why i became a therapist | quitting tech, leaving engineering ✌ my therapist career journey ch 4 

Aww thanks for your comment, this makes me happy to know that there are others who are also going down this path🥰🥰

Thanks for your comment 🥰🥰 I'm also surprised with how many people have making this shift because I thought it was uncommon when I was trying to decide my next career move. If you don't mind me asking, I'm very curious where you are in your journey ✨

Why are you depressed?

@@our.secret1130 burn out

Aww thank you for your comment, I'm wishing you the best in figuring out what career works best for you🌞

@@techtotherapy thank you, that means a lot:)

Hi! Nice to meet you :D Sorry for the late response! Yes, I totally agree with you on that statement. Are you also thinking about transitioning to becoming a therapist, or still just figuring out what you might want to do next?

Thanks for your comment and reaching out! I made a video awhile about finding a master's program here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-N2Msir8tNOc.html and I think I talk about my criteria for finding a program, but in short I only looked for local programs that allowed me to continue working in tech because I didn't want to be so in debt and honestly I don't think I was ready to just 100% commit at that time! Hope that was helpful! Let me know if you have any more questions and thanks for watching my video!

Thanks for your comment! I was also in tech during the pandemic in 2021, and it was definitely a rough time for me too. I'm wishing you the best in your future career path~

Thanks for your comment!! I did some volunteer work as a peer counselor (basically acting as a free counselor to the community) for about six months before COVID hit and I think that helped me get some relevant experience. Although from what I know about my classmates backgrounds in my masters programs, most of them did a career shift too and they didn't have a psych degree or prior therapy work experience. Hope that was helpful!

Hi thank you so much for you comment!! Yes I also had a lot of doubt when it came to the finances of switching careers, especially the financial burden of going back to school and the poor pay of starting therapy positions. I knew pretty early on that if I were to become a therapist, I would want to go the private practice route both because I like the idea of running a business and it seemed more financial sustainable for me. (Community Mental Health pay is much lower, and case load is more, but impact can feel very high from what I hear) I did some research on how much I could potentially make if I were to have my own practice, and recently in school I was taught this formula to est my annual salary = ((session fee * # of working weeks * # of clients per week) - 10,000) / 1.3 . The 10k accounts for roughly part time office space cost in the San Francisco area and 1.3 accounts for taxes. From my experience, I hear most private practice therapists have around 15- 25 clients. Anyways I would encourage you to plug in numbers to see what you get, maybe check out session fees around your area. I heard you can also use a similar calculator on: www.thebadtherapist.coach/ Basically I realized if I chose the private practice route, I could make around the same amount I was in tech as a junior software engineer. I would say financial stress is definitely there for me during the transition right now -- as a graduate student, all of your clinical hours aren't usually paid, and the path to private practice is not as straight forward post graduation. My response is already pretty long, so I'll stop here for now, but let me know if you have any follow up questions! I hope this helps!

@@techtotherapy Thanks a lot for taking the time and replying to my query with such details. Just the fact that a fellow human being had gone through the same dilemma and figured a way to work things out, is such a relief and encouragement. Thanks again and best wishes on your new path in life 🌼

Sorry just seeing this now! Thanks for your support 🥰🥰

Thanks, yeah I think people have a wide range of experiences working in tech, so if you're finding it therapeutic, that's amazing! I think it was the mix of working in the startup phase of companies and the people I worked with that made it stressful for me.

Yup things are definitely changing in the field!

I hope you find what you're looking for, either in tech or elsewhere!

I also felt that way at times while I was in the industry :(

I felt similarly too! Although I haven't landed a plane 😆