At the end of the ‘starter’ engagement (usually 4 sessions of an hour each, over a few months), I ask Clients to write a testimonial, if they’d like. This is completely optional – I provide a link to a form and folks can write something (or not) at their leisure, with the understanding that they are helping me in my practice, in addition to the normal feedback process during coaching. Below is a sample of the testimonials, with an idea of the person’s background (as provided by them).
“If you’re a senior Individual Contributor (IC) struggling to find a great coach, look no further than Dave! The higher you climb on the IC ladder, the less you get by way of coaching support, guidance, and wisdom. There simply aren’t many people capable of doing this. Dave can. In no particular order he: nudged me to fill a critical knowledge gap (observability), was a great sounding board for crazy ideas, told great stories that helped frame my own decisions, and as great coaches do - held up a mirror so I could really look inside myself to understand what path was best for me. I’m very grateful for our time, and look forward to our future sessions!”
– Senior Software Engineer, Adtech Scaleup
“Contacted Dave after a couple of years of feeling stuck in my career, of not getting promoted or getting the feedback to ensure a future promotion and he provided me with the tools to help with requesting feedback, efficiently communicate, and also with making informed decisions - tools that I now use for solving different problems. He’s helped me identify areas to improve, explaining different concepts very well while also making himself available in between sessions and replying to questions via e-mail (including technical advise). I am now seeing my career growth differently and am planning for the next steps. Dave is an excellent coach and I would highly recommend him to any senior engineer / lead looking to reach the next steps in their career.”
– Lead Senior Engineer, IT Infrastructure
“A few coaching sessions with Dave really helped me get a better perspective on my career goals and ways to meet them. I did not expect the extent to which talking through these topics would also make me a lot less stressed about them. I also appreciated Dave’s model of hybrid coaching & mentoring. I found it very helpful to be able to occasionally just ask a very specific question and get a perspective of a more experienced leader.”
– Engineering manager at a remote startup, UK
“I came to the sessions hoping for some guidance on my professional life and left with a framework to both improve it and my personal life also. Through a number of the conversations, we were able to establish a framework for improving some problem areas which has inspired a confidence I previously didn’t know I was lacking. These sessions have provided some of the largest impact, well beyond anything I had hoped for going in, and I couldn’t speak highly enough of how much Dave has helped me.”
– Senior SRE, Dublin
“Dave is an excellent coach. Great listening skills and tries to understand your perspective. Stating the problems you’ve identified in ways that help push you to create and pursue solutions. He helped me identify key problems and paths of execution. Due to big changes in my company, I found myself reporting into an SVP level manager. From Dave’s training I was prepared to report into a high producing executive. His familiarity with SRE and Tech is extremely helpful as I found him coaching and mentoring me through problems and solutions.”
– Senior Manager, Remote US
“I got tremendous value from my coaching sessions with Dave. It was very clear to me from the start that he was there to listen and understand what my specific goals were, and what I was trying to get from the program. Dave did not take a prescriptive route, but instead guided me towards things that he felt would help me in my journey. The sessions gave me both the professional guidance I was looking for, as well as meaningful insights into leadership styles that were additive to my own perspectives.”
– Engineering Director, SFO