In over your head? on The Aaron Approach

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Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

What to expect

My approach begins with gaining an understanding of where you are now, what is weighing on you, and where you feel lost. From there we build a clear and animated vision of where you want to go: specific goals you wish to achieve, how you want to show up for yourself and others, and how you’ll need to be different to get there.

I coach primarily for the gratification of creating something consequential. That might be a dramatic shift for someone like you, or something that my support will help you to achieve that is making the world a better place. That said, I have limited capacity and I am selective in whom I work with.

I work best with engineering leaders who are in the biggest role of their careers so far: people who are technically capable and genuinely motivated, but who find themselves navigating scope and organizational complexity they haven’t encountered before.

I have also worked with individual contributors, product leaders, and others. Don’t let your title stop you from exploring a partnership! I help people achieve all types of personal growth, but what I explicitly do not do is help them earn more money or “climb the ladder.”

A raise or promotion is likely to arrive as a result of your growth, but it is never the explicit goal.

“ I was very much in control of the whole experience and outcomes, which was uncomfortable at first, but after a few sessions I realized that it was yielding great results, so I began to lean into it more.

Viktoras Truchanovicius, Staff Software Engineer, LinkedIn

Three ways to work together

Most people start with “Reach the Summit,” a three-month coaching partnership at $1,000 a month, paid in advance. It’s the most popular choice, and the one best suited to real, durable change. When we partner, I make myself available on a “retainer” model. What that means is that the practicalities of our work together are always negotiable: when we meet, for how long, and access to additional coaching via email, text, or phone can all be explored and modified as our partnership evolves.

On rare occasions, when cost is a genuine barrier and I believe in what someone is building, I’ll make an exception on my fee. In those cases, we’ll talk about what the engagement needs to look like to meet both of our needs.

Reach the Summit

If three months feels like more commitment than you’re ready for, “Walk the Trail” is a single month of the same work, priced at $1,300 flat, a premium for the flexibility of no longer commitment. This program is also a retainer model, and you have access to unlimited coaching within reason, and the logistics of our partnership are always open to change.

Walk the Trail

And if what you need isn’t an engagement at all, just a thinking partner for one particular moment, a decision you can’t quite see the shape of, a conversation you’re dreading, a fork in the road you don’t want to navigate alone, “Get Your Bearings” is a single, focused, one-hour session for $325.

This is a bounded container for working on a specific topic, and does not come with any additional access to me. I reserve only one or two hours a week for “Get Your Bearings” clients on a first-come, first-served basis.

Get Your Bearings

This kind of work takes time. Reach the Summit and Walk the Trail both exist because meaningful change doesn’t come from a single conversation; it accumulates through consistent effort and the willingness to keep showing up.

Get Your Bearings

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Create clarity in one hour

Not every hard moment calls for a long-term engagement. Sometimes what you need is a single, focused conversation: a thinking partner for the one decision, the one conversation, the one fork in the road that’s currently eating your attention.

Get Your Bearings is a single one-hour coaching session built for exactly that moment. We’ll take whatever is unclear to you right now, whether it’s a decision you can’t quite see the shape of, a conversation you’re dreading, or a choice you keep circling without landing on, and work it until it resolves into something you can act on. You’ll leave with more clarity than you came in with, and a clear next step.

This is not a pitch for a longer engagement. If you need more support after this hour, we can talk about the ways I could help, but this is a self-contained hour of partnership for whatever is in front of you right now.

I only hold one or two of these one-hour slots open per week, total, so booking one weekly isn’t something this format guarantees. And each session is scoped to a single topic or decision, not an open-ended engagement; it doesn’t carry context from one session into the next the way ongoing coaching would.

$325

Book Your Session

What to expect

A single 60-minute video call (I use Google Meet), scheduled at a time that works for you. Come with whatever is unclear, half-formed, or stuck. You don’t need to have it organized before we talk; that’s what the hour is for.

Is this the right fit?

Get Your Bearings works best when you have one specific thing weighing on you, not a general sense that things are hard. If what you’re carrying is bigger than a single moment, an ongoing pattern, a long-term transition, or a role that consistently feels too big, a longer engagement will serve you better. Learn more about working together.

It's no time for a shitty resume

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is no time for a shitty resume.

How well does your resume or LinkedIn profile reflect the value you bring into your work? Does it stand out from the hundreds of other applicant profiles a recruiter sees every day? Based on your resume alone, why would someone want to hire you?

A great resume tells a story about where you’ve come from, what you can do, and why hiring you is going to be the best decision any company could make.

I’ll help you showcase yourself authentically, drawing on my two decades of experience in the tech industry, my work in coaching and interviewing engineers, and my long-practiced writing skills.

“ Thank you so much for your guidance. You definitely helped me to improve my job search.

Prathyusha Bobba

Which of these sounds better to you?

Took on role as tech lead/scrum master, doubled sprint velocity, managed project plans/comms.

Or:

Took responsibility for the end-to-end software development lifecycle, resulting in a permanent 200% increase in sprint team velocity. Recognized by stakeholders for improved transparency and predictability of project outcomes.

They both present roughly the same facts, but which one would you rather share with the recruiters and hiring managers you’re talking to?

You will receive:

One-on-one consultation

The key to a great resume is that it presents exactly what it needs to, and nothing that it doesn’t.

This starts with a one-on-one consultation so that I can understand your story and your goals.

LinkedIn & resume review

Based on our conversation, I’ll provide personalized guidance on where your existing profile and resume are falling short and what you can do to close the gaps and highlight your unique strengths.

Proofing & copy editing

Writing not your strong suit? No problem! You’ll get one pass of proofing and copy editing to be sure your profile is grammatically correct and has a presence that reflects your own personality.

You’ll receive all of the above, and email access to me for questions and guidance, for $149.

Book your consultation

Library

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These are books that I frequently recommend to clients. If you follow the links on this page to purchase one of these books from Amazon, I will receive a fraction of a penny, which helps me pay for the bandwidth necessary to send you one quarter of this webpage. Buy generously!

The Coaching Habit

The Power of Habit

Nine Minutes on Monday

DRiVE

So Good They Can't Ignore You

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

The Art of Action

Meet Aaron

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When my application to the Rhode Island School of Design was rejected, I pivoted to the thing I’d been doing for fun and hadn’t thought of as a career: writing code. I joined an educational startup, stayed through five years of turbulence, and found my footing in an industry I hadn’t planned on.

Along the way, I co-founded a photography instruction business with a close friend and taught on-location workshops across the country. We had to close when the 2008 financial crisis hit, but what stayed with me wasn’t the loss of the business, it was the discovery that teaching people to see differently was one of the most satisfying things I had ever done.

That discovery sat in the background for years while I worked my way through each layer of a software career, from engineer to tech lead to manager to director. As the roles grew larger and more complex, the nature of the work shifted. The problems I spent my time on were less and less about code and more and more about how people communicate, make decisions under pressure, and find their footing when the terrain feels unfamiliar.

The specific moment of recognition came when I read The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier. Reading it, I understood at once that coaching was a real discipline with real techniques, and that I had been attempting it for years without knowing what it was or doing it particularly well. That realization sent me to formal coaching training, to more books, and eventually to building a practice around the work I had already been doing by instinct.

When I’m not coaching, you’ll find me with my son, out with my camera, or flying my drone.

Start the conversation

Reach the Summit

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Reach the Summit is the most popular program: three months of consistent, one-on-one coaching built for someone navigating the biggest role of their career so far. We meet regularly, build the frameworks and language for what you’re actually facing, and keep working the terrain until what felt unfamiliar becomes something you can navigate on your own.

On rare occasions, when cost is a genuine barrier and I believe in what someone is building, I’ll work with them for less. That isn’t a standing offer, and it isn’t something you can ask for outright; it’s a judgment call I make about specific people in specific situations.

Thank You

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for your message! I will respond to you as soon as I can, and I appreciate your patience as life can occasionally take unexpected turns.

Walk the Trail

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Walk the Trail is a single month of the same coaching relationship as Reach the Summit, without the three-month commitment. It costs more than a single month of Reach the Summit would, because you’re paying for the option to stop after a month, not for less of my attention. Some people who start here choose to continue into a longer engagement once they’ve felt what the work is like. Others get what they need in the month, and that’s the end of it.