There are dozens of tech career coaching companies out there, with huge variations in prices that sometimes bear little relation to the quality of the coaching.
Use this guide to work out which tech career coaching service is right for you. We've categorized coaching services by different needs and coverage.
- IGotAnOffer (Best Overall)
- Stephanie Chiu (Best for career transitions)
- Mentoring Club (Best free session)
- InspiHER Tech (Best for women in tech)
- Ravi Raman (Best for executives)
- IGotAnOffer (Best for software engineers)
- The Product Refinery (Best for product managers)
- BetterCareer (Best for tech sales)
- IGotAnOffer (Best for FAANG)
Before we get into our top picks, let’s look at what tech career coaching is and whether it’s a worthwhile investment for you in your current situation.
1. What is tech career coaching?↑
Tech career coaching is when you work with a career coach who’s also a tech expert to get guidance and strategies to help you reach career goals or work out your next steps in your field.
For example, you might want a tech coach to help you create a career transition plan, come up with an effective job search strategy, or overcome challenges at work.
Your tech coach should be someone with strong expertise in your industry or role and who has years of relevant coaching experience.
1.1 How does tech career coaching work?
Tech career coaching works slightly differently depending on the coach or platform. Some offer in-person coaching, but most are now done online.
Your first step is usually to book time with your tech coach and explain what you’re hoping for from the session. On platforms like ours, you can do this in a written message to the coach. Some coaching services hold an introductory call with you to assess your needs and objectives.
During your session, you can expect the coach to listen actively to your problems or questions and offer actionable advice. They should help you identify specific goals and start taking steps to work towards them.
Some tech career coaches will keep in touch between sessions to check your progress or answer questions, while others will limit their interaction to the hours you pay for. Likewise, some tech career coaching services are set up for long-term coach-coachee relationships whereas others are more suited to booking just a few sessions to solve a pressing problem.
2. Do I really need a tech career coach?↑
Getting tech career coaching is a significant investment. Only you can decide if you need one, depending on your specific situation and the challenges you’re facing in your career.
After providing coaching to thousands of engineers, PMs, data scientists, etc., we’ve found that tech career coaching can be most beneficial in the following situations:
2.1 You’re considering a career transition
If you’re thinking about switching to a new role or industry, discussing the move with a tech career coach can be very useful.
For example, you’re a software engineer thinking of transitioning into product management. You can find a career coach who has made a similar career move. They will have a clear idea of what you need to do and the challenges you can expect. Based on your current skill set and professional experience, they can pinpoint your skillset gaps and outline steps to address them. They can also give you invaluable insights into the role or industry you want to join.
If you don’t have a specific role in mind just yet, a tech career coach can also discuss options with you, by looking at your resume and asking about your life goals, passions, and interests. They might even open you up to opportunities you didn’t know you could explore.
2.2 You’re having difficulty landing a job
Most tech career coaches also work as resume and interview coaches, so they can help you at every stage of your job search; from picking what jobs to apply for to getting the offer.
It’s important to find a tech career coach who has extensive experience in your role or industry for this. They can give you deep insights into how to make yourself a stronger candidate. They can even give you practical pointers on how to improve your networking strategy specific to your field, something that a generalist career coach might not be able to provide.
In recent years, the tech job market has undergone great upheaval. Having a coach who has a broader knowledge of what’s going on in the tech industry can be a way of gleaning high-level insights to help you adapt to trends and market forces.
2.3 You’re seeking workplace recommendations/advice on culture fit
If you’re applying to a top tech company (especially FAANG/MAANG), you can learn more about its culture with a career coach who has worked there. With their real-world insight, you’ll be able to assess whether you align with your target company’s values.
Similarly, you can ask a tech career coach to give you recommendations on companies to apply to, based on your own values, interests, and requirements.
2.4 You’re facing challenges at work
If you're feeling stuck, navigating a complex problem, or having trouble adjusting to a new role, a tech career coach could guide you through finding a workable solution relevant to your role.
A career coach with experience in your specific role is likely to have encountered the same issues and challenges you’re facing. Therefore, they should be able to give you highly relevant and actionable advice.
2.5 You want to level up your career
Want to level up your career but not sure how or where to begin? A career coach in tech can help you gain clarity and confidence in your career decisions.
You can discuss how to boost your qualifications for a promotion, come up with a good strategy for negotiating a raise, or create an action plan to prepare for a leadership role.
2.6 You want to improve specific skills
Imagine you’re an engineer who needs to boost your people management skills or a product manager who needs to boost your analytical skills.
A tech career coach with experience in your industry could help you create an improvement plan that’s best suited to your situation and current skill set, whether that’s doing regular practice and feedback sessions with them or using additional courses or training.
2.7 You’re aiming for work-life balance
The tech industry is fast-paced and high-pressure. It can be tough to maintain a good work-life balance. It’s helpful to talk things over with friends or family, but advice based on specific knowledge is a lot more valuable to your career, especially in an industry as complex and demanding as tech.
A career coach who has professional experience similar to yours will be better equipped to give you practical advice on how to develop healthier work practices.
2.8 You’re lacking in motivation
After years or even decades of hard work, your motivation can sometimes flag. Talking to a tech career coach can make you see your situation in a more positive light and inspire you with the fresh energy that you need.
2.9 You need a new perspective
Sometimes it does you good to get your assumptions and beliefs challenged, especially when you’re in a senior role and used to people agreeing with you. An experienced coach won’t shy away from poking holes in your assumptions and giving you a new perspective on your tech career.
3. How to find the right tech career coach↑
When you’re looking for a tech career coach, apply the “Experience x 3” rule. Put simply, you need to evaluate:
- The coach’s experience: read their bio to see if their tech expertise fits your needs. Have they worked at any of the top companies in your industry? Do they mention coaching for specific skills you want to work on?
- Clients’ experiences: read reviews from people they have coached. Don’t just look at the star rating, read the detail to get a sense of the coach’s strengths and consider whether it matches what you’re looking for.
- The user experience: assess the overall experience on the coaching platform - can you book easily, is customer support available, do they offer a money-back guarantee, etc?
4. How much does tech career coaching cost?↑
You can find a huge range of tech career coaching prices online. If you're willing to take a chance on sites like Fiverr, you can find tech career coaches for under $50 per hour, meanwhile, comprehensive coaching packages with experienced coaches can cost several thousand dollars.
Generally, to hire an experienced, high-quality coach with the necessary industry knowledge, you’ll usually need to spend upwards of $100 per hour.
Here are the rates from the ones on our list and other tech coaching websites:
- Stephanie Chiu (RoadtoTech): from $97 for a 30-min career consultation
- IGotAnOffer: from $119 per hour
- TryExponent: from $200 per hour
- The Muse: $56 to $275 for a 30-min Q&A session
- The Product Refinery: between £150 and £400 per session
- InspiHER: $4k for a 6-month package
- Ravi Raman: $6k for 3-month package
If you want to know more about career coaching in general, check out our guide on What is Career Coaching.
5. Top 9 Tech Career Coaching Services↑
To generate this list, we analyzed the customer reviews, prices and packages, ease of booking, and the roster of coaches for each company. Of course, it’s not an exhaustive one. We’re sure there are some more excellent tech career coaches that we haven’t been able to include.
Nevertheless, if you want to save time doing your own research for a reputable tech career coach, this list will give you some great options for online services.
Let’s take a look.
5.1 IGotAnOffer (Best Overall)
Okay, we may be biased here, but a 4.95 average star rating from over 10k reviews is hard to ignore.
If you’re looking for tech coaching experts from the world’s top tech companies, IGotAnOffer is the ideal platform for you. It has a wide array of tech career coaches from diverse backgrounds: software engineers, engineering managers, data scientists, product managers, and more. Browse our roster and you’ll surely find a match who will be able to give you expert, highly relevant advice.
Click on a coach’s profile and instantly see their hourly availability and book your online session in just a few clicks, something that can take longer on similar platforms. Prices are clearly displayed before you book and if you’re not satisfied with your session, you get a full refund.
5.2 Stephanie Chiu (Best for career transitions)
Stephanie Chiu of The Road to Tech is a self-taught software engineer with a background in chemical engineering and manufacturing. Since successfully making the switch to tech, she has been offering free career advice on Instagram. This has led her to offer career coaching services for people like her–those with non-tech backgrounds who want to transition into big tech engineering roles.
At the moment, we can’t find her on third-party review sites, but if you look at her Instagram account @theroadtotech, you’ll find screenshots of reviews and success stories from her coachees.
If you’re curious about how she made her career transition but don’t want to invest in a session just yet, you can get her Roadmap to Tech resource for free by signing up for her newsletter.
5.3 Mentoring Club (Best free session)
Mentoring Club is a not-for-profit mentoring community that we think is a great free coaching platform. Mentors volunteer their time because they want to give something back, so you can almost guarantee they’re going to be very nice people!
With a quick browse, I found mentors from all over the world, with a very strong German presence (luckily, Germans always speak excellent English!). There’s a nice range of tech pros, including startup founders, CTOs, software engineers, data engineers, etc.
Don’t expect to be able to search specific expertise and experience in the way you can on IGotAnOffer or the other websites on the list, but it definitely has a wealth of expertise worth tapping into, and yes, it’s free.
Another website that might be worth a try is Growth Labs Academy. The career website offers free career coaching sessions, along with courses in software development, ops & cybersecurity, AI, and more.
5.4 InspiHER Tech (Best for women in tech)
InspiHER is a career transformation website that offers career coaching specifically for women in tech. It was founded by tech recruitment expert Laurie Swanson when she found a dearth of career support for women in the male-dominated world of tech.
InspiHER’s career coaching package includes 12 1-on-1 sessions with Swanson, emails in between sessions for on-the-spot support, and more. The entire package kicks off with a 75-minute career strategy session where you and your coach will discuss and plan the rest of your 6-month coaching journey.
There are a few quick testimonials available on the inspiHER website, and you’ll also find some more in-depth reviews of coachees on Swanson’s LinkedIn. Her coaching package does not come cheap, but you can book a free discovery call to find out if it’s the right fit for you.
5.5 Ravi Raman (Best for executives)
Ravi Raman is an executive career coach with a background in tech, having led some of Microsoft’s product and business teams for 14 years before turning to coaching full-time. He offers an in-depth career coaching program for technology professionals, in particular those who are in, or aiming for, top positions.
While there are no third-party reviews for Raman’s coaching services, you’ll find several detailed reviews from his coachees on his website and LinkedIn. His coaching packages are quite an investment, but if you’re still curious, you can book a free discovery call with him. He notes on his website that he does open a few discounted spots for potential clients who are still early in their careers, under financial constraints, or are working in the social sector.
5.6 IGotAnOffer (Best for software engineers)
IGotAnOffer’s SWE coaches have experience working and leading at FAANG and other top tech companies. With their experience and guidance, they’ll help you deal with and overcome the challenges that come with your role, identify where you need to improve, and how you can advance your career based on your own interests and life goals.
To choose your software engineer career coach, click on a coach’s profile and see their hourly availability at once. You can book your online session as soon as you need one. Prices are clearly displayed before you book. And if you’re not happy with your session, you can ask for a full refund.
5.7 Product Refinery (Best for product managers)
Of course, we strongly believe that IGotAnOffer is the best platform for product management coaching, but what we find interesting about The Product Refinery is that it’s 100% focused on providing coaching services for product people. Its small roster of coaches has worked in startups, scale-ups, and big enterprises in a variety of industries so you can easily find a coach who shares your background or interest.
The website offers three ways to engage with a coach. You can opt for a one-off session, or if you’re working through a single challenge like improving your job search strategy, they recommend a package with a set number of sessions with a coach. If you want a longer-term coaching relationship (and have the budget for it), you can go for the retainer package. Product Refinery coaching is particularly suited for PMs who are keen to level up on their next job search.
If you want more PM-specific coaching options, check out our list of the 5 best product management coaching services.
5.8 BetterCareer (Best for tech sales)
BetterCareer is a career transformation website catering to professionals in the tech sales niche. They specialize in helping candidates land jobs in sales, presales, project management, and customer success at top B2B tech companies with their flagship Job Accelerator Program. The program combines learning modules, templates, and regular coaching sessions with the founders, Yuji Higashi and Mattie Stremic. They also offer 1-on-1 career coaching for tech sales professionals on a limited basis.
Looking at their website, you’ll find tons of impressive testimonials, both written and on video. They offer 30-day money-back guarantees for their job accelerator programs, but not for their coaching sessions.
If you’re curious about similar job search and career accelerator programs in other tech roles, take a look at our article on Pathrise Alternatives.
5.9 IGotAnOffer (Best for FAANG/MAANG)
If you’re building a career in one of the FAANG/MAANG companies or planning to apply to one, you might find a good coach at IGotAnOffer. It has several FAANG career coaches who boast experience in various roles including SWEs, PMs, data scientists, EMs, and more.
Booking a coaching session with a FAANG career coach is especially helpful if you’re targeting one of these companies. While a generalist tech career coach can offer you great insight into the role itself, an expert who has worked at your target company can provide insider information.
To find the right coach for you, filter your options based on role, company, or level. Click on a coach’s profile and see their hourly availability at once. You can book your online session as soon as you need one. Prices are clearly displayed before you book. And if you’re not happy with your session, you can ask for a full refund.
Book Tech Career Coaching Sessions with IGotAnOffer
We hope you found our recommendations useful! We’ve made sure to include a range of good tech career coaching platforms and programs fit for different situations, but we believe IGotAnOffer is an excellent all-around option with a wider range of high-quality tech coaches than anywhere else.
Check out our tech career coaching services and browse our platform’s roster of coaches with experience at many top tech companies. Search by industry, role, or company to get the right match for you. You can see the coaches' hourly availability and book your online session in a couple of clicks.
