People come into the ABA field from all kinds of starting points — psychology majors, special education aides, parents of autistic kids, folks who took an RBT job between things and discovered they loved it. Wherever you're starting, building a career in behavior analysis that you can sustain (and feel proud of) takes more than passing the next exam.
I started Animate Behavior because I wanted to practice ABA the way I believed it should be practiced — ethically, individually, and close to the families we serve. Along the way I've made plenty of mistakes and learned from clinicians far better than me. Here's the advice I find myself giving most often.
If you're a Registered Behavior Technician, you are the person the child actually spends their hours with. That's not the bottom of a ladder — it's where the work happens. The technicians who become excellent BCBAs are the ones who got genuinely curious as RBTs: Why is this program designed this way? What is this child telling me with this behavior? What worked today that didn't work last week? Master the craft of being present with a child first. Everything else builds on it.
Your growth as a clinician is shaped enormously by who oversees you. Seek out supervisors and workplaces where supervision is real — where someone observes you, gives you specific feedback, and talks through the why behind clinical decisions. If you're job hunting, ask about caseload sizes and how much direct mentorship you'll get. A place that spreads its BCBAs too thin can't train you well, no matter how good its intentions are.
The best behavior analysts I know can take a data-dense program and explain it to a worried parent in two clear sentences. This is a skill, and it's learnable. Practice translating jargon. If you can't explain a goal or a procedure to a family in language they understand and feel good about, you don't understand it as well as you think you do — and the family can't be your partner.
You will face gray areas: pressure to bill more hours, a program that isn't working but is easier to keep running, a request that doesn't sit right. Decide now what kind of clinician you want to be, and get comfortable with the ethics code as a tool you actually use — not a test you passed once. The clinicians who last in this field are the ones who can say "this isn't right for this child" and mean it.
The field has moved — rightly — toward assent-based, compassionate care that follows the child's lead and teaches through their interests. If you're early in your career, you have an advantage: you can build these habits from the start. Look for willing participation, not forced compliance. Pay attention to what the child is communicating. This isn't soft; it's better practice.
ABA work is emotionally demanding. Caseloads, drive time, documentation, and the weight of caring about kids and families add up. Sustainable careers are built by people who set boundaries, ask for support, and choose workplaces that don't treat clinicians as interchangeable. Burnout isn't a personal failing — it's often a sign of a system stretched too thin. Choose your environment carefully.
This might be the most important one. The culture of your workplace will shape the clinician you become. Look for places where decisions are made by people who know the clients, where caseloads are reasonable, where you're encouraged to do right by families, and where you're given the supervision and time to actually grow. The right environment will make you better; the wrong one will quietly wear you down.
If your goal is certification, be intentional: track your supervision hours, choose a supervisor who challenges you, and don't treat the coursework as separate from the clinical work in front of you. The exam tests knowledge, but families test judgment — and judgment is built case by case, conversation by conversation.
We're a boutique, BCBA-owned practice precisely because we believe the way clinicians are trained and supported determines the care kids receive. When supervision is real and caseloads are small, everyone wins — the clinician grows, and the child gets a program designed by someone who actually knows them.
— Yaz Aboul, BCBA, Founder and CEO of Animate Behavior
If you're building a career in ABA and this sounds like the kind of practice you want to grow in, we'd love to hear from you. We're based in Emeryville and serve families across the East Bay, including Concord — reach out or call (510) 500-5124, and we'll get back to you within one business day.
