Impact through Influence in Engineering Teams

4.8 (40)

·

2 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Some people get things done despite gnarly roadblocks. Their secret? Influence. Learn how to build yours in this course.

Students from

Google
Amazon
Meta
Dropbox
Microsoft

Course overview

Having the right idea doesn't matter ... if you can't get others to join you.


Changing minds is hard—but not impossible. Winning support, making a case, and reaching agreements are skills anyone can learn—but most people get them wrong.


The reality is:

➡️ People are irrational (even when it’s in their best interest).

➡️ Good ideas don’t sell themselves.

➡️ More arguments won’t magically make someone say “yes.”


You need something else. You need influence.


Without influence, it’s tough to shape decisions, keep people accountable, and move projects forward. This usually eads to missed deadlines, frustration, and feeling stuck.


💡 But it doesn’t have to be that way.


For many people influence is invisible. It’s cultural. It’s a nice to have. Yet it‘s the strongest force that drives results.


With it, you’ll build trust, inspire action, and gain buy-in.


In this course you'll learn to:

✅ Overcome the inner obstacles that limit your influence

✅ Define how you want to show up and shape your reputation

✅ Build trust-based relationships that create real opportunities

✅ Handle pushback with confidence

✅ Use proven persuasion techniques that fit different situations


Course format:

➡️ Pre-work videos & articles

➡️ Interactive live sessions

➡️ Simple frameworks to explain complex concepts

➡️ Worksheets & templates to apply what you learn

➡️ Ready-to-use phrases & questions

➡️ Office hours for personalized guidance


Who takes this course?

Software Engineers, Engineering Managers, Directors, CTOs, Product Managers, and Researchers from companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, and Square have found this course transformative.


Bonus

📩 Get a 1-year free subscription to The Caring Techie Newsletter ($100 value).


Questions?

Not sure if this course is right for you?

Email me at thecaringtechie@gmail.com—I’m happy to chat!

Who is this course for

01

Tech Leads and Senior+ Engineers lacking formal authority to mandate decisions, who rely on influence to lead, motivate, and get buy-in.

02

Engineering Managers who want to navigate complex, challenging cross-functional projects, where direct hierarchical influence is limited.

03

Anyone who wants to find a larger scope, have a bigger impact, and get to the next level.

What you’ll get out of this course

Build unshakable personal power & an outstanding reputation

Identify and reprogram mindset leaks—including impostor syndrome—using the Personal Power Leaks worksheet. Master confident word choices, body language, and reputation-building moves so you stop underselling yourself and make yourself heard.

Build trust-based relationships

Use the 4-stage relationship framework and stakeholder power/interest grid to build, nurture, and maintain a tribe of allies

Master emotionally intelligent communication

Practice the ACE framework extensively in every conversation to notice, listen, and connect. De-escalate conflict, land feedback that sticks, and make each stakeholder feel genuinely heard.

Ask for anything—and get a yes

Learn the principles for getting to a yes and the 9 persuasion tactics, then combine them in the “anatomy of an ask” template to structure your requests for maximum buy-in.

Tell stories & deliver killer presentations

Anchor your narrative in time/place, build tension, and close with a clear call to action. Structure and iterate slides using our spiral editing process to engage and persuade any audience.

Uncover and scale high-impact opportunities

Learn to craft compelling problem pitches, refine them with feedback, rally the right stakeholders, and drive your initiatives from concept to adoption—so your ideas turn into real projects that deliver measurable impact.

This course includes

6 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

19 in-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

4 projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

May 26—Jun 1

    May

    30

    Office Hours

    Fri 5/304:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    May

    28

    Module 2: Understanding People and Building Strategic Relationships

    Wed 5/283:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    May

    26

    Module 1: Foundations of Influence & Power

    Mon 5/263:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Module 1: Foundations of Influence & Power

    6 items

    Module 2: Understanding People and Building Strategic Relationships

    6 items

Week 2

Jun 2—Jun 6

    Jun

    6

    Office Hours

    Fri 6/63:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)

    Jun

    4

    Module 4: Putting Influence Into Action - Influence at Scale

    Wed 6/43:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Jun

    2

    Module 3: Putting Influence Into Action - The Ingredients of an Ask

    Mon 6/23:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Module 3: Putting Influence Into Action - The Ingredients of an Ask

    6 items

    Module 4: Putting Influence Into Action - Influence at Scale

    5 items

Bonus

4.8 (40 ratings)

What students are saying

Irina's Pyramid of Influence

What people are saying

        Growing your career hinges on your ability to influence—whether to convince your org to pursue a promising opportunity, address an important challenge, or back a specific choice in a key decision. Irina has mastered this topic from firsthand experience and refined her thinking through writing and community engagement. A value-packed course!
Omar Halabieh

Omar Halabieh

Tech Director @ Amazon Payment Services
        Impact through Influence is such an important topic and much needed for Senior+ roles. I have known Irina for a while now and she is an industry expert who shares thoughtful insights from her experience working with top companies. Make sure to learn from her!
Gregor Ojstersek 

Gregor Ojstersek 

CTO | Author of Engineering Leadership newsletter
        As a tech lead, I've spent last year working on my soft skills and I was still not seeing the results I wanted. This course created a complete picture of how influence works - spoiler alert, it's more than being articulate and having the best ideas.
Andreea Lucau

Andreea Lucau

Staff Software Engineer @ Google
        Irina’s course helped me understand what I was doing right and wrong when influencing. She teaches you when to use particular strategies and includes a ton of helpful examples and stories from her own experience. For anyone who has been perplexed by "influence" in the past, this is the course for you!
Jordan Cutler

Jordan Cutler

Senior Software Engineer @ Pinterest | Author of High Growth Engineer Newsletter

Meet your instructor

Irina Stanescu

Irina Stanescu

Irina has 14 years of experience building software products, rising from junior engineer to staff engineer, leading major cross-functional projects at Google and Uber, and even managing people.


Irina built a strong career reputation and led through influence, even without direct authority. Now, she shares those hard-earned leadership skills.


Today, she’s a leadership coach, content creator, and author of The Caring Techie Newsletter with a following of over 100k+ subscribers and followers across platforms.

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Impact through Influence in Engineering Teams

Cohort 7

$799

Dates

May 26—June 7, 2025

Payment Deadline

May 25, 2025

Cohort 8

$799

Dates

June 16—28, 2025

Payment Deadline

June 15, 2025
Get reimbursed

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Impact through Influence in Engineering Teams

Cohort 7

$799

Dates

May 26—June 7, 2025

Payment Deadline

May 25, 2025

Cohort 8

$799

Dates

June 16—28, 2025

Payment Deadline

June 15, 2025
Get reimbursed

$799

4.8 (40)

·

2 Weeks