We wake up the talent in Central Europe.
A 12-week circle for senior engineers who build real things and undersell them. Twelve seats for engineers, twelve for CTOs, both by application. Five coffees at the end. The first two sessions are free.
First circle: November 2026 · Page updated 25 September 2026
Twelve engineers. Twelve companies.
Every engineer could meet every company: 144 possible pairs. By the end of the quarter, each engineer has five real ones, chosen by both sides.
- Engineers
- Companies
- A coffee
Same room. No bridge.
The engineer
Senior Java Developer, it says on LinkedIn.
Ten years in. Ships the hardest parts of the platform. Juniors with AI tools now ship almost as fast, and the ten years do not show. Then a CTO asks what the impact was and what the salary should be, and the answer comes out small.
The CTO
Headcount open since spring.
A thousand CVs, most of them written by the same AI, all of them saying AI. Hard to find one person who has shipped a product with it, owns a number, and can explain a trade-off to the CFO.
In the ELC community: 69% Manager+ · 21% Senior/Staff IC. The 21% rarely get a warm intro to the 69%. 144 is that intro, with twelve weeks of work in front of it.
What is 144?
144 is a 12-week, in-person program for senior engineers in Central Europe, run by Marian's List and the Engineering Leaders Community. Twelve engineers and twelve CTOs share one quarter: a dinner, a speed-dating round and five one-on-one coffees per engineer at the end. The first circle starts in November 2026.
12 senior engineers. 12 weekly sessions, one quarter. 12 CTOs from companies in Prague, Brno, Bratislava and Kraków. 12 × 12 = 144. The whole program is the size of one room, on purpose.
It runs four times a year. Sessions 1 and 2 are free. After session 2, everyone gets a formal rating and a written list of what to work on. Twelve get an invitation. Nobody leaves empty-handed.
Twelve seats on each side. Engineers apply. Companies apply. Both can be told no. That is what makes a coffee here worth the hour.
Why now: senior engineers stand at a fork. Up, into management. Or deeper into building, as AI staff engineers who ship with AI and can put a price on it. 144 is built for the second road.
First circle: November 2026. Led by Marian Kamenistak and Jan Vrtiška. Page updated 25 September 2026.
For engineers · The 12 weeks
One quarter. Twelve sessions.
One session a week for twelve weeks. Weeks 1 and 2 are for both sides to decide. Weeks 3 to 5 are the circle. Week 6 is dinner. Weeks 7 to 11 are yours alone. Week 12 is the prep. The coffees come after all twelve sessions.
Each week: one session with the circle or one-on-one · one thing to build or rewrite before the next one · your scan updated where it moved.
Week 1 · Free
The first scan.
Your profile scan on six axes: technical depth, AI-native practice, product mindset, communication, ownership, money and business. You see where you stand. So do we.
Week 2 · Free
Your map.
A private written rating on six axes and a list of what to improve, whether you continue or not. Twelve people get the invitation. Either side can walk away here.
Week 3 · The circle
Ownership.
From "I did the ticket" to "I own the outcome". You rewrite your last year as results, with numbers a CTO can check.
Week 4 · The circle
Talking money.
Salary, equity, budget, the cost of a delay. The words engineers avoid and CTOs use daily. You say them out loud until they sound normal.
Week 5 · The circle
Product and AI.
How you build with AI this week, on screen if you choose to. Why the feature exists, who pays for it, what you would cut.
Week 6 · Dinner
The CTOs.
Private dinner with the twelve CTOs. No pitching. You are there to listen, ask, and be remembered.
Week 7 · Individual
The second scan.
Where you moved since week 1, where you did not. Your plan for the next five weeks comes out of this, one plan per person.
Week 8 · Individual
Your weakest axis.
One-on-one work on the axis that holds you back most. Different for each of the twelve.
Week 9 · Individual
Your story.
Five minutes on one thing you built, told three times, cut each time. Recorded only if you agree.
Week 10 · Individual
Speed dating.
Two hours with the twelve CTOs, ten minutes each. Then, if you opt in, a real interview with one of them in front of the circle. Feedback in the room.
Week 11 · Individual
The money round.
You negotiate an offer with someone who has made a hundred of them. Then you do it again with the number you were afraid to say.
Week 12 · Prep
The third scan.
One-on-one before the coffees. Your final scan, who you meet, what they need, what you ask for.
After week 12
Five coffees
Five one-on-one coffees with five CTOs for everyone who completes the twelve sessions, matched by company size, domain and the role they need. You go in knowing what you are worth.
For engineers
Five coffees with five CTOs. And we make you strong enough to enjoy them.
For engineers
Your scan.
Marian's List scores engineering leaders on public signals: talks given, people mentored, open source shipped, companies founded. 144 extends that Growth Score to six axes for engineers. You get scanned in week 1, week 7 and week 12.
- Technical depth
- AI-native practice
- Product mindset
- Communication
- Ownership
- Money and business
The scan is built from what you did in a room, in front of people, over twelve weeks. A prompt cannot produce that, and a CTO reading it knows. The strongest scans carry an endorsed badge. Everyone who completes the twelve sessions gets the five coffees.
Your scan goes only to the CTOs in your circle, and only with your consent. Your current employer's CTO is never matched with you.
For companies
For the CTO with a seat open since spring.
- 1
We interview you first.
One call on the hire you cannot find, and why the CVs you got did not pass.
- 2
The circle trains against what you said.
Your gap becomes week 3, 4 or 5. Twelve people work on it for a quarter.
- 3
You meet them three times.
Dinner in week 6. Speed dating in week 10. Coffees after the twelfth session, matched by size, domain and the role. Pay nothing to look. Pay when one of them starts, with a probation guarantee.
What we need from you
One working day per quarter.
- A coffee on what you look for1 h
- The dinner with the circle2 h
- Speed dating, twelve engineers2 h
- Five coffees with the top talent3 h
Twelve CTO seats per circle, one per company. Companies that already hire from ELC get asked first.
Why this works.
The twelve come from the ELC community. The CTOs come from the companies that already hire from it and from the room at our meetups.
3,300+
engineering leaders in the ELC community
40+
meetups held, four cities
182
engineering leaders on Marian's List
62
of them actively looking right now
Source: the ELC Data Points registry. More in the community statistics.
Companies in the room
ELC company members, shown as the network, not as a list of 144 participants. The circle's CTOs are invited from this network first.
For engineers
Who can apply?
Senior engineers with five or more years of building software who are still hands-on and want the staff engineer road rather than management. You come to at least one ELC meetup or mentoring session before the circle starts. Twelve seats per circle, chosen after two free sessions.
- 1
Come to at least one ELC meetup or mentoring session before the circle starts.
- 2
Five or more years building software, still hands-on.
- 3
One thing you built that you can talk through. NDA work is fine, describe it.
- 4
Open to talking about money. Week 4 teaches the rest.
Apply below. Sessions 1 and 2 decide the rest, for you and for us.
For engineers
Team on a layoff list?
Tick the box in the form. We introduce you to companies through Marian's List right away, and your seat in the next circle stays open.
Your employer can pay the seat from a training or outplacement budget. We invoice them directly.
How much does 144 cost?
€2,900 including VAT for sessions 3 to 12, the dinner, the speed dating, three scans and five coffees, invoiced after two free sessions. Sign with a 144 company within 6 months of the last session and Marian's List refunds you. Companies pay nothing to take part and 1.5x a monthly base salary only when someone starts.
For the engineer
€2,900
Price includes VAT. Pay at once or in 2 instalments of €1,450. Your employer can pay instead.
For sessions 3 to 12, the dinner, the speed dating, three scans and five coffees. Invoiced with your invitation after session 2. Sessions 1 and 2 cost nothing.
Sign with a 144 company within 6 months of the last session: Marian's List refunds the €2,900.
Refund within 14 days of the company paying. Signed somewhere else before week 6? We refund the unused sessions. Sessions rated below 7 out of 10 on average by week 4: full refund. No form, no argument.
For the company
€0 to look
The brief, the dinner, the speed dating, the coffees and the dashboard cost nothing.
1.5x the hired person's gross monthly base salary, paid only when they start.
Invoice on the start date, payable in 30 days. Hire leaves during probation: a free replacement or 50% of the fee back. Twelve CTO seats per circle, one per company.
All terms in one place · Terms, guarantee, data and the brief form
For engineers
Apply for a seat.
Seven short fields. Marian and Jan read the applications themselves and come back before the circle starts.
Application in.
You hear from Marian or Jan before the next circle starts. The confirmation is in your inbox in the next minute or two.
Questions people ask
What happens after session 2?
You get a private written rating on six axes and a list of what to improve. Twelve people get an invitation and an invoice for the seat. The others keep the rating and the list and can apply to the next circle. Either side can stop here.
What if I am not hired at the end?
You keep the program, three scans, the dinner and the five coffees. The seat fee stays paid. You leave with five CTO relationships and twelve weeks of work you can show. The refund is for the case where it works.
Is this recruiting?
Partly. 144 is a training program you pay for, and it ends with introductions. Companies pay Marian's List only when someone starts, and Marian's List refunds you when you sign with a 144 company. No CV gets forwarded. You meet the CTO as a person they already had dinner with.
Where and when does it run?
One session a week for twelve weeks, in person, one circle per quarter. The first circle starts in November 2026. The city and the weekday come with the invitation, before you pay anything, so you can check they fit your calendar.
Will my employer find out?
Not from us. Your current employer's CTO is never matched with you, your scan goes only to the CTOs in your circle and only with your consent, and nobody from 144 contacts your employer. If your employer pays the seat, that is your choice.
Led by the people behind Marian's List.
Marian Kamenistak, founder of the Engineering Leaders Community and Marian's List.
Jan Vrtiška, co-founder of Marian's List.
The twelve weeks are theirs: every session, the dinner, the speed dating and the coffees.
