Key Learnings From My First Job as a Therapist in Tech
After starting my career in community mental health and school-based services, I was excited to see what was possible by transitioning into the private sector. My first role was primarily clinical within a group practice. Not quite tech, but serving the tech demographic. It was here that I started to learn about the aches and pains in the tech community, as well my own aches and pains of feeling confined to clinical work despite my experience in and desire for leadership, management, and creating meaningful experiences for clinicians and clients alike. To continue to spread my non-clinical wings, I made the exciting transition into my first non-clinical role. A role in tech. For nearly 2.5 years I built, created, grew, and experienced first-hand what it looked like to be a Therapist in Tech.*
While some industries see two years as fairly green, I’ve learned that years in tech work the same way as dog years. Where 2 is a lot closer to 7. This is a result of how quickly the industry moves. Which translates to developing quickly as you navigate a fast-paced environment unlike the slow, measured development of academia, graduate school, or clinical practice (which though it can feel chaotic, still moves at a relatively molasses pace when it comes to systems, processes, operations, and change).
Reflecting on my first tech experience, there are numerous fantastic takeaways that will follow me into my next roles, and be the tools I utilize to forging my career path. The following are some of my key learnings.
*Note: these are my personal takeaways from my experience working specifically in a start-up. Which, more often than not, is how therapists make their transition into tech. However, these reflections may not be representative of other types of tech companies or the experience of other therapists in tech.
Learning About Tech Companies at Large
Salary vs. Equity
Equity is a shiny object that works great for employers, yet is sometimes less great for employees. Offering employees equity as compensation benefits employers by allowing them to give employees “compensation” without having to cut into their current funds. While this allows employees to have a large payout if the company is successful, statistically speaking, unless you work for big dogs such as the Apples, Googles, Squares, and Netflixes of the world (and yes, there are jobs for us within these tech giants. Our skills can be applied to positions doing user research, program management, product development, and more), the likelihood of your equity materializing into cash money is low.
Takeaway: It’s okay to prefer, and graciously ask for, a higher salary instead of equity in your compensation conversations.
The Downsides of Horizontal Leadership
Horizontal leadership is a management structure that creates space and opportunities for collaboration, involvement, communication, and community within a company. Indeed, good ideas can come from anywhere, and a company culture that values all voices, experiences, and inputs matters. While horizontal leadership sounds enticing on the surface, I found there is still a need for an element of vertical hierarchy. Without the structure that hierarchy provides, things can get really blurry, really quickly. A certain degree of vertical leadership helps offer clear boundaries, clear directions, and clear expectations. To help gain this clarity, it’s important to know who the decision-makers are. When it’s you, and when it’s not. When you are being asked for input, and when you are being told to execute. This process can start in the interview process by asking questions like:
Who would I be reporting to in this role?
What do annual reviews look like & who oversees them?
Who are the stakeholders giving input/driving decisions?
Do you follow a RACI or other framework?
What are the processes for giving & receiving feedback?
Ideally, you’d be returning to these questions in 1–1’s and project meetings to continually identify role expectations/deliverables, communication norms, and where you’ll be able to offer input (e.g., a retrospective meeting to review how a brand new project went, a direct feedback session, etc).
Takeaway: Get clear on who you report to and set up expectations for your working relationship. For example, what it looks like when that person is asking for input vs. telling you to execute.
Learning about Others as People in Tech
Therapists as Leaders
While therapists have an incredible skill set that is transferable to just about any environment imaginable, it doesn’t automatically equate to the role of management. There is a LOT to learn about being a manager. This type of leadership is different from being a supervisor, a teacher, or even a training director. Management in tech involves learning to navigate business relationships. This type of relating is different from how we’ve been trained to be in clinical relationships. While I believe all tech companies can benefit from having someone with a clinical lens, I also believe that if we are going to be managing and leading others, we need more than our clinical skills to take on that task. Supporting people within the realms of productivity, feedback, culture, hiring, firing, and motivation is a different ball game. You can kick-start your management skills by checking out various books, podcasts, and webinars to start finding a management style that speaks to you.
Takeaway: Management relationships are not the same as clinical relationships, and require an additional skillset. Even for us therapists who are expertly trained to relate.
Nobody Has All The Answers
By its very nature, a startup is a company that is new. New products, new systems, new leaders, new experiences. All this newness comes with a hefty dose of not knowing. Even the most seasoned execs have gaps in their knowledge. One of the best reminders I received from a dear colleague is that “nobody knows what they’re doing.” This was coming from someone who has been in the engineering space for over a decade. As a person who didn’t start out in the world of tech, it can feel like you have the least amount of knowledge, and anyone with a VP or C-suite title holds it all. The fact of the matter is that regardless of title or background, there is company-wide not knowing that resounds. In this way, it’s important to offer grace to the leaders of an organization, as well as gentle challenges when there’s something they might be missing.
If everyone is learning as they go, it means that there is no “right” answer. In tech, as with many industries, it is often the loudest voice that gets absorbed into a company ethos as the ultimate truth. Remembering that any voice, company, or model is just one in a sea of many, is not to disparage or minimize that voice, but to create a spaciousness that allows you to think and feel differently from the organization you work for. Agreeing to disagree is a fantastic skill worth learning in any role or industry.
Takeaway: Everyone has gaps in their knowledge and room to learn regardless of position. As we gain experience, making space for multiple truths allows for an expanse of possibility and direction.
Learning about Myself as a Person in Tech
Patience is Still a Virtue
The tech world may move at the speed of light, but that doesn’t make patience any less of a virtue. In fact, don’t let the fast pace and numerous pivots fool you. Much of the startup world includes a lot of “hurry up and wait.” Why? Two words: resources and experiments. Startups have limited resources and need to find the best ways to use those resources in order to experiment– allowing them to find out what works and what doesn’t, while they still have resources intact. In the case of a start-up, resources typically refer to funds and time (aka people’s capacity). I’ve had the privilege of working on some awesome projects, yet my excitement to build on these projects wasn’t always aligned with the resources available or priorities in focus.
Takeaway: Practice patience by finding the balance between getting excited about the future and staying aware of what’s doable in the here and now.
Learning on the Go (Acting vs. Asking)
If you are new to tech, it’s okay to be intimidated by all there is to learn. This doesn’t mean you don’t belong in this space. Yes, there’s lingo to understand and different platforms to learn. It’s a completely different culture and environment, but that doesn’t mean you don’t belong in it. You will find that there are times to ask for someone to guide your learning and there are times to act and see when you can teach yourself.
Of course, if you are feeling isolated and completely out of your element, ask. You can ask your supervisor, a coworker, or post to the Therapists in Tech Slack. However, there is a lot to learn, and I’m grateful for the gentle nudges I received to teach myself. Remember, resources can be limited, but you can always be your own resource. When starting out, I had no idea how to get two different platforms synced up by using a third platform (Zapier integrations anyone?!). But damn did I feel proud of myself for learning how. Like any psychologically-minded person out there who went to school for therapy and not engineering… I eventually recognized the importance in the process of answering some of my own questions, as opposed to staying stuck in the content of not knowing how to do something.
Takeaway: When you’re not sure how to do something, don’t let that stop you. Take action by taking a crack at teaching yourself how.
Keeping Track of Accomplishments
In an environment where you are learning and contributing a hell of a lot, keep track of what you’re up to. Once I started to keep an “accomplishments portfolio” it was incredible to look back on everything I had either created or contributed to over the span of a single year (remember, in tech you’re operating in dog years). Those of us originally trained as clinicians are really good at underselling our skills and accomplishments. Keeping track of them in a concrete place (mine is in a spreadsheet) is a great way to a) see all of the awesome things you’ve done, b) position yourself for promotions, and c) inform a job search as you apply to new roles. In the past few months, my spreadsheet was a major confidence booster when job hunting.
Takeaway: Keep track of all that you are learning, accomplishing, and contributing as a way to both reflect on progress and share concrete examples with others.
Though tech is not a completely new industry, start-ups and the migration of therapists into this field can still feel like the Wild West; with new frontiers being discovered and explored all the time. This newness comes with both excitement and difficulties.
Ultimately, it’s imperative to remember that there is so much we don’t know. What’s more, is the necessity of accepting that this “we” includes each of us individually, our colleagues/managers/leaders, and the industry as a collective. With this recognition and acknowledgement, we can continue to make intentional space for the inevitable growing pains that allow us to evolve with each new step we take.
