As an Engineering Manager, one of the most difficult aspects of my role is having command of the wide-ranging skills I need to be effective for my team and direct reports. To achieve this, I need the technical skills that will help my team deliver value and a plethora of leadership and soft skills necessary to enable my team to perform their best. In this strongly interdisciplinary role, I continually need to balance my head and heart to achieve the best results for my team. Irina has been a massive positive influence in helping me achieve this balance.

For anyone who has come into contact with her, it's immediately apparent that Irina has a deep passion for developing software as a team and helping others achieve growth in their roles. She truly cares about the lives of the people she comes into contact with and it shows in her honesty, authenticity, and accuracy of feedback. She is quick to empathize and follows it up with excellent guidance and provides me with new mental models for decision making, backed up with research. She is an avid learner, continually working to broaden her own leadership and technical knowledge, and shares that knowledge with others.

Her passion, enthusiasm, and realistic approach to building and working with teams create an infectiously productive environment. She's a real star, the sky is the limit with her

I chose to work with Irina because of her unique blend of experience as both an individual contributor and a team lead, her insightful writings on leadership and management, and the caring tone she conveyed in her articles, which aligned with my values. Her coaching covered a wide range of skills, including strategic leadership, building trust, influencing and getting buy-in, developing business acumen, and people leadership skills like mentoring, coaching, giving feedback, and managing relationships.

The transformation I experienced after working with Irina was remarkable. She helped me step out of my comfort zone to provide constructive feedback, which not only improved my collaboration with colleagues but also gave me a framework for addressing challenges more effectively. With her guidance, I became more confident in my ability to lead, developed habits like proactive feedback, and gained clarity on how to build trust and influence. These changes empowered me to navigate complex situations and step into my role as an engineering leader with newfound assurance.

If you’re considering coaching, I can’t recommend Irina enough. Her insights and expertise fast-tracked my growth, saving me years of trial and error. Whether you want to enhance your leadership, improve influence and negotiation skills, or build better relationships, Irina’s support can make a transformative difference.

I worked with Irina after my role was impacted due to a shift in priorities. As an engineering manager with over a decade of leadership experience, I was confident in my abilities but struggled during interviews. My responses were often unfocused, verbose, and missed critical points. I chose to work with Irina because of her unique blend of engineering leadership experience and a strong coaching background, which set her apart from other coaches I had worked with in the past.

Irina’s approach was highly effective and tailored to my needs. She had me write out answers to potential interview questions, helping me craft concise, clear responses and practice delivering them consistently. Her feedback was invaluable—she asked probing questions to refine my stories and ensure they were authentic and aligned with my experiences. This process not only improved my communication but also helped me present my leadership principles in a way that resonated during interviews. Her support made me feel more genuine and prepared, which immediately translated into better engagement with interviewers.

Thanks to Irina, I achieved my short-term goal of landing a new role much faster than I expected. While I believe I would have eventually succeeded on my own, her guidance helped me bypass the trial-and-error process and significantly shortened my timeline. I highly recommend Irina to anyone looking to sharpen their communication skills and achieve career success—her insights and structured approach are transformative.

Two of the goals I had when starting to work with Irina were: becoming a more impactful individual contributor, as well as figuring out whether I wanted to switch to the engineering management path from an individual contributor software engineering role.

Throughout my coaching sessions with Irina, we worked on both of those goals, as well as so much more: from confidence building to leadership skills, overcoming impostor syndrome, as well as effective communication. Her sessions helped me successfully lead a couple of big projects I was having some challenges with while helping me manage the stress of such projects. She also helped me work out my reasons for wanting to become an engineering manager, which I eventually did switch to.

As a fellow woman in Tech, I am always so inspired by Irina, her journey, her experience, and her insights. She has the wonderful ability to help you with just the right example, the right phrase, and the right suggestion. It is not often that you get to feel so in sync with a coach and mentor, but that is exactly how I feel since I started working with Irina. I strongly recommend her coaching practice.

When it comes to a software engineering career, as much as it is about coding, it’s also a lot about people. And the latter part, folks inevitably pick up their soft skills here and there through trial and error. But sometimes, folks can be stuck in an endless loop of trial and error without seeing the bigger picture. Well, that was me and that’s when Irina really helped me out. Whenever I felt stuck in my growth, she suggested countless other ways I could do to lead, collaborate, and excel in my own work.

One particular piece of advice from her I still remember is to choose the stage wisely when pitching ideas. Instead of sharing ideas through Slack and emails, she helped me grep through some meetings so I could try pitching my ideas to the engineering team. And when I did, the impact was night and day!

Because of Irina, I learned the power of good coaching. She’s also a super relatable person that I can imagine most people opening up to her easily. She’d often tell me to “take a lot of selfies” as a reminder for me to reflect and appreciate all the things that happened so far because seeing the bigger picture really helps in sustaining a healthy and enjoyable engineering career.

I’m super grateful to have Irina help me out in my career and I’m sure you will too.

I’ve had the privilege of doing dozens of sessions with Irina, and each one has been a learning experience that exceeded my expectations. Her expertise spans leadership, team management, and software engineering development, and she has a rare ability to connect these areas seamlessly. Irina isn’t just a talented tech lead and software engineer; she’s also a dedicated coach who genuinely cares about helping others grow. Her guidance has been invaluable, and I’ve learned far more from her than I ever imagined when we started working together.

What stands out most about Irina is her patience and willingness to engage with my trickiest questions. No matter how challenging or complex the topic, she always approaches it thoughtfully, offering insights that are both practical and profound. Over time, her advice has shaped my understanding of leadership and team dynamics, giving me tools and strategies I continue to rely on. Irina’s unique blend of technical skill, coaching expertise, and empathy makes her an exceptional professional. I strongly recommend her to anyone looking to unlock their potential and grow in their career—she’s someone who can truly guide you to reach your best.

For the past year, Irina has been a great coach to me. We've talked about many different things and she always gave me really helpful guidance. We started with small, easy changes and then started tackling bigger issues.

Irina's experience working at some of the top companies in our field is really inspiring! Irina is very understanding and our conversations are always casual and friendly.

Looking back, I can see how much I've grown in my job and reached my goals. Her insight really helped speed up this process. In simple words, Irina has been more than a coach to me. She was fully invested in my success and played a key part in helping me move forward in my career. For that, I am truly grateful.

Over nearly a year, Irina was instrumental in improving cross-functional team collaboration within our organization. She quickly identified the root of complex issues and provided clear, actionable steps to address them. From the start, she worked closely with me to define problem areas, evaluate gaps, and uncover opportunities for improvement. Her deep understanding of team dynamics and organizational processes made her guidance both practical and highly effective.

Irina’s tailored recommendations were a game-changer, particularly her focus on aligning key stakeholders. She provided strategies to bridge gaps, improve communication, and streamline processes, resulting in sustainable changes with a lasting impact. Over time, we saw significant improvements in team alignment and collaboration, directly contributing to our success. Irina’s support was transformative, bringing clarity and direction to what initially seemed overwhelming, and I’m deeply grateful for her expertise.