Value Driven Careers
Leadership and career coaching for the people building the future.
Value Driven Careers develops the leaders, engineers, and operators behind growing companies. Direction, judgment, and influence — for individuals, teams, and the moments that decide a career.
Looking for consulting, AI, web, or automation?
That's Otero Agency.
VDC is the leadership & coaching arm of Otero Agency. For the build side — websites, AI implementation, automation, dashboards, custom software — our team works under Otero Agency.
The shift
The careers that compound aren't the loudest. They're the clearest.
“The leaders and engineers who pull ahead don't work more. They decide better — what to work on, when to push, when to listen, and what their career is actually for.”
Right now, most high-performers quietly carry some version of this:
That gap isn't about effort. It's about direction, judgment, and the deliberate work of leading — individually and as a team.
What VDC does
Coaching and development for leaders, engineers, and operators.
The work isn't a framework. It's the practical, often uncomfortable work of deciding what to focus on, how to lead through it, and what to build toward next.
Leadership Development
Executive and team coaching for leaders navigating growth, AI, and change — from a half-day deep dive to ongoing engagements.
Learn moreSoftware Engineer Growth Program
A structured growth program for engineers who want to lead — career direction, technical depth, influence, and promotion-ready judgment.
Learn moreLinkedIn Optimization
Positioning and profile work for leaders and engineers — so your LinkedIn opens doors instead of sitting idle.
Learn moreOpportunity Identifier
A focused 1:1 session to find the next best move in your career — role fit, positioning, and the honest tradeoffs.
Learn moreWhat changes
This is what's different once it's working.
Not a framework to recite — a list of what's actually different in how you lead and how your career moves.
The founders
An engineer and a designer, building together.
Value Driven Careers is run by a married team: Justin builds the technical and AI side, Abegail leads design and creative. Most projects need both — which is exactly why we work this way.
Justin Otero — Engineering & AI
A founding engineer on the expense product at Navan, where he helped scale engineering teams and systems processing more than $2.5 billion in annual transaction volume, contributing to $100M+ ARR and an IPO.
He has hired and interviewed hundreds of engineers and led teams through early-stage growth, product-market fit, and hypergrowth. He brings that depth to the technical execution, AI, and systems side of VDC.
Abegail Otero — Design & Creative
Abegail leads design and creative for VDC and its clients full time. Over 10+ years she has designed across UX, product, branding, and print — including healthcare systems used inside more than 50% of US hospitals (Omnicell), plus work touching Adobe, Coca-Cola, Cinemark, and Salesforce.
She designs human-centered experiences — believing design is a powerful way to serve others: to listen, to understand, and to make small improvements that ripple outward.
Next step
Not sure where AI fits in your business?
Whether you need help getting your team aligned, choosing the right tools, or building a plan that actually works — a short conversation is the fastest way to get clarity.