Thanks so much for the pointers here! Super helpful

Hi everyone, I'm new to the EA community. My husband introduced me here, since I'm facing a career choice dilemma about helping others. I'm currently in tech, but wanted to change to a career in Coaching or Therapy. 

Why the switch: I care deeply about reducing individual human suffering and I enjoy working with people 1:1. I don't see myself in tech for my whole productive years. Causes I care the most: mental health in the workplace, career happiness, and  connecting to one's true self.

My dilemma: I'm debating between a career in coaching vs. therapy.

• Coaching:
  • Pros:
    • Found it more helpful than therapy when I experienced a career burnout.
    • I'm in a coaching program and enjoy it.
    • Coached a few people who are facing career issues and those were truly rewarding experiences.
    • Faster and cheaper to get certification.
  • Cons:
    • Takes lots of time to find clients, and I don't enjoy the marketing aspect. May never have a big enough practice.
    • Likely will serve privileged groups, since coaching is not covered by insurance.
• Therapy:
  • Pros: 
    • Therapy is covered by insurance = much easier to find clients and cserve all types of social groups
    • More established as an occupation than coaching?
  • Cons:
    • Big initial commitment both in terms of $ and time. A master's degree can take 2-3 years, plus 2 more years of field work to get licensure.
    • I may not enjoy all the classes and all the types of cases I serve.
    • Also personally, coaching worked better for me than therapy, but it could also just be that I haven't found a good therapist yet.

Would love to hear thoughts from anyone. Appreciate you reading thus far.