Director by 35 was the plan.
Now every missed milestone feels like proof that something's wrong with you.

Map your path to Director
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrRe3O8KHSQ

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SWNwlHy9w5c

I asked MIT engineer and CTO Mark Herschberg how often a project ends up exactly the way it was planned on day one. His answer was near zero. Scope shifts, a CEO changes direction six months in, and sometimes the whole thing gets cancelled because there's better ROI somewhere else. Nobody calls that team failures, but when your career plan slips, you call yourself one.

A career plan should work like a project plan. It's clear for the next few weeks, fuzzy further out, and adjusted as you learn. A missed milestone is often a trade-off you made on purpose, like refusing to spend three years kissing the ring of a boss you couldn't stand. Most of Mark's career-planning questions aren't about work at all. They're about family, where you want to live, and the impact you want to have.

In this episode: why a master's degree won't get you promoted, how ten minutes of negotiating can be worth $40,000, how to build a peer group that practices leadership the way athletes scrimmage, and the fantasy chess question that helps you work backward from where you want to be.

Optimize for life happiness, not job titles.

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Zach White is a mechanical engineer from Purdue who led engineering teams at Whirlpool before founding Oasis of Courage. He's coached hundreds of engineering leaders toward growth, clarity, and more happiness in their careers. His work is built on one belief: you shouldn't have to sacrifice your life to reach your potential.