DRI Your Career
← All coursesCourse N° 01 / DRI Your Career

Separate your growth from their scorecard.

DRI Your Career.

Figure out what you actually want - and make it happen. Become the Directly Responsible Individual of your own growth.

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Illustration of a raccoon hiking with a mapN° 01 / DRI
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The curriculum

Four modules. Eight weeks.

A mix of introspection, structure, and support - with just the right amount of accountability. Each module includes exercises with a submission deadline and personal feedback from Cate & Jean.

Starts October 19, 20268 weeks · async45–60 min / weekFrom $449
Module 00Free

Try the Getting Started module.

Free, no signup. Get a feel for the format.

Preview
01
Weeks 1–2

Shape Your Career, or Capitalism Will.

Reclaim agency over your career decisions. Understand what employers "rent" vs "buy," distinguish "shoulds" from authentic wants, and see your career in the context of your whole life.

02
Weeks 3–4

Know What You Want: Explore and Take Action.

Master energy management over time management. Clarify your core values, create guiding principles as your career compass, and identify your proximate objectives - the next most informative steps.

03
Weeks 5–6

Own Your Growth: Make Feedback Work for You.

Reframe feedback from dreaded criticism to useful data. Learn to seek and process four types of feedback, build cheap and consistent feedback loops, and accelerate your growth.

04
Weeks 7–8

Synthesize and Reflect: Shape Your Next Chapter.

Connect insights from all modules. Write your career thesis (your north star in 1–2 sentences), define 2–3 focus areas for the next 3–6 months, and map your support network.

This course is for you if…

You're the team player. What about you?

  • You're experienced, capable, and have built a solid career. But lately, when someone asks where you're headed next, you don't have a good answer.
  • You're mid to senior level in tech (IC or manager) and have always been the “team player,” doing what's needed. But now you're wondering - what do I want?
  • You want to feel more intentional about your career path, instead of waiting for your manager to drive the conversation.
  • You've spent so much time processing workplace drama and urgent fire drills that you don't have energy left for what actually matters to you.
  • You're trying to make work work for you - not the other way around.
  • The traditional career ladder doesn't motivate you, and you want something more aligned with your values.
  • You feel stuck between “shoulds” and wants, and are ready to explore what's truly yours.
What you'll walk away with

A clear career strategy of your own.

  • Your career strategy toolkitCareer thesis (north star), proximate objectives (next steps), and guiding principles (values-based compass).
  • Your support network mapWho fills which roles (manager, mentor, sponsor, coach) and where the gaps are.
  • Your wants list and next actionsDistinguish “shoulds” from authentic desires and define 3 concrete steps to move forward.
  • A mindset shiftFrom “following the path” to being the DRI of your own growth.
  • Practical frameworks that workEnergy management, feedback as data, values-driven decision making, and permission to explore for 12+ months.
  • Growth feedback on your termsTools to seek the feedback that helps you grow, instead of waiting for the annual review to tell you your position.
The premise

We're all Toronto raccoons now.

Pampered ZIRP-era raccoons

Pampered ZIRP-era raccoons are a thing of the past. Illustrations by Joe Groove.

There's a strange corner of Instagram where raccoons live like royalty - trikes, hand-fed snacks, custom hoodies, plush beds. Meanwhile in Toronto, raccoons live in a different reality: scrappy, scavenging, constantly outsmarting raccoon-proof garbage bins.

For the past decade, tech workers were more like Instagram raccoons - pampered, courted, offered lavish perks. That era's over.

It's time to figure out what you want.

It's a strange time to think about career development, with tech layoffs, daily horrific news headlines, and uncertainty everywhere. The impulse is to stay put, keep your head down, and be grateful. But the question doesn't go away: what do I want?

Your current job may not help you answer that. Performance reviews are the scorecard of capitalism: they measure your value to one company at one moment, not your worth, your talent, or your potential. The feedback that helps you grow isn't the same as the feedback about your position, but review season bundles them so you hear the second part louder.

This course helps you pull those apart and get back to what you want. The answer might be to go deeper where you are, to step back, or to leave for something new. Either way, DRI Your Career helps you become the Directly Responsible Individual of your own growth, and get clearer on your values and how to make work work for you.

Meet your course guides

The coaches.

Cate Huston

Cate Huston

Author · Fractional CTO · Coach

Author of The Engineering Leader, fractional CTO at Twill, and engineering leadership coach. Previously in leadership roles at DuckDuckGo and Automattic, and an advisor at Glowforge. She has been all over the world, but now lives in Ireland.

More about Cate at cate.blog →
Jean Hsu

Jean Hsu

Builder · Coach · Fractional VPE

Builder, writer, coach, and fractional engineering leader at early-stage startups. Previously in leadership roles at Pulse, Medium, and Range, and built out a leadership development company focused on engineers. She lives in Berkeley with her partner and three kids.

More about Jean at jeanhsu.com →

Cate and Jean have been coaching engineers and engineering leaders for years. This course distills their best frameworks into structured exercises you can apply to your own career - with personal feedback on every submission.

What participants say
Cate & Jean's course was great. I was able to fit it in even around a busy schedule, and I got value and insights in areas I didn't expect, and concrete next steps I'll be able to use to get unstuck.

Bec — DRI Your Career

1 / 5
Frequently asked

Common questions.

Is this course only for people who want to change jobs?
Not at all. This course is for anyone who wants more clarity and intention in their career - whether that means doubling down on your current role, exploring a pivot, or something in between.
Is this course just for engineers?
We designed it with engineers in mind, and our personal stories will reference our engineering careers - but the frameworks are generally applicable. This course would also be particularly valuable for product managers, designers, data engineers, and other tech roles where you're looking to take ownership of your career trajectory.
How is this different from career coaching?
Coaching is a conversation; this is a course with a coach in it. You get a fixed curriculum for one specific moment in a career, structured exercises applied to your own situation, and written feedback from Cate and Jean on every submission, at a one-time price. If you want something completely custom, we do recommend coaching, and we both offer it. This is the format we built to make common coaching journeys more accessible.
Why raccoons?
Cate has been a long-time admirer of adorable raccoons. But they're also the perfect mascot for this moment in tech - resourceful, adaptable, and thriving in adverse conditions. We're all Toronto raccoons now.
Do you offer scholarships?
We offer scholarships on a per-cohort basis. Sign up for cohort notifications and we'll let you know when they're available.
Cohort opens · October 19, 2026

Ready to join us? We'd love to have you.

Figure out what you actually want, and make it happen. One-time payment, eight weeks, and Cate & Jean reading every submission.

One-time payment
$449$499
Early bird pricing active. This price is available until September 19, 2026 at 3:59 PM PDT.

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