Coaching

Ship real apps and develop the architecture instincts experienced engineers rely on.

Most developers I coach can write code and use AI well enough, but they're not sure if what they're shipping is maintainable, scalable, or up to professional standards. AI makes us faster, but speed without deeper knowledge and feedback does not make you grow.

Tutorials teach syntax. Courses teach patterns. AI gives unvetted code, much better these days, but it's still challenging to put it all together. People working with me find it invaluable to have me review their decisions on their specific problem domain. So that is what I center my coaching around: we architect together, you build, I review, we iterate.

The hiring market is also harder than it used to be. What stands out now isn't a resume but shipped work you can defend in a code review, and that's what we build together.

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Start here

Every engagement starts with a free 30-min call. We talk about what you're building, where you get stuck, and what your goals with software are. Then I write up a custom engagement: scope, timeline, and price.

No templates, no upsell. Some developers need a one-off session + code review, others want 6-12 weeks of weekly PR reviews and pairing on real apps. Let's figure out what's a good fit:

Book your free call →   or email bob@belderbos.dev

Two shapes my 1:1 coaching usually takes:

How I work: weekly call, detailed PR reviews on your repo, async support between calls. Engagements range from a single review and session to twelve weeks.

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Or pick a structured program

If your main problem is AI-built code you can't yet defend, the brownfield 1:1 above is the closer fit. The programs below are for developers who already know which language or stack they want to deepen.

Six weeks, fixed curriculum, fixed scope. Pick the language you want to build in.

Not sure which fits? Book the free call and we'll figure it out together.

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What developers have built

Developers I've coached have shipped a Django payroll SaaS, a legal citation generator, a distributed lock over gRPC, an AI bookmark CLI, a 25,000-article research database, a published pytest plugin, and more.
See some of the projects →

"Bob coached me through the parts I couldn't validate on my own: Django settings architecture, payment security, error handling patterns, query optimization. He reviewed my codebase thoroughly, explained why things mattered, and helped me build a concrete testing strategy. More than anything, his coaching gave me the confidence to actually ship."

"I grew more in a few weeks than I would have in 2+ years by myself. After years of dreaming of personal projects, I finally built an API, a Django app, and an AI-powered CLI tool."

See more stories →

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Outcomes developers have reached

Some of these are from a friendlier hiring market, others are recent. The mechanism doesn't change: shipped work you can defend in a code review, talk about, and write about in public is the kind of proof that opens doors. So good they can't ignore you, in Cal Newport's phrase, matters more in 2026, not less.

• Piotr R. promoted to Senior AI Engineer at Lingaro and became team coordinator
• Heather G. moved from Excel/VBA developer to a traditional software role by showcasing her work
• Maciej J. gained the confidence to transition from freelance work to full-time software engineering roles and learned how to pass technical interviews
• Ryan A. went from "Hello World" to launching a payroll SaaS with his first paying business client
• Rodrigo B. moved from chemical engineering to hired remote software engineer
• Joshua E. moved from product manager to senior software engineer, now leading AI development; later on did the Rust cohort and wrote a Rust JSON parser that is faster than the C standard library one
• Josef P. transitioned into a Python-focused role after 1:1 coaching
• Lee C. went from 20+ years in IT with no shipped Python work to confidently calling himself a Python Developer

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How this shows up in the job market

I don't run mock interviews or rewrite resumes. What we build together becomes the thing you walk into interviews with. Three specifics that consistently move the needle:

• A repo you can defend under questioning. Not just "tests pass," but why these boundaries, why this error model, what breaks when the next requirement lands. Hiring managers can tell the difference between someone who shipped AI output and someone who owns it.
• An architecture story you can whiteboard. "Here's the data layer, here's the service layer, here's why I split it this way, here's what I'd change next." A senior-level conversation, because we had it together first.
• Public writing about what you built. One or two posts on the decisions you made (and the ones you reversed) compound. Hiring managers read them, and the next interview comes easier than the last.

"Six years later, I can see that doing the coaching was a great decision. I learned to write clean, well-tested, production-ready code and to think critically about my work. In January I was promoted to Senior AI Engineer and became a team coordinator — both were in my plan, though I wasn't sure I could do it."

The hiring market gets harder; the bar for proof goes up. Shipped, defendable, written-about work is the input that keeps paying back, even years later.

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Frequently asked questions

How does a custom engagement work? We start with a free 30-min call. I learn what you're building and where you're stuck, then write up scope, timeline, and price. Most engagements include weekly calls and detailed PR reviews, with async support in between.

How long does it usually last? From a single review and session to 6-12 weeks of weekly coaching. Some developers stay on longer as their projects evolve.

What does it cost? Snipster (the structured Python program) is €1,000. Custom 1:1 typically runs €2,000 to €4,000 depending on length and scope. The flow: free call → intake doc → written proposal with scope, timeline, and price. No commitment until you've seen the proposal. Most developers recoup the fee inside one role move, one promotion cycle, or one paying client project. The real investment is the time you put in, not the fee.

What if I'm not sure which path to pick? Most people aren't. The free call is partly that conversation: where you are now, what you want next, what direction makes sense given your goals.

Can this help me with the job market, not just my code? Directly. Developers I've coached have moved into senior roles, switched careers, and launched their own SaaS (see Outcomes above). I don't coach resumes or interview prep, but the proof-of-work, plus talking and writing about it in public, is what makes the rest of the funnel easier in the current market.

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Book your free call →   or email bob@belderbos.dev

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