You do not need more career advice.You need a plan for your situation.

Most advice is written for nobody in particular, which is why it never quite fits. The visa clock, the degree that does not match the job, the resume telling a story you have outgrown, the offer you cannot tell is good: those are specific problems, and they need specific answers.

Most of what people need is not worth charging for. So a lot of it is written below, free, and you are welcome to take it and never speak to me.

If we have already talked and you want to keep going, the ways to work together are further down.

Things that change the answer

Real answers from real conversations. Each one has saved somebody months.

For international students

An internship needs no sponsorship. Stop screening yourself out.

People merge two different questions: can this company hire me, and will they sponsor me later. For a summer internship on CPT the answer to the first is yes, with no sponsorship involved at all. So a posting that says "must be authorized to work without sponsorship" is telling you about the full-time offer, not the internship. Ask a recruiter the precise question: do you hire F-1 students on CPT for summer internships. That gets a straight answer, and it opens doors people close on themselves.

Reading job postings

May versus must. One is boilerplate, the other is a wall.

"May require an export license" is a line companies paste onto every listing at a site that touches controlled technology, usually before anyone knows which team you would join. It is not about you. "Must be a U.S. Person", "citizenship required", or anything about a security clearance is a hard bar. If it says may, apply. If it says must, skip that listing rather than the company. Also worth knowing: an export license is something the employer applies for, not a credential you hold.

For career changers

Ask whether the role is shaped like your background or somebody else's.

When you are worried about competing with people who have the obvious degree, read the requirements rather than the title. If a role wants distributed systems and production software, you are competing with computer science graduates and probably losing. If it wants systems thinking, data analysis, and understanding how physical things actually work, an engineer beats them and the title was misleading you. Job titles have drifted a long way from what the jobs contain.

Research

Ask people. Do not read postings.

One person who did the thing will answer in a day what you cannot settle in a week of reading job descriptions. Find someone with your background who is now in the role you want, and ask three things: which team they started on, whether the barrier you are worried about actually came up, and how they got in. First-hand practice beats stated policy every time, and most people answer.

Backup plans

Backups fail on timing, not on choice.

Most people treat a backup as something to activate later if the main plan stalls. For anything with one application window, like internships or admissions cycles, later does not exist. The window opens once. So apply to the backup in the same window and change where your effort goes instead: full preparation on the thing you want, twenty minutes and no tailoring on the thing that would catch you. You keep the safety net without letting it become your story.

Resumes

Space signals identity more than wording does.

If the job you are leaving has five bullets and the work you want has one, the page says you are the first thing no matter how carefully you phrase it. Before rewriting a single line, count the proportions. Then fix the summary, because it is two lines that tell the reader what to see before they see it. Most people rewrite bullets and leave the summary describing who they used to be.

Free, no catch

Send me your CV and I will tell you the three things costing you interviews.

Strip your name, contact details, and employer names if you want. I can read the positioning without any of that. You will get back three specific things, not a general review:

Proportion. Which job takes up the most space, and whether that is the identity you actually want. Space signals identity more than wording does.
The summary. Two lines that tell a reader what to see before they see it. Usually still describing who you used to be.
One defensibility risk. Dates that do not match the work, a number you cannot explain, a skill you could not talk about for two minutes. This is the one nobody else tells you, and it is the one that can cost you an offer.

Send it overor email Matthew@redwooddigitalfrederick.com

No sequence, no follow-up emails. If your CV is already working, I will tell you that too.

What I am, and what I am not

My lane is career strategy and positioning: mapping paths, tightening the story, choosing target roles, and turning a messy transition into something you can actually run.

I am not a recruiter, an admissions officer, or an immigration lawyer, and I will not pretend otherwise. If your question needs one of those, I will say so. Anywhere visa timing comes up, treat it as “confirm this with your ISSO or an attorney,” never as a ruling.

I will also tell you when something on your resume is not defensible, even when you would rather I did not. That has come up, and it is the part of this that actually protects you.

If your situation is not a fit, I will say so rather than sell you something. If money is genuinely tight, say that, and we will figure something out.

If you want the whole thing written for you

Everything above is yours for free. This is for when you would rather not assemble it alone.

Career Transition Strategy Review

$249

A written strategy plan built around your situation, not a template. You send your background, your constraints, and the paths you are weighing. I read all of it and send back a plan: target roles, positioning, what to build, who to talk to, and what to do in what order.

A written plan, usually 8 to 10 sections, specific to you
Target roles, and the honest read on which are realistic
One story to lead with, and the backups worth keeping
A concrete sequence, not a list of ideas
7 days of follow-up questions after it lands

The button opens a secure Stripe checkout. Afterwards you fill in a short form so I have the context, and the plan comes back by email, usually within a few days.

Book the review

Longer engagements

If you are inside a specific cycle and want it run with you rather than written for you. Priced for the scope of the work, not for who is asking.

Career Transition Intensive

$997

Changing industry, not just job

A full industry-change engagement. Your positioning rewritten so the background you have reads as the one your target industry wants. A researched list of the employers and roles that take your profile, which is the part you cannot build from the outside. The outreach approach and scripts for getting introductions, which is usually what is actually broken. Then 30 days of async follow-up while you work it. It is not placement, and nobody honest can promise you a job.

Book the intensive

Land the Internship

$399

Students inside a recruiting cycle

The whole push. Target companies with specific roles and timing, CV and cover letters reviewed as you tailor them, outreach written before you send it, interview prep when rounds land, and offer comparison at the end.

MBA / Grad Application Positioning

$599

One admissions cycle

Story architecture, which is usually the real problem. Cutting the extra lanes until one spine is obvious, goals that sound earned rather than plausible, essays across up to four schools, recommender strategy, interview prep.

Reapplicant Rebuild

$799

Waitlisted or dinged, going again

All of the above, plus a diagnostic on why the last cycle stalled and a written narrative for what actually changed. Admissions consultants charge several thousand for this. I am not the premium option, I am the accessible one.

Executive Transition Review

$499

Senior people changing function or industry

Positioning, a target market map, comp expectations, a network activation plan, and a 90-day entry plan. Written, with 14 days of follow-up.

Smaller pieces

If you already know the one thing you need and do not want a whole engagement around it.

Resume and LinkedIn rebuild$179
Mock interview (SQL, behavioural, or case)$79, or 3 for $199
Offer review and negotiation session$149
Ongoing async support$79/mo

Ask me something first

Send a couple of lines about where you are and what you are deciding. I will tell you honestly which of these fits, or whether none of them do, or just answer the question if it is a short one.

Matthew@redwooddigitalfrederick.com