Is It Worth the Money?

I received a cold email awhile ago from a guy who’s finishing up his undergrad somewhere up in Canada. He had read some of my previous writing. His email essentially boiled down to asking me whether or not Tradecraft (TC) is worth the money, especially since he would effectively be paying more due to the exchange rate at that time. I replied with the borderline rant that follows, stuck it in a Medium draft, and proceeded to forget all about it until I stumbled on it at 10:30pm tonight. Enjoy…

This is a tough question. Going through TC definitely put a dent in my bank account. I luckily had a little help with a big tax refund from buying my Chevy Volt the year before, but the cost of living in SF for three months and being out of a job for about five months didn’t help matters. All that being said, I haven’t regretted attending TC for moment. It helped me get my foot in the door a bit and gave me the confidence and framework for how to build my network and to have a growth mindset in the startup business.

Money can be a huge source of stress, so keep that in mind. I’m definitely of the mindset that I’d rather invest in myself than waste money on things I don’t really need. I know it’s a big decision and there’s some uncertainty there and it requires a gut check on your end. Be honest with yourself.

TC isn’t going to magically land you at your dream job. You’re still going to have to put in a ton of work and you might not get there right away. But if you keep at it and surround yourself with good, smart people, the opportunities will arise.

This is a bit of an aside. I’m noticing the tech industry slowing down a bit recently and some of the “wannabes” are moving onto different work. But technology always moves forward and moves forward faster than any other industry in history. If you can withstand the not-so-good times and do great work and meet amazing people, you’ll eventually get to a level you want to be at. I wholeheartedly believe that. Too many people come to this industry thinking they can join the next Uber, but that’s insanely hard and requires a ton of luck. But luck happens in different ways and means different things to different people. If you’re in the game for the long-run, then I believe you will find success in some form or another.

He never replied back. 😬