Coach for IT managers
An external mentor for people who lead engineering, IT, automation or data teams. Sessions in English, Czech or Slovak, online or in Prague.
A coach for IT managers is an external specialist you hire when you lead an engineering team and need to think a decision through with someone outside your own company. They work 1:1 with you, not with your team.
I am Marian Kamenistak, an engineering leadership mentor based in Prague. Since 2019 I have run 3,662 sessions with 317 leaders across 17 countries, from team leads to CTOs. Before that I scaled engineering at Mews through Series C and was an advisor to Manta (acquired by IBM).
No slot that works, or the calendar does not load? Email marian@marian.coach or call +420 736 519 879.
Coach for IT managers, or manager as coach? Two different things.
Search for "IT manager coach" and you get two answers mixed together. Here is the difference.
| What it is | Who it is for | What it does | Who offers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manager as coach | A course or training for you | Learn a coaching leadership style and use it on your own team | Training companies and business schools |
| Coach for a manager | An external person you hire for yourself | Think through your own decisions with someone outside the company | Independent mentors and coaches. This is what I do. |
If you want to learn a coaching leadership style, take a course. It is a useful thing and I do not offer it. If you are looking for someone for yourself, read on.
When to hire a coach for an IT manager
Most people get in touch when they are holding a decision they cannot discuss inside the company. Your boss has a stake, your team has a stake, and a friend at another company does not know your context. Typical situations:
- You inherited a team and do not know who to keep.
- Someone has been underperforming for months and you keep postponing it.
- The quarter will miss and you have to explain it to the board on Friday.
- A reorg nobody invited you to design, which you will have to defend.
- A key senior is leaving and you cannot tell whether it is about money.
- You are wondering whether to go back to writing code.
Data on what people bring most often is in the mentoring statistics.
Which companies people come from
Mentees lead teams in banking, insurance, manufacturing, logistics and e-commerce: ČSOB, Česká spořitelna, NN, Jablotron, Dr.Max, Rohlík, Eurowag and HOPI HOLDING. The technology differs a lot between a bank and a factory. The people, priorities and relationship with leadership, which take up most of a session, differ much less.
IT manager coach, mentor, advisor: what you are buying
The three words get used interchangeably and the difference is practical, not academic. A coach helps you reach your own answer through questions and stays out of the content. A mentor has done the job and will tell you what they did and what went wrong. Most people searching for an IT manager coach want the second one: someone who knows the chair.
I work mentoring-first: you get concrete recommendations and the pattern from 3,662 sessions. I switch into coaching mode when the question is about you rather than the situation. Full comparison on mentor vs coach.
How much a coach for IT managers costs
EUR 395 per 60-minute session pay-as-you-go, or EUR 1,975 for a first quarter of six sessions, 5 paid + 1 free. Your company pays the same rate; 81% of mentees go through their employer and an L&D budget usually covers it. The intro session is free. Prices exclude VAT.
The rate card is public so you can compare before getting in touch. Model breakdown on the coach cost page.
Ordering mentoring for one of your managers?
Most sessions are paid by the company. Ataccama, Rohlik and Košík have paid for mentoring for several of their engineering leaders. When HR or a line manager orders mentoring for someone on the team, it works like this:
- I invoice the company directly, with no long-term contract.
- I sign an NDA if your company needs one.
- What is said in sessions stays between me and the mentee. If you want, we take 30 minutes about every two months to talk about how it is going.
- The intro call is free and can run in Microsoft Teams. You can send the invite.
Email marian@marian.coach or call +420 736 519 879. How to make the budget case is on the get your company to pay for mentoring page.
Frequently asked questions
Who should I hire as a coach for an IT manager?+
I am looking for a coach for an IT manager. Where do I start?+
What is the difference between an IT manager coach and a management course?+
How much does a coach for an IT manager cost?+
Do you coach developers and team leads, or only managers?+
Which languages do you work in?+
Where to start
The intro session is free: 30 minutes, your situation, a concrete plan. Leading a team for the first time? Start on the engineering manager page. Running the whole engineering org? Go to the CTO page. Companies who want a mentor for the whole leadership team will find the model on the mentor in residence page.