The Caring Techie Newsletter

The Missing Ingredient in Your Ambitious Goals: Macro Focus

What Macro Focus Is, Why It's Important, Five Patterns That Sabotage Macro Focus (And How to Fix Them)

Dec 3 • 

Irina Stanescu

23

1

1

October 2025

How Managers Build (or Break) Their Team’s Self-Confidence

As a manager, I’ve had reports who were struggling, despite my trying to set them up for success.

Oct 28 • 

Irina Stanescu

52

8

September 2025

The Real Efficiency Bottleneck Isn’t Planning, it’s Thrash

Why planning aversion isn’t productive and how to find the sweet spot

Sep 22 • 

Irina Stanescu

38

2

1

August 2025

How to Think Like a VC When Evaluating a Startup Role

A venture capitalist inspired checklist for choosing your next startup role. The questions to ask before you invest your time and energy.

Aug 12 • 

Irina Stanescu

 and 

Oana Olteanu

40

2

8

July 2025

Lessons in Leadership from Formula 1: Christian Horner vs Toto Wolff

High pressure is a given in F1 and Tech. What changes everything is how you lead.

Jul 10 • 

Irina Stanescu

52

11

4

June 2025

High Performers and The Cost of Relentless Self-Critique

If you want to perform at your best, you need to fire your inner critic and hire your inner friend instead.

Jun 20 • 

Irina Stanescu

53

5

3

May 2025

Getting People to Listen is a Skill → Here’s Where to Start

A practical guide to understanding why your message isn’t getting through and what to do about it

May 15 • 

Irina Stanescu

65

8

April 2025

How to Avoid Sleepwalking into Irrelevance in the Age of AI

Let’s be real: most people in tech are still too chill about AI.

Apr 23 • 

Irina Stanescu

62

5

2

March 2025

What High Performers Know About Doing Hard Things

The mindset, habits, and brain science behind pushing through

Mar 27 • 

Irina Stanescu

153

14

14

The Key to Asking Great Questions

Hint: It’s not just about what you ask, but how you ask it.

Mar 11 • 

Irina Stanescu

84

2

11

February 2025

8 Guaranteed Ways to Annoy Your Senior Engineer

A comprehensive list of things that grind the gears of most software engineer, especially the seniors

Feb 12 • 

Irina Stanescu

84

8

10

January 2025

Announcing: Re-launching "Impact through Influence"

Why I built this course and who it’s for.

Jan 29 • 

Irina Stanescu

26