
Ask HN: I'm thinking about doing some professional listening - collegeman
Dear HackerNews;<p>My name is Aaron, and I am a professional software developer.<p>But I&#x27;m thinking about trying something new.<p>My career as a full-stack developer has spanned twenty years. I&#x27;ve worked in telecom. I&#x27;ve consulted for the federal government. I&#x27;ve slung code for startups. For a few years I was even the lead developer for Squidoo.com. These days I&#x27;m self-employed—it&#x27;s a means to an end, and I&#x27;m pretty sure I&#x27;m almost at the end.<p>But before I move onto the next waypoint in my current career, I&#x27;m considering testing a fork.<p>When I reflect on my career, I realize I&#x27;ve done as much if not more listening than I have done coding. I&#x27;m not talking about the sort of listening that&#x27;s necessary to write good software. I&#x27;m talking about helping my colleagues to resolve personal and professional conflicts. Sometimes I&#x27;ve helped by saying nothing at all—I&#x27;m good at listening.<p>I&#x27;m wondering if there&#x27;s a marketplace among my peers for a &quot;professional listener.&quot; We could discuss personal and professional challenges together. You&#x27;d pay up front for an hour of my time. We&#x27;d sign a mutual NDA. I would add you to my Slack Team, and we&#x27;d setup a time to chat.<p>I want to be clear: I&#x27;m not proposing counseling; I&#x27;m pretty sure that would be against the law. I couldn&#x27;t make recommendations for treatment of any sort. I suspect from time to time I would recommend licensed practicing counselors.<p>No, this would be more like life coaching, but I don&#x27;t want to call it that. There&#x27;s too much voodoo in that market, too many &quot;weird tricks.&quot; This would be honest, patient, professional listening—no shortcuts, just kindness.<p>Would you use such a service? What would you pay for it? Please reply in the comments, or e-mail me at aaron@withfatpanda.com.<p>Thanks for your time.<p>Sincerely,<p>Aaron Collegeman
======
jf22
>No, this would be more like life coaching, but I don't want to call it that.
There's too much voodoo in that market, too many "weird tricks." This would be
honest, patient, professional listening—no shortcuts, just kindness.

I don't know... sounds like life coaching.

~~~
crazcarl
Maybe call it 'professional coaching', or 'executive coaching'. People that do
those will definitely delve into the personal life of the client and how it
all plays together with work-life.

~~~
collegeman
I guess what to call it should also depend on what people search for when
they're trying to find what it is I'm offering...

------
8draco8
You are talking about mentoring services. This is a thing, and that business
model already exists. You can even do online mentoring for programmers
[https://www.liveedu.tv/about/](https://www.liveedu.tv/about/)

~~~
collegeman
Great feedback. Thank you. I like the idea of calling it mentoring.

------
bbcbasic
For me I'd consider paying for such a service if it could also help me achieve
career goals as well as get stuff off my chest.

The getting stuff of chest angle is interesting because it's rarely possible
at work, due to needing to keep a professional facade.

