UXR Pathways: How should I choose between corporate, consulting, and coaching careers?
Like many UX researchers, I’ve been considering a number of career paths in the wake of mass layoffs across the industry. To explore my options, I went on a “listening tour” with 30+ mentors who’ve navigated corporate, consulting, and coaching careers to learn pros/cons and what it takes to be successful in each. I’d like to pay forward my community’s collective wisdom by sharing my learnings with anyone who’s at a similar crossroads.
Corporate, consulting, and coaching careers are diverse.
There’s a lot of variation within each career path, but here’s how I roughly think of these 3 categories:
- 🏢 Corporate: Employed by a single company that provides a steady paycheck and benefits. Includes companies of all different sizes (big, mid, small) and industries (tech, non-tech).
- 🗂️ Consulting: Provide independent contracting or freelancing services to multiple clients on a project-by-project basis. Includes services provided as a self-employed individual or as an LLC.
- 🤝 Coaching: Provide independent personal or professional development services to multiple clients on a contract-by-contract basis. Includes services such as executive, career, leadership, and life coaching.
Consider what kind of stability, flexibility, community, and career development you want.
These are the top 4 pro’s and con’s that people share from their experiences on each path:
Stability is the most common reason why people choose corporate.
- 🏢 Corporate: Your next paycheck and benefits are guaranteed as long as you’re not laid off or fired and the company doesn’t go bankrupt.
- 🗂️ Consulting / 🤝 Coaching: Your next contract or client is not guaranteed and requires consistent self-marketing to generate income. Without corporate benefits, health insurance can get expensive in the US, adding stress during dry spells.
Flexibility is the most common reason why people choose independent consulting or coaching.
- 🏢 Corporate: The downside is your work location, hours, colleagues, and projects are all dictated by the company. But the upside is you have more flexibility to take time off when you need to.
- 🗂️ Consulting: The upside is you can choose where to live, when to work, who to work with, and which projects to take on. But the downside is once you’re under contract, you have less flexibility to deliver — many consultants have had to push through field studies while sick or injured.
- 🤝 Coaching: Similar to consulting, you can choose where to live, when to work, and who to work with. You can also be more creative and invent new offerings based on your passions.
Community is what many independent consultants and coaches miss most about corporate.
- 🏢 Corporate: It’s easier to find friends and lovers in a company with lots of employees. You don’t need to spend much effort outside of work to find a community.
- 🗂️ Consulting: It can get lonely if you work by yourself. But you can build your own community by networking with other independent consultants or by hiring a small team to work with you.
- 🤝 Coaching: Similar to consulting, it can get lonely if you work by yourself, but you can build your own community by collaborating with other independent coaches. Many coaches also build their own online and/or offline communities for clients to connect and support each other.
Career development is more self-driven and diverse for independent consultants and coaches.
- 🏢 Corporate: Large companies offer a clear career ladder to upskill you to the next level, but you can get stuck in “senior researcher hell” due to limited scope per person. In smaller companies, there’s more room to grow your scope and skills beyond traditional swimlanes.
- 🗂️ Consulting: Contract-based work is a great way to explore many different types of companies or projects and gain experience. Also, if you’re stuck in corporate “senior researcher hell,” starting an independent consultancy can help you to jump into a director role and develop business skills.
- 🤝 Coaching: Finding and working with clients helps grow your entrepreneurship and people skills. Some coaches also become authors, podcasters, speakers, content creators, or therapists.
Decide what’s best for you by experimenting with a portfolio career.
These are the top 2 recommendations from people who have done corporate, consulting, and coaching:
- Mix and match: Given the pro’s and con’s of each path and how dynamic the future of work is, build a portfolio career by simultaneously or sequentially investing in multiple paths, then shifting between them based on what you need in each phase of life.
— Some people work a corporate job while independent consulting or coaching as a side gig.
— Some people flip back and forth between corporate and consulting throughout their career.
— Some people start in corporate, then switch to consulting, then switch to coaching. - Test and learn: Don’t jump all-in on a path before testing how it feels.
— For corporate jobs, try an internship or contract role before committing full-time.
— For consulting, try pitching clients and working contracts before starting a business.
— For coaching, try a people manager role in a company, a coach training program, or pro bono coaching before starting a business.
This article is Part 1 of 4 in the “UXR Pathways” series: