After graduating "cum laude" with many academic honors, Cohen moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the 1990s to seek employment, applying to numerous elementary schools for a teaching position. He interviewed with administrators, but his interviews were always punctuated by his tics. He was rejected 24 times before Mountain View Elementary School hired him to teach the second and third grades. Cohen, who taught about his Tourette syndrome at the beginning of each year, was popular with students; one parent requested his child be removed from his class, but asked to have the child moved back only weeks later. He was awarded the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher of the Year in 1997. Cohen later taught second grade at Tritt Elementary School in suburban Atlanta, before leaving the classroom on the path to becoming a school administrator, supervising other teachers. As of 2013, he is assistant vice principal at Addison Elementary School in Cobb County, Georgia.