Brian Golod

🇺🇸🇨🇦 Tech Professional Looking to Switch Jobs? DM me | ✍️ Resume Writing 🤝 Interview Coaching 🚀 Salary Negotiation 🍒 Co-Founder at Next Badge

After 28 years in the tech trenches, I've become a 3x award-winning job search coach helping senior manager, director and executives land their ideal roles.

My journey began as a Full Stack Software Developer, evolving through Business Analyst and Product Owner roles across multinationals, government agencies, and startups.

Most recently, I led scrum cross-functional teams as a consultant at Scotiabank, keeping my finger on the pulse of industry trends, in-demand skills, and what hiring managers really want.

Then 2020 happened.

Mass layoffs.
Industry upheaval.
Career uncertainty.

That's when I co-founded Next Badge – a revolutionary job search and career development program built specifically for senior tech professionals and executives navigating rapid industry changes.

What makes us different?

We've created a strategic, industry-first job search framework that combines cutting-edge technology, powerful mindset shifts, and data-driven strategies that actually work.

Since 2018, we've helped over 1,000 senior tech professionals and executives land their next opportunity, growing to:

• 75,000+ email subscribers
• 200,000+ LinkedIn followers
• 100,000+ LinkedIn newsletter subscribers

The secret?

I've been where you are.

I understand the unique challenges tech professionals face when transitioning between roles or companies.

You don't need generic advice.
You don't need outdated strategies.
You need someone who knows the tech industry inside and out.

I'm regularly invited as a keynote speaker, podcast guest, and panelist at industry events, sharing insights on career growth, job market trends, and navigating the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Want to future-proof your tech career in this rapidly changing market?

DM me "Switch"

I reply fast (and no, it's not a bot) 🚀

Feel free to check out the 100+ LinkedIn recommendations in my profile to see how I've helped others advance their careers.

Let's connect!

Product Owner

LinkedIn "experts" tell you to optimize your About section.

Recruiters don't read it.

Here's what actually gets you found on LinkedIn:

Your headline matters more than anything else on your profile. Recruiters search by title and keywords. If your headline says "Passionate Leader" instead of "Senior Product Manager | FinTech | B2B SaaS," you're invisible to every search they run.

Job titles need to be searchable too. "Chief Happiness Officer" and "Growth Ninja" don't show up when a hiring manager types "VP of Marketing" into LinkedIn Recruiter. Use standard industry titles.

Skills endorsements influence search rankings. Not because anyone trusts them, but because LinkedIn's algorithm uses them to decide which profiles to surface. Adding relevant technical and industry skills is one of the easiest visibility moves most people skip entirely.

Your activity feeds the algorithm too. Professionals who post and comment regularly show up more in recruiter searches than silent profiles with polished About sections. LinkedIn rewards participation over perfection.

And when recruiters do land on your profile, they scan your experience section in seconds. Company names they recognize, how long you stayed, whether titles went up. That's it. They're pattern-matching, not reading.

The professionals who get recruited are the ones who are findable. Their headlines, titles, and skills match what recruiters actually type into the search bar.

If you're a senior or director-level professional and recruiters aren't finding you, the 5-day Switch Jobs Challenge starts March 16.

Sign up here; https://lnkd.in/geJzES9G

Brian Golod, CSPO

Brian Golod, CSPO is a career development mentor passionate about technology and helping IT professionals advance their careers. He began mentoring others on LinkedIn in 2018, sharing his wealth of experience and advice from his 25 years in the tech industry.

Throughout his career, Brian has held various roles, including Full Stack Software Developer, Business Analyst, Scrum Master, and Product Owner. He currently leads a software development team at a large international banking institution and is aware of the current trends, skills, and qualifications in high demand.

In 2020, Brian co-founded Next Badge, a modern job search and career development program focused on the fast-paced changes in the tech job market, including massive layoffs and new job opportunities. The Next Badge program offers a revolutionary framework for IT professionals to quickly adapt to industry changes by adopting a new mindset, performing an efficient job search strategy based on industry needs first, and leveraging technology.

With Brian's guidance and expertise, IT professionals can take control of their careers beyond technology changes. It is like helping professionals to inoculate against getting afraid of losing their jobs or getting unemployed for long periods.

Since 2021, Next Badge has helped more than 500 professionals, grown to have over 250K LinkedIn followers, 100K LinkedIn newsletter subscribers, and 75K email subscribers. Brian is frequently a guest on podcasts and livestreams, and is invited as a public speaker to various events. He is well-respected in the tech industry and known for his expertise and ability to help others advance in their careers.

Send him a connection request if you want to get in touch, he will reply.

Tip: if you want to bump up your connection request, send him also a private message (his profile is open and you can message him without purchasing and spending LinkedIn credits)

Stuck, underpaid, or burned out? I help senior tech pros switch to jobs they love in 30–60 days, with a guaranteed 30–50% raise 🇺🇸🇨🇦

Companies demanding 5-day return-to-office are telling you exactly who they are.

When a company pulls remote work or hybrid flexibility, they're choosing control over output. That's useful information if you're evaluating your next move.

Here's what most people miss about the RTO wave:

Companies forcing full RTO are shrinking their own talent pool. The strongest candidates, the ones with options, won't accept rigid structures without a compelling reason. So they leave. Or they never apply in the first place.

Meanwhile, flexible companies are paying premiums for exactly those people. They figured out that flexibility is a recruiting weapon, and they're using it.

If you've been at the same company for 3+ years and your employer just mandated 5 days in office, pay attention to what that tells you about how they see their people. Your skills travel. Your commute doesn't.

Professionals who switch jobs every 2-3 years consistently earn 30% more than those who stay. Right now, the companies offering flexibility are competing hard for experienced talent that rigid companies are actively pushing out the door.

Here's a question worth sitting with: "What am I learning about this company from the decisions they're making?"

If you're at a company that just mandated RTO and you're thinking it might be time to move:

DM me "Flexibility" and let's talk about what your options actually look like right now.

76% of NVIDIA employees are now millionaires.

1 in 3 has over $20 million.

Let that land for a second.

Now ask yourself: what did your company give its executives this year?

Equity grants. Performance bonuses tied to company growth. Options that vest as the company wins.

What did they give you?

A 3% raise. If that.

This is what companies actually think you are worth.

Not what they say in your performance review. What they put in your compensation package when the company is doing well.

When the business grows, executives participate in that wealth.

Senior, manager, and director-level professionals get a small salary bump that often does not keep up with inflation.

That gap does not happen by accident. It is the structure they chose.

Companies that treat employees as actual contributors give them a stake in the outcome.

The ones that do not have already decided what your ceiling is.

Staying loyal does not change that math.

If your employer has been winning while your compensation has been flat, you already know what they think of your value.

The only question is what you are going to do about it.

My Switch Jobs Challenge runs March 2-6. Five days to build the strategy that gets you in front of companies that actually pay for what you bring. 

Join here: https://lnkd.in/geJzES9G

Brian Golod, CSPO, SAFe

$18,000 to $110,000 took me 15 years of loyalty.

$110,000 to $300,000 took me 4 years of switching.

I didn't get smarter. I just changed my approach.

The math that changed everything for me:

The Old Way (15 years):

• Stayed loyal to employers who saw me as "just a number on a spreadsheet"
• Accepted 2-3% annual raises (when I got them)
• Believed hard work and loyalty would be rewarded
• Watched colleagues with 26 years get escorted out during budget cuts

Result: $18,000 to $110,000 in 15 years

The New Way (4 years):

• Switched jobs strategically every 2-3 years
• Stopped being loyal to companies that weren't loyal to me
• Negotiated from a position of having multiple offers
• Focused on market value, not internal raises

Result: $110,000 to $300,000 in 4 years

Talent stays the same. What changed was understanding the rules.

Companies keep you comfortable on purpose. They give you just enough to stay. They make leaving feel risky.

But the real risk is staying.

Because while you're collecting your 3% raise and being "grateful," the market is moving faster than your salary.

Every year you stay in the same role, you fall further behind what you could be earning.

The professionals who build wealth don't climb ladders slowly. They jump to new ladders strategically.

What's keeping you from switching?

92,000 jobs disappeared last month.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported unemployment is rising.

Most professionals will see that number and freeze. They'll stop applying, pull back from conversations, and wait for things to "stabilize."

I've watched this play out four or five times over 28 years in tech. The people who freeze always regret it.

Here's what's actually going on right now: fewer employed professionals are looking to move. That means companies that are still hiring have budget, they're serious, and the usual flood of strong candidates dries up. The talent pool shrinks when everyone's scared.

If you're employed right now and earning well, you're sitting in one of the strongest negotiating positions you've had in years. You just might not realize it because the headlines are loud.

Companies hiring during a downturn aren't posting jobs for fun. They need someone. And the competition from other employed candidates is the thinnest it's been in a long time.

The worst thing you can do right now is sit still and let the headlines make decisions for you.

I spent 28 years watching the same cycle. The professionals who moved during the scary parts landed better roles than the ones who waited for some perfect moment that never came.

I built a system for professionals who want to move while everyone else is frozen.

Start here: https://lnkd.in/gC2xqg9n

Jack Dorsey just cut 40% of Block's workforce.

Approximately 4,000 people gone. His reason: AI efficiency gains let a smaller team do more.

The stock jumped after-hours.

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick called it "AI washing." He's probably right. But I keep coming back to the sequence here.

4,000 people lose their jobs. Investors celebrate. The stock goes up.

That is the employer-employee contract working exactly as designed.

Your employer is not optimizing for you. They are optimizing for their shareholders. Loyalty to their people is not a line item on the earnings call. Headcount is.

I spent 28 years in tech. I watched this over and over. The people who stayed the longest, worked the hardest, gave the most. They were not rewarded for it. They were the most expensive line on the budget when a decision needed to be made.

The professionals who built real financial security did something different.

They switched jobs strategically, treated their career like a business asset instead of a relationship, and built options before they needed them.

The Block story is not new. It happens every quarter. What changes is who gets caught in it.

If you are a senior or manager-level professional and you have been at the same company for 3+ years, this is worth sitting with.

Every year you stay, you are building exposure, not loyalty.

The Switch Jobs Challenge opens this week. If you are ready to look at this differently:

https://lnkd.in/geJzES9G

A recruiter calls you for a screening.

Five minutes in, they ask: "What are your salary expectations?"

You answer honestly. You give them a number.

That number just became your ceiling. And you set it before anyone in the building decided they wanted you.

The screening call exists to filter candidates. They're checking basic qualifications and budget fit. At that stage, nobody has even evaluated what you bring to the table yet. The hiring manager hasn't seen your skills. The team hasn't weighed in. You're still a name on a list.

But now you've told them the lowest number that would make you say yes.

This is what 1,000+ professionals in my program have learned to do instead:

Deflect. "I'd rather understand the full scope of the role before discussing compensation. What's the budgeted range for this position?"

One sentence. That's it. Now they reveal their range first, and the conversation moves forward without a ceiling you accidentally built for yourself.

Compensation discussions belong after the written offer. After they've already decided they want you, after you've been through the process, after they're invested. That's when the numbers actually move in your favor.

I teach the full negotiation system, plus everything else needed to land your ideal role in 2026, in the 5-Day Switch Jobs Challenge.

It starts Monday, March 16.

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/geJzES9G

Most salary negotiation advice focuses on what to say.

Silence tactics. Anchoring high. Waiting for them to blink first.

None of it matters as much as one thing: how many offers you have when you sit down at that table.

Walk in with one offer and you are negotiating from whatever position they put you in.

You need this job. They know it. No technique in the world fixes that.

Walk in with two? The dynamic is completely different.

Now they have a real competitor to beat, a reason to move fast.

That shift is structural, and it happens before a single word gets said.

I went from $110,000 to $300,000 in 4 years.

Every significant jump in that span came from having options, not from knowing the right line to use in an HR conversation.

The professionals consistently landing 30% salary increases have more leverage than average.

That leverage comes from running multiple conversations at once and letting companies compete for them.

Build the pipeline first. Negotiate from there.

The Switch Jobs Challenge starts March 2. Build the pipeline there:

switchjobschallenge.com

Switch Jobs Challenge

Most professionals never run the numbers.

Here is what staying loyal looks like over 10 years.

You start at $110,000 and take the standard 3% annual raise your company offers. A decade later, you have moved up a little. That feels like progress.

Now run the switching math.

You start at the same $110,000 and switch jobs twice in 10 years, targeting a 30% increase each time. By year 10, you are making significantly more than the loyal path. 

The gap is real. It is the difference between your career ceiling and what the market will actually pay you.

Here's what makes this harder to see: the company optimizes for your comfort, not your growth. 

A 3% raise feels like acknowledgment. It keeps you satisfied enough to stay. It is designed to retain you at the lowest cost that works.

I went from $110,000 to $300,000 in 4 years. Not because I got lucky. Because I stopped confusing comfortable with compensated.

The math is simple. The move is harder. That is where most people stay stuck.

If you want to look at your own numbers, DM me "Math" and let's work through what your path looks like.

Sending thank you emails after interviews makes you look desperate.

I know everyone tells you to do it. But hear me out.

When you send a thank you email, you're basically saying:

"Please pick me. I really want this. I'm grateful you gave me your time."

That's not the energy of someone interviewing from a position of strength.

Senior professionals earning $150,000+ don't beg for opportunities.

They evaluate whether the role meets their standards.

When you skip the thank you email, something shifts.

You position yourself as someone who has options. Someone evaluating them just as much as they're evaluating you.

That's the energy of a person who doesn't need this job.

And companies pay more for people who don't need them.

I've never sent a thank you email. Not once in 28 years.

The professionals I work with who land multiple offers and negotiate 30% raises don't send them either.

They focus on what actually matters:

Being prepared for the interview. Asking questions that show they understand the business. Demonstrating value. Having other offers in motion.

The thank you email doesn't move the needle. It just signals you're playing from weakness.

If you're preparing for interviews this year, DM me "Interview" and let's talk about positioning strategy.

Most professionals send a thank you email after an interview. 
They were told to. Their career advisor recommended it, the internet confirms it, and it feels like the polite thing to do.

Here is what 28 years in tech taught me about that ritual:

Hiring managers at the senior and director level are not moved by thank you emails. 

They have already formed an impression. 

The email does not change it. 

What it does is signal something you probably do not want to signal: that you are waiting for approval.

Senior professionals who get hired at the top of the salary band do not chase. They evaluate.

After an interview, the positioned candidate does a few specific things instead.

They reflect on whether the role is actually right for them. Not performatively. They mean it. They are considering their options the same way the employer is. 

That shift in mindset changes how you carry yourself in every follow-up conversation.

They send a concise follow-up only if there is something specific and substantive to add. 

A reference to something from the conversation, a relevant piece of work, a specific clarification that genuinely matters. One or two sentences. Not a recap of how excited they are.

They continue building their pipeline. An interview at one company is a data point, not a finish line. 

The professionals with the most leverage in salary conversations are the ones fielding multiple opportunities at the same time. 

One offer is a yes-or-no. Two offers is a negotiation.

They wait without performing. If the timeline was communicated, they respect it. If it was not, they follow up once, briefly, at the end of the stated window.

The thank you email became standard advice because most candidates are in a posture of needing the job. 

When you are switching from a position of strength, that posture changes. The point is to be the person they are trying to close, not the person trying to close them.

That’s a completely different game.

Stop tailoring your resume for every job posting.

I know that's the opposite of what everyone tells you.

But think about what actually happens when you spend 2 hours perfecting each application:

You apply to 10 jobs per week. Maybe 15 if you're fast.

Your perfectly tailored resume goes into a pile with 500+ other applications.

93% of the time, nobody reads it.

The 7% of the time someone does, they spend 6 seconds.

6 seconds doesn't reward tailoring. It rewards clarity and speed.

What actually works is simpler:

Build one strong resume that clearly shows your value. Use it for everything.

Apply FAST. Be among the first 20 applicants.

Why? Because the first applicants get reviewed when the hiring manager is still excited about the role. When the pile is small. When they actually look.

By day 3, there are 200 applications and they've stopped caring.

By day 7, the posting might not even be real anymore.

I've helped 1,000+ professionals land multiple offers using a one-to-many approach.

One strong resume. Fast applications. And targeting roles where you're a real fit.

Perfection is a trap. Speed and positioning win.

Learn the system here: https://lnkd.in/gC2xqg9n

Getting told you are "overqualified" is a red flag.

Not about you. About the company.

Here is what it actually means:

They want someone they can keep underpaid longer. Your experience threatens that. So they pass.

Senior and director-level professionals hear this and start internalizing it as a failure.

They begin removing achievements from their resumes, downplaying titles, hiding years of experience because they think it is working against them.

That is the wrong response.

The experience is fine. The target list is wrong.

The companies calling you overqualified are telling you something useful: they cannot afford you.

Good. Thank them and move on. They were never going to pay you what you are actually worth anyway.

The right companies want someone who has already solved the problem sitting in front of them.

They are hunting for exactly what you have. Your experience is the asset, full stop.

When you apply to the right roles, in the right companies, at the right level, "overqualified" disappears from the conversation entirely.

Most senior professionals spend months sending applications to companies that were never going to hire them at the number they needed.

The fix is a better list, not a better resume.

Want to learn the secrets that put 1,000+ professionals in the ultimate position of power to switch jobs in 30 days & enter 2026 with higher pay and work-life freedom? 

Join my job switch challenge next week & finally start being paid what you’re worth:

https://lnkd.in/geJzES9G

Most professionals kill their own salary negotiations before they even start.

Here's how:

They bring up salary too early.

Before the company has decided they want you. Before you know if you even want the role. Before leverage exists.

This is like going on a first date and asking what you're naming your kids.

Nobody's decided they want to be in this relationship yet.

The timing that actually works looks like this:

The company posts a job. You're one of many. You have no leverage. They don't care about you yet.

You interview. You're being evaluated against other candidates. Still no leverage.

They decide they want YOU. This is the shift. Now you have something they want. But you still don't negotiate yet.

They make you a written offer. NOW you negotiate.

Why? Because you have maximum leverage:

• They've invested time and decided you're the one
• Walking away costs them (restarting the search)
• You know exactly what they're offering (no guessing)
• You can benchmark against other offers if you have them

The professionals I work with who get 30% raises don't negotiate harder.

They negotiate at the right time.

If you're getting ready to negotiate an offer, DM me "Salary" and let's talk strategy.

Here is something nobody calculates before they sit down to write a cover letter.

Over 90% of employers who require them don't read them.

They ask because it is standard procedure. Then they scan your resume for 6 seconds and move on.

Cover letters are one of the biggest time traps in the entire job search process.

Most senior professionals spend real hours on each one.

They fine-tune the opening, customize every line, research the company so it feels personalized.

And after all of that, it lands in a pile that nobody opens.

Here is how I think about it: if a client came to me and said "I want to run a campaign where 93 out of 100 people ignore the message," I would walk out of the room.

That is a donation of your time to a system that does not value it.

The professionals landing multiple offers right now are spending that time differently.

They are getting in front of more opportunities, faster, rather than perfecting documents that add up to nothing.

28 years in tech. The professionals who win are the ones who know which parts of the process are worth their time and which parts are not.

The Switch Jobs Challenge runs March 2-6. Join here:

Being among the first 20 applicants matters more than having the best application.

Most professionals do not want to hear that. They believe quality wins.

Here is why it does not work that way:

1) There are 500+ applicants for the average job posting. 

Most hiring managers review the first batch before their inbox gets buried. If you are application number 340, the role may already have a shortlist before you hit send.

2) Employers spend 6 seconds on a resume. 

That is not enough time to recognize your qualifications. It is only enough time to see whether you cleared a basic bar. 

At 500+ applications, managers are not giving equal attention to every submission. 

The early stack gets reviewed. The late stack gets skimmed.

3) Speed signals something. 

A professional who applies the same day a role goes live is either actively looking or very motivated. 

Both read better than the candidate who found the posting a week later while carefully tailoring their materials.

This is why I tell every senior and director-level professional I work with: stop perfecting. Stop tailoring. Stop waiting until you have the ideal version ready. 

A good application in the first 20 beats a great application in the first 300.

The window is not open long.

If you are a senior professional ready to build a process for this:

28 years in tech taught me one uncomfortable thing about job security.

It does not come from your employer.

The professionals who feel most "secure" are often the ones most exposed.

They have been at the same company for years. Good reviews. A manager who likes them.

They stopped looking at the market a long time ago because nothing was forcing them to.

Then the budget changes. A reorg hits. A new executive walks in with their own team.

And they realize that years of loyalty bought them exactly four weeks of notice.

Real security looks different.

It comes from knowing you could land somewhere better in 30 days if you had to.

That confidence only builds if you stay current in the market and keep your interview skills from going cold.

The professionals I have worked with who feel the most secure have switched jobs at least once or twice in the last several years.

They know what the market pays them. They are not afraid of a reorg because they have options.

Long tenure at one place builds dependency on one company's decisions.

Call it what it is.

The Switch Jobs Challenge runs March 2-6. Five days to get back in the market and start building real options: 

https://lnkd.in/geJzES9G

eBay cut 800 jobs this week. That is 6% of their workforce, their third round of cuts in three years.

The same week, they announced a $1.2 billion acquisition of Depop from Etsy.

Read that again.

$1.2 billion. Available. Allocated. Signed.

800 workers let go the same week that deal closed.

Companies run a budget. Someone decides where it goes. Acquisitions, AI infrastructure, shareholder returns, executive comp. Those decisions get made before your name comes up. When the math requires a headcount reduction, the question on the table is which line items are worth protecting. You are a line item.

Most professionals spend years waiting to be valued. They take the annual review feedback. They build relationships. They assume tenure will be rewarded eventually.

The eBay news this week is just the numbers version of what I have been saying for 15 years.

Your employer has a budget. You are not deciding how it gets allocated. The only leverage you have is the ability to leave for something better, and that leverage only works if you have built options before you need them.

If you are a senior, manager, or director-level professional and you have been watching stories like this thinking it might be time to move: 

DM me "Switch" and let's talk about timing your move.

Most people spend hours optimizing their resume before hitting apply.

By the time they send it, hundreds of others already have.

That job posting went up Monday morning. By Tuesday afternoon it had hundreds of applicants. By Friday the hiring manager had already scheduled first-round calls.

The person who got those calls did not write the best cover letter. They showed up first.

Employers spend 6 seconds on resumes. That math does not change no matter how much time you spend polishing yours.

A solid resume submitted on day one beats a perfect one submitted on day four. Speed is the variable most senior professionals never think to optimize.

The Switch Jobs Challenge runs March 2-6. This is one of the core shifts inside it:

Most people think earning more is about accumulating things.

Better car. Bigger house. More expensive vacation.

Those are the visible parts. What higher income actually gives you is the ability to say no:

No to a toxic manager because you have runway.
No to a role that does not fit because you have options lined up.
No to work that does not belong to you because your time is actually yours.

Freedom is not a lifestyle upgrade. It is the ability to make decisions based on what matters to you instead of what you cannot afford to lose.

That is what the money buys. That is what it is worth chasing.

taplio

Brian Golod's Linkedin Analytics

Brian Golod, CSPO

Performance ScoreBrian Golod, CSPO's LinkedIn Performance

What is Brian talking about?

Brian Golod, CSPO's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Brian Golod's Linkedin Analytics

Brian Golod, CSPO

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brian Golod, CSPO's LinkedIn Performance

What is Brian talking about?

Brian Golod, CSPO's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Brian Golod's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreBrian Golod, CSPO's LinkedIn Performance

Brian Golod, CSPO's Best Posts (last 30 days)