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Dexter Zhuang

  • star 5.0 (85) ·
  • Career Coach
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Dexter Zhuang

I'm an action-oriented coach and product manager. 6+ years operating at Dropbox & fast-growing startups, sitting on the hiring side of 100+ interviews. I love helping you get results: finding your dream job and building a lasting career you love.

About Dexter Zhuang

Hi, I'm Dexter.

My coaching style focuses on helping you quickly identify what's holding you back in your career journey and then moving you take immediate action towards getting the outcomes you desire.

What You May Need Help With

  • Feeling stuck in your job search: You're not getting flooded by recruiters reaching out on LinkedIn like you were hoping. Or maybe you're looking to finally transition from UI design to product design, but all the recruiters seem to think you're looking for a UI-role. What's going on? Let's dig deeper into your positioning and review your LinkedIn/resume together.
  • Preparing for your interviews: You're feeling nervous and anxious before every interview even after the 21st one. Or perhaps you're not sure how to answer a certain behavioral or product case question. Hmm this could be a good time to talk about storytelling frameworks and schedule a mock interview.
  • You've nailed the offer and need to negotiate: You're sitting there looking up negotiation scripts online for hours, but still don't know precisely what to say when the hiring manager tells you your package. Let's chat about strategies, your leverage, and schedule a mock negotiation
  • You're starting to feel burnt out of your job: You're feeling this strange mix of exhaustion and distance from what you're doing. Maybe your performance is still OK or maybe it's not. I'm sorry --burn-out is hard. We can unpack what burn-out means for you in a call, triangulate the triggers, and devise a plan to help you break through.
  • Performance reviews are coming up, and you want the promotion and raise: You've spoken with your manager once or twice and s/he has hinted that you're a high-performer. Does that mean you're a shoe-in for a promotion? The reality is no. Let's work together on a plan that you can implement to do everything short of guaranteeing the promotion.

Why I Can Help You

I’ve been in your shoes before. Sending my resume to hundreds of positions on LinkedIn and not hearing back. Presenting myself at dozens of on-site interviews to still not get an offer.

Feeling anxious and scared that I’m on the wrong track in my job search and performance reviews. Losing my sleep, health and time over trying find the magical formula to finding and sustaining a job that I love (hint: it doesn’t exist).

Over the last several years, I’ve been on a journey to painstakingly build back up my career approach brick-by-brick.

Thousands of hours of research later, I’ve explored every nook and cranny of the scientific literature, ancient wisdom, real-world case studies, and hundreds of individual anecdotes I could get my hands on.

This work —the product of much sweat and toil— is what enabled me to catalogue a deep library of insightful career frameworks, strategies, and tools that I still use to this day.

But I didn’t stop at just documentation, because what’s so useful about a strategy if it only works as a theory and doesn’t hold up to the litmus test of reality?

So I pressure-tested each framework, strategy, and tool —first, by putting them into practice in my own career; second, by sharing them with friends, colleagues, and clients to implement in their own lives and careers. Putting each idea to the test, learning, and iterating. Constantly.

And it has paid off.

In my own career, I’ve worked as an award-winning product manager at Dropbox and several fast-growing startups in Silicon Valley backed by world-class VC firms such as Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital.

For each role, I’ve consistently outperformed my targets —whether it was revenue, users, or engagement.

I’ve been promoted eight months into a new job, negotiated my own compensation to get tens of thousands of dollars of raises, and helped hundreds of others find their dream job and get more out of their current career.

Last but not least, I’ve built a winning system of hundreds of rigorously-tested, ready-to-use frameworks, strategies, and tools for finding and succeeding in a job you love.

While I still don’t believe silver bullets exist, this system has consistently worked for me, my friends, colleagues and clients. Time and time again.

How We'll Work Together: Coaching Using Systems

If you decide to embark on a new chapter of your journey with me by your side as a coach, then we'll work together using a four-part coaching process:

  • Phase 1 — Discover: We will discuss your career vision and identify obstacles --such as hidden scripts and stories-- that are causing you to get stuck on your path towards actualizing this vision.
  • Phase 2 — Ideate: After identifying these obstacles in Phase 1, we'll practice exercises that are personalized to your particular situation to help you come up with a plan to getting unstuck.
  • Phase 3 — Act: I will coach you to taking action based on our plan and hold you accountable to the work, so we can maximize your chances of getting the results you're after.
  • Phase 4 — Learn: Finally we'll collect feedback on what happened, refine your goals/vision and approach, and then repeat Phases 1-3.

This process typically takes at least a couple of months (depending on your schedule) to give you enough time to not only learn the material, but to put them into practice.

What You Put In = What You Get Out

With that said, I want to be candid with you. This process won’t be easy!

Our sessions are going to challenge you. If you’re looking for a quick-fix solution, then I’m not the right coach for you.

But if you want to put in the actual work to learn and implement high-value systems and frameworks based on the playbook of what’s worked for me and my clients, then I think we’ll work well together.

By the end of our sessions, you’ll be well-equipped with tools, strategies, and habits to leverage your experiences and boldly step into the next phase of your career journey — whether it’s getting that new job, securing a promotion, or navigating a big transition.

Great For
Creatives POC New Grads Immigrants Developers Product Management Founders Entry Level Career Changers Managers Executives
Helps With
Confidence Work/Life Balance Leadership Salary Negotiation Mock Interviews Networking Business Growth Resumes
Industries
Finance Marketing Consumer Enterprise Social Impact SaaS Startups Design Education Tech Food Health Care Entertainment Legal Non-Profits HR Ecommerce Government
Trusted By People At
Dropbox

Dropbox

Udemy

Udemy

CreativeLive

CreativeLive

star 5.0 · 34 Reviews · 85 Bookings

Dexter is an exceptional coach and I highly recommend him. He helped me in improving my job search funnel/strategy - right from my resume to interview answers. Thanks to him, I landed 3 desirable offers in a matter of few months.


star star star star star Sep 6, 2022
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter gave me some great pointers on how to improve a take home assignment I received.


star star star star star Oct 12, 2020
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter is a very strong coach for product managers. He's helped me with general confidence building, sharing insights about how hiring managers think behind the scenes, and iterating interview scenarios. I highly recommend Dexter to new PM's or even experienced PM's.


Anonymous
star star star star star May 1, 2020
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great information, feedback, and details! Excellent calls as always


Anonymous
star star star star star Feb 28, 2020
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great talk and really help resolved some of my personal problems! Would definitely reccommend for others :)!


Anonymous
star star star star star Feb 6, 2020
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great dialogue and action-oriented direction!


Anonymous
star star star star star Jan 9, 2020
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

My call was great, I was facing a very important career decision and Dexter really helped me to discover a new way to frame the decision process, moving from a bunch of numbers and calculations to something more aligned with me as a person.


Anonymous
star star star star star Dec 21, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter has a played an integral role me in landing my dream role. Every step of the interview process he was there as a sounding board and a guide on things to do and to avoid. He gave me the confidence and provided structure to my interview answers. I'm now working with Dexter to make sure that I'm navigating my current job correctly. I highly recommend Dexter.


star star star star star Dec 16, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter was respectful of my time and great with giving me direction. I, unfortunately, I was not able to afford the cost of having him as a coach. This will change once I have a steady source of income.


star star star star star Nov 6, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Went over topics very specific to the part of the interviewing process I'm currently in. Very relevant, targeted, and useful feedback. Great session!


Anonymous
star star star star star Nov 5, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter Zhuang was very insightful, helpful, and patient about hearing me out about personal problems and improvements. He also provides other sourcing materials for me to gain better understanding and improvements for myself. Great coach and will continue to coach with him :)


Anonymous
star star star star star Nov 1, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

My appointment today was great, we worked on my values and realized that some of the ones that I spent a lot of time thinking about, were actually secondary or just gateways to other more important values that were already being fulfilled. Looking forward to schedule my next session.


Anonymous
star star star star star Oct 30, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

I had a fantastic mock interview experience with Dexter! I would strongly recommend PM candidates to schedule a mock session with Dexter before interviewing!


Anonymous
star star star star star Oct 29, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great practice on some questions I was having trouble with (metrics + post launch + design process). Very useful session!


Anonymous
star star star star star Oct 23, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

I had a great session for ironing out weak points in the interview Q&A. Insightful as always.


Anonymous
star star star star star Oct 21, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Very good session! Talked through my progress and next steps at both a strategic level (interview process tios + the psychology going into the interview) and tactical (via walking through specific Qs I was having trouble on). Looking forward to the next session.


Anonymous
star star star star star Oct 15, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter was a great career coach! He is able to identify what specific problems you are facing career-wise and will then create a personalized plan to help you overcome these obstacles. Dexter believes in your abilities as a candidate and this was important for me to land my first job!


Anonymous
star star star star star Oct 7, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter has a great personality and gives great feedback. Highly recommended.


Anonymous
star star star star star Sep 18, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

My resume review session with Dexter was great and very beneficial. I walked away with solid feedback, clear steps to take to improve my story, and an actionable plan to catch recruiters eyes.


Anonymous
star star star star star Sep 5, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great actionable feedback on my project examples, and took the initiative to bring up the discussion and practice of interview answers I could strengthen.


Anonymous
star star star star star Sep 4, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Worked very closely to address insights gained from the recent round of interviewing. Great actionable steps and looking forward to pushing a bit further in the process.


Anonymous
star star star star star Aug 22, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter gave me the confidence to go into the FB onsite knowing that I've prepared the best I can. His framework for telling stories and the category in which the stories should fit and how they can be flexed depending on the question was intuitive and easy to remember. His support and encouragement was very valuable, especially around non-verbal communication. I got the job :)


Anonymous
star star star star star Aug 6, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Very helpful session! Went over design process type questions and Dexter had some great pointers I can carry over into my next interview.


star star star star star Aug 4, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great and detailed feedback that's personalized to my weak points! I have a lot of things to practice on, which speaks to the effectiveness of these sessions. Thanks!


star star star star star Aug 1, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter gave me immediately actionable advice and tips on how to improve. He also gave me a structure to work with, which is really helpful when I need to improve quickly.


Anonymous
star star star star star Jul 19, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Great feedback as always. Engaged, attentive throughout. Catered interview very specifically to the type of practice I needed.


star star star star star Jul 17, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

I really enjoyed the session. I also appreciated Dexters consideration in working around my schedule. I hope to practice with him again soon.


Anonymous
star star star star star Jul 3, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter was really thorough and laid out a great plan that should help me reach my goals, given my obstacles. Feel a lot more comfortable and optimistic about the job hunting process after my phone call with Dexter.


star star star star star Jul 2, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Had a great practice interview session. Very pointed feedback, along with detailed notes afterwards. Highly recommended.


Anonymous
star star star star star Jun 13, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Had a great intro call. Very professional, went through a lot of material despite it being a pretty short call. Looking forward to the next session.


Anonymous
star star star star star Jun 11, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter was really helpful. Explained how he could help me with my job search, how to position myself when applying and 3 steps to go about that.


star star star star star Jun 11, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

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star star star star star Jun 6, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

Dexter was great at helping me figure out some next steps in my job search! He listened attentively and offered some concrete advice about how I could proceed based on what I've already done.


star star star star star Jun 5, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang

I had a fantastic first intro call with Dexter who in 15 minutes helped me gain clarity around my career direction & communication styles after my transition from having my own business for many years to working remotely for someone else. He was super easy to talk to and gave value-adding actionable tips.


star star star star star Jun 4, 2019
Coached By Dexter Zhuang