
Why Engineers Struggle as Tech Leads
The leadership shift nobody prepares you for.
Former N26 CTO Pat Kua on the mindset shift from maker to multiplier, why strong engineers struggle as tech leads, and how to lead with more impact.
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You're good at the work. Now you want the next thing.
You can ship. What's less obvious is how careers actually move: who notices, what to say, and which of the thousand things people tell you is worth acting on.
Drawn from these themes

The leadership shift nobody prepares you for.
Former N26 CTO Pat Kua on the mindset shift from maker to multiplier, why strong engineers struggle as tech leads, and how to lead with more impact.

The Manual of “Me” and “Us”: getting ahead of friction before it becomes conflict.
Tom Day shares practical strategies for building trust, preventing conflict and having hard conversations with confidence at work and home.

How to explain technical ideas to anyone.
Former Microsoft leader Ben Pearce on communicating complex ideas clearly, influencing stakeholders and winning buy-in as a technical expert.

And the mindset that takes you further than you were trained to go.
Why rigid career paths no longer work, and how a shift in mindset helps you adapt, stay relevant and go further as roles and industries change.

The operating model for consulting, fractional, and NED success.
Dan Gwalter’s operating model for a consulting, fractional or NED business with predictable clients and income you can actually rely on.

How to build something of your own without risking everything.
How to explore a business idea safely: turn a side hustle into a real business and build an exit from corporate life without quitting too soon.

A more human way to interview as a candidate and get better results.
Marylin Schlamkow on how dating principles help you prepare, build rapport and show your best self. A fresh approach to interview confidence.

Where you stand today, and the route to director or CTO.
Meri Williams on the six core skills of technical leadership, how to assess your capabilities, and plan a route to engineering director or CTO.

Why hard work stops working, and what high-impact leaders do instead.
Giorgos Ampavis on the five levels of high-impact leaders, why hard work stops working, and the shifts that raise impact without burnout.

Choosing between startup, big tech, or the expert path, and mapping the route.
Bruce Pannaman’s framework for a deliberate career: define the outcome, map your strengths, pick the right roles and plan long-term growth.

What the best candidates do, and what the best interviewers do.
Sam Grill reveals how candidates show impact and how managers run faster, fairer interviews. Great questions, better decisions, less bias—hire and get hired.

You don’t get promoted for effort. You get promoted for impact.
Dan Ashby replaces checkbox careers with impact-based growth: evidence, outcomes, and tools you can carry between roles. Get promoted for results, not effort.

How to post without fear, and without becoming an influencer.
Creator Jack Ralph on beating posting fear, finding ideas and making standout LinkedIn videos without fancy gear or becoming an influencer.

Target lists, tailored outreach, and follow-ups that win interviews.
Marylin Schlamkow turns the job search into a sales pipeline: target lists, tailored outreach, storytelling and follow-ups that win interviews.

What to learn, and how to make sure the right people notice.
Kevin McDonnell’s system for choosing what to learn, turning skills into confidence, and sharing your work so the right people notice.

The exercise that turns goal-setting into goal-getting.
Aaron Norris’ method to clarify your future, define success and take daily action, moving from goal-setting to actually goal-getting.

Happiness isn’t the prize. It’s the practice.
Ellinor Glesner on science-backed habits for happiness now: clarity, choices and daily practice, so success is sustainable rather than draining.
Free, ungated, and written by the guests themselves.
Pat Kua’s free worksheet: five questions that move engineering leaders from writing code to multiplying the team’s impact through delegation.

Eight tips for staying ahead of AI: use it safely, avoid bias, protect your data, sharpen critical thinking and keep your human edge.

A practical guide to navigating change and future-proofing your growth: how to stay valuable, confident and resilient as work keeps shifting.

A dating-inspired guide to interview confidence: prepare properly, build rapport, answer clearly and show up as your real self. Free to download.

Meri Williams’ tool for mapping technical leadership skills, spotting development areas and comparing roles, for engineers through to CTOs.

A self-assessment for breaking the effort ceiling. Find your level among the five levels of high-impact leaders and work smarter, not longer.

A framework for defining career goals, choosing the right routes and building the superpowers to reach them. Turn your career into a choice.

Five pro editing techniques from retoucher Beth Perkins to make every photo look sharp and credible. For LinkedIn and personal brands.

Real interview questions, model answers and hiring insight; for candidates preparing and managers who want to run better interviews.

Dan Ashby’s framework for engineering your career around impact rather than titles; map skills to results and prove your value.

Jack Ralph’s guide to LinkedIn posts that stand out: start strong, show your human side and build visibility that leads to opportunity.

Marylin Schlamkow’s 10-step framework for treating your job search as a sales pipeline: prospect smarter, tell your story, close the role.

Grow your career by taking action: side projects, learning in public and sharing progress. A hands-on guide to skills that stick.

A guided template for writing a letter from your future self — build clarity, motivation and purpose through structured reflection.

A reflective questionnaire to evaluate your happiness, clarify what you want next, and rediscover a sense of direction.
Most people sit between two of these. Have a look at the others.
Your job is now other people's decisions, not just your code.
Above senior, the work stops being what you build and starts being what you can get a room to agree on. Nobody hands you the authority to go with it.
You're leading the team you were recently part of.
The skills that got you here are not the ones that keep a team healthy. Most of the job is now conversations nobody trained you for.
You set the direction, and own it when it doesn't land.
At this level the hard part isn't deciding. It's getting an organisation to act on the decision, hire against it, and keep going when it becomes inconvenient.
You're building the thing and running the business around it.
Nobody sets your priorities and nobody covers for you. The work is deciding what to raise, what to build, who to sell to, and how to keep going.
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