Check out our review of Sphere so you can learn about their prices and reviews and decide if Sphere or Pathrise is a better choice to help you find a great job.
- What does Sphere do?
- Who is Sphere for?
- What does Sphere cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Sphere
- Alternatives to Sphere
- How does Sphere compare to Pathrise?
What does Sphere do?
Sphere is an app for online career coaching. Their smart algorithm matches users with an experienced mentor.
First, users download the app and take a short assessment detailing their goals. The platform’s algorithm then pairs job seekers with an experienced mentor for a free session. If the user is satisfied with the session, they can sign up for a paid monthly membership to continue their coaching. Mentors are also available for instant messaging in the Sphere app, allowing for quick questions and keeping communications in one place.
Currently, over 350 mentors are available to coach on topics ranging from leadership to the job search. However, career coaches tend to focus on soft skills that help job seekers craft a job search strategy or ace behavioral interviews. They do not offer technical training or help users apply to jobs at this time.
Who is Sphere for?
Aspiring tech workers and executives who are seeking expert coaching can benefit from Sphere. People seeking help with behavioral interviews, soft skills, and career advancement could be a good fit for their roster of mentors. However, users seeking more technical or role-specific training may have better luck on another platform. Current professionals struggling with meeting deadlines and managing their job search could be an especially good fit for their career and business coaches.
What does Sphere cost? How much work is involved?
The individual membership plans range from $79 to $279 per month. The platform offers 1 coaching session free to give users a taste of the platform before signing up.
However, it’s worth noting that Sphere uses a credit system for payment. Memberships give users credits that transfer into coaching time. 1 credit equals 10 minutes of coaching. The individual membership costs $79 per month and includes 3 credits. The deep membership comes with 6 credits and costs $149 per month. The $279 per month infinity plan includes 12 credits. Since Sphere focuses on soft skills, no prior experience is required. Anyone seeking a coach can join.
Ratings and reviews
While Sphere is still fairly new, so far the platform has received positive reviews. They hold a 4.8/5 rating on Product Hunt where users were impressed with the simple algorithm and high quality coaching. One user praised the coaches for their “passion and enthusiasm” and appreciated that this platform is able to “bring coaching to more people in an accessible and affordable way.” The user also described the app as “well-designed and easy-to-use.” Another user agreed that “the design is smart, intuitive and sleek.” An executive described professional development on the platform as “seamless and enjoyable.”
Dozens of users raved about Sphere on The App Store, where the platform holds a 4.9/5 star rating. One user was impressed by the mentor pairing, commenting that “it’s easy to find someone who perfectly suits what you need.” They also liked that users “get to try out different coaches for short *meets* before you find the one who is just right for you.”
Alternatives to Sphere
If you choose not to join Sphere, there are a number of other platforms and resources you can use for career coaching.
- Like Sphere, Dorm pairs users with expert coaches to help job seekers launch a career they love. However, Dorm mentors focus on teaching students a more specific (often technical) skillset rather than prioritizing professional development.
- The online interview resources Pramp and Gainlo pair aspiring software engineers with peers or more experienced engineers for mock interviews.
- Another platform that matches job seekers with professionals is Interviewing.io. They pair users with FAANG engineers for mock interviews and extensive feedback. Find out if Interviewing.io is right for your career goals in our review.
- Leetcode is a popular technical interview prep platform that hosts thousands of questions popular with real tech companies. They also have an active community, with frequent posts on their discussion board.
- Aspiring software engineers seeking a self-paced technical interview course can check out Skilled.dev. Their course covers both key technical coding concepts and practical interviewing strategies that aspiring software engineers can apply to their job search.
More alternatives
- For those seeking technical interview practice, Learneroo hosts technical questions that often come up in interviews. Their program is free to try, though users can upgrade to a paid membership for greater access to materials.
- Aspiring FAANG software engineers can look into Codebasil, which hosts interview questions written by software engineers at top tech companies like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon.
- People who want to sharpen their technical interview skills can check out Coderbyte. Their platform offers a mix of 300+ free and paid challenges for software engineers. Read more about Coderbyte in our review.
- Aspiring software engineers seeking interview prep can look into Interview Cake. Like Sphere, their program focuses on how to approach and solve technical interview problems. Questions include a detailed solution breakdown, a gotcha list of common mistakes, and a “what we learned” section to help users review. Learn more about Interview Cake in our review.
- People looking for a more hands-on program with mentoring can check out Udacity. Their platform offers both free and paid self-paced courses in topics like product management. Students in their “nanodegree” programs work with technical mentors and career mentors as they build polished product management projects. Find out if Udacity is right for you in our review.
How does Sphere compare to Pathrise?
Sphere pairs users with expert coaches. Their platform focuses on soft skill development and self-help. Sphere mentors do not offer technical or specific job search training. On the other hand, the Pathrise curriculum is more practical. Our mentors help with each phase of the job search, including resume writing, portfolio optimization, cold emailing, behavioral interviewing, negotiation, and more. Fellows work with their mentors on increasing their pipeline and optimizing each step so they 3x their application response rate, 2x their interview scores, and increase offered compensation by 10-20% through negotiation alone.
Pathrise optimizes the job search through 1-on-1 mentoring and training sessions. Our interview curriculum teaches fellows to ace both technical and behavioral interviews. Like Sphere, we offer a trial so fellows can see for themselves how the program helps. However, the Pathrise trial is 2 full weeks of the program, not just 1 session. In addition, our income share agreement (ISA) means that fellows pay nothing until they land a job they love and start working.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that has helped 1,000+ students and professionals land their dream job in tech. With our tips and guidance, we’ve seen our fellows double their interview scores and triple their application responses. Usually, fellows land a job in just 3-5 months. If you want to work with any of our mentors to land your dream job faster, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
