Hi there, I’m Dexter Zhuang. I’m a career coach, product manager, and wellness enthusiast based in San Francisco.
This website is the home of my life’s work and passions. I write and coach about career (of course!), wellness, and behavior change. The core question I’m trying to answer through my work is, “How do we build a lasting career that we love?”
To answer this question, I dive deep into the latest scientific research to uncover fresh, relevant insights and share them with you through my material and coaching sessions.
For the former, my intention is to produce evidence-based, practical tips and resources that you can use in your work and life.
For the latter, I work with you personally to help you get unstuck, accelerate your growth, provide support and hold you accountable in moving towards your career vision.
From Unpaid Intern to Award-Winning Product Manager
My career journey truly started during my freshmen year at Dartmouth College, when I realized I was out of my league against my well-networked prep-school classmates and couldn’t even land a paid summer internship with my Ivy League credentials.
Being the child of hardworking immigrant parents, we never had a lot of money or friends in high places, so I had to carve out my own path.
That’s when I decided to learn how to decode the career systems in front of me.
This time, I approached things differently. Instead of hunting for short-term tactics, I investigated life-long strategies and frameworks that had worked for top-performers. My new journey led me much deeper down the rabbit hole than I anticipated.
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 catalog 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.
For the last 6 years, I’ve worked in the San Francisco technology industry for Dropbox and growth-stage startups backed by world-class VC firms such as Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital.
In these roles, I’ve been recognized as the #1 growth product manager at a fast-growing pre-IPO company, gotten promoted within 8 months of a new job, negotiated my own compensation to get tens of thousands of dollars of raises, and sat on the hiring side of 100+ interviews.
I’ve also experienced total burn-out, struggled massively during my first career transition (70+ interviews!), and woke up feeling that all-too-familiar existential dread of going into the office.
All that is to say, I’ve experienced the highs as well as the lows, which helps me step into your shoes as a professional and be a better navigator for your career journey.
Last but not least, I’ve helped hundreds of others find their dream job and get more out of their current careers. Through their experiences and mine, 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.
The main place that I share all this information is through my weekly newsletter. You can sign up below. You’ll only receive evidence-based tips and resources on how to build a lasting career you love and live a better life.
I don’t claim to have all the answers and I still have a lot to learn as well, but I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned along the way. If you’re ready to learn about improving your career and building healthy habits, then enter your first name and email address below and click “Get Updates”: