Engineering leaders deciding whether they are on the right path

Career Path Decision. The wrong path does not announce itself. It just quietly costs you money for years.

Wrong role, wrong company, wrong level, wrong time to move. None of it feels like a crisis. You are busy, you are paid, you are fine. And every year on the wrong path is a year your comp ceiling, your title, and your market value grow slower than they should. The bill arrives quietly, in the raise you did not get and the offer you were never in the room for.

The money math is brutal because it compounds: a wrong-path year resets the base every future raise and offer is calculated from. We work out, honestly, whether you are on the right path, and if not, what the highest-value move actually is. Then the tactical calls that follow it: the raise, the next role, the senior interview, the toxic manager. 3,000+ mentoring sessions, ex-VPE at Mews, ex-Manta acquired by IBM.

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Situations you are likely in, and how we tackle them

Marian Kamenistak in a 1:1 mentoring session.

You are not unhappy. You are just quietly on the wrong path.

Nothing is on fire. The job is fine, the pay is fine, the team is fine. But I have a nagging sense I am optimizing a path I did not really choose: wrong role, wrong company stage, or a level I got stuck at. I keep not deciding, because deciding feels dramatic and staying feels safe.

You have probably tried

Telling yourself "fine" is good enough for now
Waiting for a reorg or a bad quarter to force the call
Taking a course instead of making the decision
Assuming the right path becomes obvious on its own

How we tackle it

We run the honest diagnostic: right role, right company size, right level, right time to move. Then we put a number on what the current path costs you in comp and trajectory over the next 3 years, because a wrong-path year is not a flat loss, it resets the base every future raise and offer is calculated from. Then we pick one direction and the first concrete move, or we confirm staying is right and kill the second-guessing.

Target: A clear verdict on your path, the 3-year cost of the wrong one in writing, and one decision made instead of deferred.

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You are underpaid and you know it. The raise conversation is going badly.

Market rate for my role is 30 to 40% above what I make. HR said "budgets are tight." My manager said "next cycle." I want to job-hop but the current role has good work and good people, and I would take even a partial fix. And every time I open the negotiation doc I close it because I do not have the number in writing to defend.

You have probably tried

Sending your manager a levels.fyi link (they smiled)
Waiting for "the right moment" (there is not one)
Interviewing at one competitor to "see the market" (offer was OK, you did not use it)
Convincing yourself it will balance next year

How we tackle it

We build the negotiation packet: comp data from real offers, the impact log from the last 12 months, the specific number you will ask for. We rehearse the conversation with your manager. We plan the "if I do not get X by Y, then Z" fallback in writing.

Target: Within 4 weeks: the specific conversation delivered, a number in writing, a documented fallback plan.

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You want to leave. You cannot lose the runway.

I have a mortgage, a family, and a reputation. Current job is 6/10 and stable. Interviewing is a full-time job on top of the day job I already cannot keep up with. Every recruiter DM feels like a coin flip. My CV has not been updated in 3 years and I do not know where to start.

You have probably tried

Updating your LinkedIn once, hoping recruiters find you
Reading Cracking the PM Interview / Coding Interview at 11pm
Applying to random VP roles without a story
Waiting for a specific trigger that would "force" the switch

How we tackle it

We build the targeted 60-day job search. Which 8 to 15 companies fit. Which relationships to warm up first. What your CV, LinkedIn, and story look like for those roles. We rehearse the interview loops. We run the negotiation once an offer lands.

Target: Within 60 days: 3 to 5 real conversations, 1 to 2 loops, one live offer to negotiate against.

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You are prepping for a senior interview and you have not done one in years.

Head of Engineering role at a Series B. VPE at a scale-up. Fractional CTO gig with a portco. Interview loops for these seats are nothing like the coding interviews I did last time I switched jobs. And the "walk me through a hard decision" question is going to eat me alive because I have not framed my own decisions in years.

You have probably tried

Reading executive-interview prep books
Rehearsing in your head on the commute
Doing one mock interview with a friend (too polite)
Convincing yourself "I will figure it out on the day"

How we tackle it

Interview dry runs. I play the CEO, the board member, the CTO peer. Common seats: strategy story, org-design case, "walk me through a hard decision," references from your team. We build the written narrative and rehearse it out loud until it does not sound rehearsed.

Target: Before the interview: 3 rehearsed dry runs, written narratives for 5 stories, and one hard-decision walk-through you own.

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You have a toxic manager. HR will not save you.

They micromanage. Or they ghost. Or they take credit. Or they publicly disagree with me in the wrong meeting. Every 1:1 makes it worse. Skip-level is complicated. HR is not going to save me. And I have been half-looking externally for 4 months without committing.

You have probably tried

Being extra communicative to preempt the criticism
Waiting for a re-org to move you
Talking to HR (they suggested "have a direct conversation")
Reading articles about "difficult managers"

How we tackle it

We diagnose the pattern (control, avoidance, credit-taking, undermining). We test a "fix from inside" plan for 60 days: specific behavior, specific ask, specific escalation criteria. If no change, we design the exit that keeps the relationship civil and your reputation intact.

Target: By day 60: measurable behavior change OR a signed offer in your inbox.

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The questions I hear most from Engineering leaders deciding whether they are on the right path

These are the exact asks from mentees in the last 12 months. Bring one to the intro call and we start there.

How to negotiate a promotion, salary, or bonus with receipts?
Help me find a new engineering leadership role without burning bridges.
Interview dry run: prepare me for senior or executive interview loops.
How to handle a toxic relationship with my manager?
Should I leave my company or try to fix things from inside?
I was passed over for promotion. What now?
How to build personal brand and industry visibility as an engineering leader?

How mentoring with me works

Free 30-min intro. Two KPIs to move in 3-6 months. Small homework after every session. The full method, step by step:

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Frequently asked

What if my real block is that I am not sure what I want?+

Good. That is one of the most common starting points. We work "what do you actually want" as the first artifact. Not what sounds good on LinkedIn.

Will you tell me straight if I should just quit?+

Yes. If the answer is "get out," I will say so, and I will help you design the exit. Sometimes the fix is not inside the current company.

Can we talk about salary numbers directly?+

Yes. I have compensation data across CEE, EU, UK, and US markets for eng-leadership roles. We look at real numbers, not vibes.

Are you the right coach if I want to leave engineering entirely?+

If you are leaving eng-leadership for something completely outside the field, probably not. If you are moving from Big Tech to a scale-up, or FinTech to HealthTech, yes. I know the eng-leadership market across CEE and North America.