Join our Level Up Career Community

Your source for executive insights, high performance habits, and specific career growth actions: newsletter, private community, member-only content (Career Talks, live executive coaching), and more.

I'm excited to announce our new Level Up Career Community, your source for executive insights, high performance habits, and specific career growth actions that includes a newsletter, live events with me and other experts, Career Talk classes with Q&A, a private community for leadership networking, and more.

Paid member benefits:

1. Every newsletter issue (~8/mo).

2. Private Slack community (800+ members) with networking events.

3. Exclusive content: Ethan’s Career Talk classes, live executive coaching with Ethan (and apply for free coaching yourself), fireside chats (we’ve had Olympic gold medalists, C-suite Fortune 500 executives, rocketship startup founders), and more.

Use this expense template to ask your manager. Many members get the newsletter reimbursed as an L&D expense.

More details on each benefit:

1) Every newsletter issue (~8/mo)

Free subscribers get ~4 issues a month.

Paid subscribers get ~8 including in-depth articles plus weekly Friday emails with upcoming member-only events, recordings, Slack conversations, surprise benefits, news, and more.

2) Private Slack community with networking events

Engage and connect with other ambitious high-performers.

We host 1-2 virtual networking events a month to spark introductions.

Success stories:

“I did get my L7 promo after that talk :)”

— Promoted to Senior Manager (Amazon)

“I give so much credit to the Level Up: Breaking through to the Executive course and getting a front seat to Ethan's coaching and wisdom. Thank you for working to build this community that has given me to confidence to reach even in the current market environment! It is my dream role and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.”

— Hired in a Director role

“When I took the ‘stuck at sr. manager’ course, Ethan mentioned that he knows that everyone wants to get promoted and wants it now but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal (paraphrasing, of course) since he knows us high performers are going to get there. Oddly, that comment didn’t make me lazier (“I guess i’ll get there anyway, so why try so hard”) but it grounded me a bit to take a breather and realize that it is not as urgent as I think it is and take the challenge (wanting a next level title) in stride!”

— Promoted to Director (Fortune 10)

“I am excited to share that I got promoted to Director and I sincerely thank and appreciate your help on this. I continued to apply my learnings from the community to influence the cross functional teams. Leadership was seeing the adaptability that I exhibited in continuing to add business value in new role and I was starting to get positive feedback from the VP on my flexibility. If I have to just pick one thing across all of Ethan’s teachings that helped me the most, it is being PROACTIVE. I am very grateful for your help and I really appreciate the learnings I have got as part of your community and your course on Stuck at Senior Manager. It really helped me to achieve this big milestone in my career. I thank you and Jason deeply as this promotion was very close to my heart."

— Promoted to Director (Big Tech)

“What was key was that I actively participated in the live course AND followed through with some participants afterwards to talk shop and build relationships. One of those relationships just happened to be able to help when I needed it. Simply adding connections wouldn’t have been successful as they would have had no context about me, and not enough trust to put me in touch with important people in THEIR network.”

— Landed FAANG Role

Our Slack community includes 10+ moderated channels by domain experts on topics including external executive roles and how to get them, product management, finance business concepts, AL + ML + Data, resume reviews, System Design study groups, and more.

3) Career Talks with Ethan

Career Talk classes are topic-specific presentations by Ethan. While these classes are available individually for purchase—all are free to paid newsletter subscribers ($354 value).

Click here to access the Career Talks catalog.

To get the coupon code, go to the Level Up Newsletter site and click "Paid Member Content" at the top bar. You will see the coupon code in that member-only article.

Popular talks:

1. Executive 1:1s Using Them Well

2. Ensuring a Great Performance Review

3. Fighting Imposter Syndrome - Insights & Actions to Strengthen Your Mental Game

Watch the below clip where Ethan explains how to maximize Executive 1:1 time (full talk is 64 minutes):

4) Watch Ethan live executive coach AND apply for FREE live executive coaching yourself

Experience how executive coaching works and learn alongside my client (at a fraction of the cost).

Newsletter paid subscribers can also apply for free 1:1 live executive coaching on a rolling basis. Community members selected include a Director of Engineering and a VP of Product Management.

In the below clip, Ethan explains the difference between a “Doer vs Relationship Builder”:

5) Fireside chats with leaders

We will cover various career issues with leading figures from our network (Mine, Jason’s, and yours). Read takeaways and watch the full recordings below:

Career from Engineer to CEO & EVP with Ethan Evans & Ameesh Paleja

Maximize Executive Coaching with Sue Bethanis (Founder & CEO of Mariposa Leadership)

How to Speak like an Executive and Command the Room — with Ethan Evans & Harriette Cole

How to Influence Without Authority with Irina Stanescu (Eng Leader & Coach; ex-Google, ex-Uber)

What a Series B Co-Founder looks for in their Leadership Team with Dee Murthy (Co-Founder, Ghost)

Be a High-Value Connector & Networker

What Your Manager Won't Tell You: The Art of Managing Up with Wes Kao (Cofounder of Maven & altMBA)

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Jeff Bezos once said that he wanted to make Amazon Prime such a good deal that it would be "irresponsible" not to join.

That is our goal with Level Up.

I have turned away people ready to pay for career coaching because I lack the time to coach more people. The community will be paid subscription-based because I will invest paid coaching time in creating live events and more in-depth writing for the community instead.

The new community is $17/month (or $170/year).

My standalone classes on Kajabi (on-demand courses) and Maven (live online classes) sell for up to $2495, so this is an incredible deal. My classes normally cost hundreds of dollars and my current coaching rate is $1500/hour, but now you will get a one-hour talk and other benefits for only $17, or $14.17 on the annual plan.

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What paid members are saying:

• “I did get my L7 promo after that 30 min talk with you :)”

• “Finding good advisors is not so easy and I’ve found value in your content.”

• “Every single post you have made has added value for me without fail.”

• "I’ve been learning a ton from you. Feeling my promotion is closer than ever.”

• “I was struggling to find beyond level opportunities as a Sr. EM. Once I started practicing the Magic Loop approach - specifically, where I decided to optimize for the business/org overlooking personal gains - executive leadership recognized me as a trusted leader and the opportunities opened up. Also, the Magic Loop approach has provided me with more job satisfaction.”

• "I support your work because I can tell by what you share on LinkedIn that you have a deep understanding of the nuances of career success, and that you are passionate about sharing your experience and expertise with others. I appreciate both those attributes, greatly."

• “Sudha was a fantastic presenter, I loved how quickly and clearly she answered complex questions.” — David Cottrell (Amazon Engineering Leader)

• “This was probably the most important 1 hr of my career Ethan, thank you so much! I’m only a year late but I know that I got this from this point on.” — Tugce Kasikci, PhD (Senior Manager, Product Management — Telemetry & Observability at Capital One)

• “The emphasis on practicing constructive feedback as a crucial aspect for the team resonated strongly with me. Additionally, your point on rewarding invisible work and prioritizing team success over external prestige is a perspective I deeply appreciate.” (read Sandeep Basavaraj’s full LinkedIn post).

• "I think this was the best event to date. The tips were prescriptive yet realistic and with substance. Specifically: owning who you are and what you look like (and the nuances), how to operate in remote environments, and how to solicit feedback (and give it) on how to do better." — Dina Keilany (RVP at Oracle)

• "Helped me up level"

• "Great career advice at every level"

• "I would be getting a top class mentor"

• "The teachings from Ethan Evans are gold."

• "Your advice is straight to the point, concise, unpretentious"

• "Lots of useful info on moving up in the career that actually works"

• "I've purchased two of your courses and your advice is actionable and timely."

• "I appreciate Ethan's honest take on careers and his extreme ownership mindset."

• "Actionable and practical advice that I find highly relevant for this stage of my career."

• "I have found your writing and courses to be very valuable and help me learn and grow in my career!"

• "It's rare to have the combination of an experienced leader and the passion/skill to coach. Definitely worth the money!"

• "Your YouTube videos have been super helpful in navigating recent circumstances in my career."

• "I attend to your stuck in the senior ... cohort and it was a life changer. Now I'm hungry for more."

• "It's so valuable to hear from leaders who are willing to share their candid opinions, true stories of experiences and lessons learned."

• "You are one of the few people who shares genuinely actionable, helpful, experience-based advice."

• "I like getting your insights in the long game of growing as an Engineering Leader"

• "Level up by Ethan's newsletter and the Breaking through Executive course has really helped me grow into my Senior Manager role in this tough environment. Looking forward to utilizing further insights and actions to grow towards Director role."

• "Thank you for adding value to my career growth. Be it straight truths, showing me the how, or the explicit call to action; I find them immensely helpful. It helps me better respond and navigate situations equipped with your prior experiences - mistakes and all, and adapt well."

• "I have been reading your free newsletter for several months. I have decided going into 2025 that I would cut back on newsletters and only keep the valuable ones. Upgrading to paid was a no brainer. I am excited to keep learning!"

• "Appreciate all you are doing to build community and support people in their careers. It's like having a mentor for many, but feels personal. Excited to connect with others."

• "Your online courses are great and I think this is a great resource to reinforce, and build off of, those learnings."

• "Ethan, I follow your posts on linkedin, and even the free ones are very insightful. To sign up for the paid subscription is the obvious next logical step. Thanks for sharing your experiences!"

• "I've been following you on LinkedIn for a while and your straight talk on how to navigate the executive level resonates. I'm excited to unlock more through this subscription."

• "Hi Ethan, Your tactics and strategies are super helpful. Clear and concise message of what matters in the corporate world. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with the world."

• "I was recommended this substack by leader in my org. I read content here and felt this will be useful to my career growth. Especially as I look to take a step up from Senior Manager to Executive, I felt this content will help learn critical skills I am missing and I will need."

• "Ethan is a great leader and have great insights to grow from a Manager to executive and to navigate the complex realms of leadership."

• "Ethan, I am so grateful for the knowledge you share for those of us ICs navigating our career paths in big tech. Good managers and great leadership is a thing of the past and seeking out coaching, skills and tooling to get to the next level has been dependent on resources like what you provide. Keep being a leader and supporting our growth. You have my vote - paid subscribed! 🤜💥🤛"

• "I have looked up to you as an amazing leader, since we overlapped in Amazon Appstore. Your commitment to spreading knowledge and sharing your experience is something I want to support and learn from!"

• "Love his content on career growth. Looking forward to learn from his insights, experiences and apply them to my career. His content resonates a lot with me."

• "I have followed your posts on Linkedin and think they are super insightful"

• "Really appreciate your clear, specific perspective and guidance on career matters. Very helpful to remember."

• "Your content is awesome and I loved my first networking call. Looking forward to participate in more events. thanks"

• "Hi Ethan, I support your work because you are very generous in sharing your knowledge of LinkedIn and you represent the perspective of a wise and seasoned leader. Looking forward to exploring additional resources."

• "I have found your posts and newsletters have immense value. And I want more and be part of your community!"

• "I heard your advice on many topics and found it to the point, very valuable."

• "Jason did a good job answering my questions by email. I am interested in your content and the career community"

• "I trust Jason's recommendation."

• "Ethan's writing has been instrumental in providing valuable tools and guidelines. His insights have been a guiding force as I strive towards my objective of becoming a VP (or possible CEO). Thank you for sharing your wisdom and contributing to my professional growth!"

• "I love your work and I get to learn so much from your writings"

• "I loved your talk on Lenny's. I hope to be coached by you someday."

• "I want to be around likeminded individuals :-)"

• "Continuing to grow as an executive and learning from shared experiences. Love the thought provoking topics"

• "You provide unmatched value! Looking forward to the content."

• "the various features you offer have value, and I think it's a great idea to pay a monthly fee for a managed group run by professionals. I don't have time to waste on random, unproductive encounters in groups open to the general public."

• "Ethan is among the very few creators that have walked the talk and offer a massive value for any leader craving for a career change. Even for seasoned leaders, it is hard to fathom by ourselves the straightforward lessons Ethan teach with no sugarcoating. Not signing up would be negligent to my career growth and financially irresponsible based on my own experience after going through his program."

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Contact Us

If you have questions or issues, message Jason Yoong (Ethan’s operating partner) on LinkedIn.

If you are a paid member and do not know how to join the Slack community, check your welcome email. If you cannot find it, message Jason.

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Connect With Ethan & Jason

• Follow Ethan on LinkedIn.

• Get Ethan’s career advice on YouTube.

• Connect with Jason (Ethan’s operating partner) on LinkedIn.

• Learn more about Ethan’s live online courses and on-demand courses.

• Contact us for corporate training, speaking, podcast appearances, and more.

Many subscribers expense this newsletter to their Learning & Development budget, use this email template to send to your manager.