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A Career Coach’s Journey: From Tech Survivor to Helping Others Thrive
Diana Alt didn’t plan to become a career coach—life had other ideas. After earning her master’s degree right as the dot-com bubble burst, she experienced two layoffs in quick succession before she’d barely started her career. Those early setbacks taught her something invaluable: in tech, you have to be both smart and strategic to survive.
Over the next 19 years, Diana did it all—developer, tester, business analyst, project manager, product manager. The common thread? She always positioned herself at the intersection of technology, people, and process. “I’m not really technical,” she admits, “but I’m analytical and really good at seeing systems.” What set her apart was her ability to understand what users actually needed, not what someone thought they should need, and then advocate fiercely for those real-world solutions.
Finding Her True Calling
By 2014, Diana had started coaching on the side, helping professionals navigate their careers with the same strategic thinking she’d applied to her own. But the real pivot came in 2019, when her employer reneged on a promised promotion—twice. After consulting with her mom (who’d never quite understood her work but always understood her), Diana made the leap to full-time entrepreneurship.
The transition hasn’t been without challenges. Last year, Diana faced perhaps her biggest reinvention yet: brain surgery to remove a benign pituitary tumor. Having to essentially shut down her business for three months as a solopreneur was terrifying. But in typical Diana fashion, she found the silver lining. The forced pause gave her time to reflect deeply on who she serves best and why.
The Real Work of Coaching
What emerged from that reflection was clarity about her ideal clients—people who view coaching as an investment rather than an expense, whether they’re executives navigating a job search or leaders working on career development. Diana discovered she particularly loves working with people in that “other 90%” of career time, when they’re not actively job hunting but trying to grow and develop in place.
Her coaching philosophy is refreshingly practical. She helps people tackle three interconnected challenges: gaining clarity about what they actually want, giving themselves permission to pursue it, and believing it’s possible. “The hardest part of my job,” she shares, “is getting people to admit that they want what they want.” Too many people have convinced themselves their desires don’t matter.
Diana’s approach draws on her engineering background—she’s all about the 80/20 rule, helping clients identify the 20% of actions that will deliver 80% of the value. And she’s not afraid to be direct. Whether she’s reframing a new GM’s entire understanding of leadership (“Your job isn’t to deliver results—it’s to create conditions where your team can deliver results”) or helping a wealth management firm redesign their bonus structure, she brings both strategic thinking and a healthy dose of what she calls her “salty self.”
Permission to Want More
Perhaps the most powerful tool in Diana’s coaching arsenal is the permission slip—sometimes literal, sometimes figurative—that she gives clients to pursue what they actually want. Coming from a Catholic school background herself, she understands the power of official-looking permission. But increasingly, she’s focused on helping clients write their own permission slips, because that’s where real transformation happens.
Diana’s message is simple but profound: What you want matters. Whether that’s leaving a toxic workplace, pursuing a complete career change, or finally achieving that work-life balance everyone talks about but few actually attain, your desires deserve to be taken seriously.
For anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of their next step, Diana offers both expertise and empathy—wrapped in a no-nonsense package that makes the complex feel manageable. Because as she’s learned through two decades in tech and years as a coach, simple doesn’t mean easy. But with clarity, permission, and belief, almost anything becomes possible.
Keywords
coaching, personal development, self-awareness, desires, challenges, motivation
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