In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, host Anthony Sapountzis is joined by Miriam Wood, Men’s Coach, Director at Miriam Wood Coaching, and Business Connector & Member Experience at BIO Australia. With a dynamic and eclectic career path spanning the fitness industry, events, tech, and coaching, Miriam brings a unique perspective on the intersection between technology, human connection, and personal growth. From supporting engineers during lockdown to helping midlife professionals rediscover purpose, Miriam’s mission is to empower people with the tools to navigate life transitions and career change with clarity and confidence.
Miriam recounts her unconventional journey from managing nightclubs and working in the fitness world to marketing pharmacy software where she first fell in love with tech and the customer experience. Her curiosity led her to sit alongside developers to understand how products were built and how they ultimately served the wider community. That same drive to understand systems and people pushed her into coaching, a field where she could apply her interest in how people think, operate, and transform. During the pandemic, she was brought into a global managed services company not for her tech expertise, but to support engineers’ wellbeing and performance, proving that empathy and insight are as critical to team success as any hard skill.
Transitioning into the tech space was not without its challenges. Miriam describes the difficulty of bridging communication gaps between herself and introverted, highly technical teams. However, this contrast became the catalyst for her passion: coaching men in midlife, many of whom were beginning to question what’s next after years of working in the same industry. Today, through her private coaching practice, Miriam helps clients navigate career and life changes by integrating wellbeing, mindset, and professional development. She highlights the importance of self-awareness and the role of major life events as powerful perspective shifters.
The conversation delves into common struggles faced by tech professionals moving into leadership or consulting roles, particularly the discomfort with communication, self-promotion, and sales. Miriam challenges the notion that sales is inherently “sleazy”, reframing it as helping people and solving problems through genuine conversations. She introduces frameworks like DISC profiling to help clients build emotional intelligence and adaptive communication skills. This, she argues, is the key to unlocking personal growth and leadership potential in a human-first tech culture.
In the final segment, Anthony and Miriam reflect on how small shifts in mindset can create profound change. Whether it’s learning to speak up in meetings, overcoming imposter syndrome, or exploring a career pivot, they agree that progress starts with taking deliberate steps. Miriam encourages anyone feeling stuck to start with reflection, using AIArtificial Intelligence (AI) is a very large and broad spectrum of technologies which most people would be familiar with through... tools, coaching, or even a trusted friend to map out values, blockers, and beliefs. From there, it’s about building a realistic, actionable plan that transforms confusion into clarity and momentum. As she puts it, no one climbs Everest in a day, but with the right plan and support, every mountain becomes scalable.
Topics Covered
- Miriam’s career journey from fitness to tech and coaching
- Introduction to user experience through pharmacy software
- Supporting engineer wellbeing during the pandemic
- Communication challenges in tech teams
- Coaching men through midlife and career transitions
- Moving from technical roles to leadership or consultancy
- Reframing sales as a form of helping
- Using DISC profiling for self-awareness and communication
- Planning career change through mindset and reflection
- Combining AIArtificial Intelligence (AI) is a very large and broad spectrum of technologies which most people would be familiar with through... tools with coaching for clarity and direction
Important Time Stamps
- From Nightclubs to Code: Miriam’s Unexpected Tech Journey (0:07 – 3:44)
- What Happens When a Coach Crashes a Team of Engineers (3:45 – 8:52)
- Selling Isn’t Sleazy. It’s Just Helping with a Purpose (8:53 – 16:02)
- Micro Shifts, Major Growth: The Power of Incremental Change (16:03 – 21:27)
- Climbing Your Personal Everest Starts With a Plan (21:28 – 30:49)
- Feeling Stuck in Your Career? Try This First. (30:50 – 34:23)
Useful Links
Miriam Wood Coaching | LinkedIn
