Licensed Therapist (LGPC/LMHCA) - active clinical practice
- Certified Professional Coach
- Specializations: Technical leadership, conflict resolution, executive presence, organizational dynamics
A half-hour to see if it fits.
The discovery call is thirty minutes. We identify what’s actually stuck, find the fastest point of leverage, and decide together whether a three-month or six-month engagement fits — or whether coaching isn’t the right tool for what you’re facing.
Schedule Discovery Call