
Ask HN: Career Coach, Good or Bad Experiences? -  CoachQn
I’ve been struggling a bit in figuring out the next steps in where I really want to go professionally and have been considering engaging a career coach.<p>Have you had any good or bad experiences with a career coach?  Would you do it again?  Anything you wish you knew before starting out or would do differently?  Thanks in advance. 
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wenc
I think career coaches can be helpful but you have to pick the right one. 

Just a data point on my experience being coached by someone with less
intellectual depth and experience than I had: there was some value in the
general feedback I received (everyone benefits from having their blind spots
pointed out), but in truth I really didn't learn very much overall. 

I think there are good coaches out there -- I tend to think the better ones
are those who've had real world experience in the area they're offering
coaching in.  For instance, many executive coaches are former executives so
they speak from experience and have had skin the game. 

I would somewhat distrust coaches who've merely taken coaching classes, whose
resumes indicate that they've never done anything truly difficult in their
lives in terms of career.  The advice you get will likely not comport with
reality -- you're much better off reading books and talking to senior people
in your industry. 

Ultimately I benefited more from learning from multiple sources -- I picked
the brains of the best in the industry by reading and arguing with books like
High Output Management, Hard Things about Hard Things, etc. 

I may never have had the opportunity to be coached by the late Andy Grove, but
at least I got to see things from his perspective a bit. 

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nataz
I have one provided as part of my benefits package. 

The right coach matters.  I work well with mine, but I've had other experiences
that were not very productive.  It's a service, if you don't get value out of
the first one it's worth trying someone else before you write the whole thing
off. 

My coach doesn't specialize in my technical field, but they have been working
as a professional coach for a very long time.  Career wise, they have seen lots
of different scenarios that I have only experienced personally once or twice. 
There is value in that.  I don't work with them to improve my technical skills
(my coach is not a mentor!),  I work with them to meet my professional
development and career goals. 

A coach keeps me accountable to my goals, they provide structure and feedback
to my activities, and they are a forcing function for me to prioritize time
for my own personal strategic planning. 

Ideally, you can find a coach and/or a mentor who is in your industry, but I'd
caution that coaching and mentoring are (two different) skills, and just
because someone is a successful executive doesn't mean they are a good coach
or mentor.  Also, depending on the size of your field, you may not want to have
these discussions with someone who is a professional peer, or even a potential
supervisor. 

Finally, you get out what you put in.  The best coach in the world is only a
facilitator.  If you don't take your career seriously, and invest in yourself,
they aren't going to give you a magic recipe for success. 

Good luck

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wikibob
Can you share the name of the service? 

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nataz
My current coach has mostly "retired" from her company, but still works with
me as an independent contractor. 

If you are serious about looking for a coach, I don't mind asking her if she
is willing to take on additional clients or for recommendations of other
coaches who may be available.  Email is in my profile - feel free to reach out. 

~~~
sahawneh
I do coaching, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn
here...[https://www.linkedin.com/in/saadsahawneh/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/saadsahawneh/)

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moksly
For me, trying one of the different paths before me was much better than all
the coaching, counselling and mentoring I did before trying. 

I have a flair for decision making, and getting older it felt like I needed to
move away from programming in order to process in my career.  So I got into
first architecture and project management later into actual management along
with a several university courses toward a master in IT management.  Turned out
I just really like coding, and I went back to doing that. 

I remember that I had one mentor tell me I wouldn’t like management, and I
really should have listened.  But everyone else, especially coaches were more
interested in making me make it happen, which was fine, and it wasn’t until I
actually did it I realised what I actually wanted to do.  None of what I did
hurt me though, all of it had positive impacts in my life, so my advice is to
go for it, and if starting with a coach is what you need to do first, then
start there and see what happens. 

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giantg2
I'm struggling too.  I like technology, but I feel like I'm just being used as
a coder.  I want to be involved in the business strategy. 

As for career coach, I don't have any experience but think it might be worth a
chance depending on your financial situation. 

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p0d
Coaching is good for you telling the coach your plan and having the coach hold
you accountable to this plan.  A "life teacher" would be too bold a statement
for coaches to make :-)

