Could you expand on how much sessions typically cost you and how valuable you found coaching like that to be over alternative methods of learning similar skills?
I found it very valuable. As with any kind of coaching, you could try to work through issues on your own, but it might take you awhile. With a coach, they're there to call you out when you try making excuses and keep you honest. Also, I found that saying and talking about things out loud has a much bigger impact and weight than just thinking them to yourself.
It also helped that this particular EC had worked for about 10 years as a software engineer at my company. When I described work situations and problems, he understand exactly what I was talking because he understood some of the political dynamics of our company and technical language I was using.