Money. How do I get it?
I work at tldraw four days a week. Steve Ruiz pays me to make stuff and do stuff. It’s how I get most of my money.
He scouted me through twitter. One of my tweets went viral and he noticed.
I became a regular guest at the office, and Steve said, half-joking, “If you need any help finding a job in tech, let me know. Hey, I’ll fucking hire you.”
A few months later, I asked for a job and he gave me one.
One day a week, I work on my own stuff. The primary deliverable is a youtube video every 200 years.
It grew from people stumbling across my stuff and sharing it with their friends.
I get money for it by begging.
Before I worked in tech, I worked in schools. I worked at two schools in particular for a long time.
One of the head teachers scouted me from a recruitment pool. She interviewed me as part of the process. But she stopped the interview partway through when she realised I was more interested in specialist teaching (not mainstream teaching).
She brought me along to their new provision, and offered me a job. I was their first hire, and I stayed for many years.
Before I worked at tldraw, I worked for Max Bittker on Sandspiel.
He knew that I was leaving teaching without a job lined up. So he kindly offered to pay me for a few months of work on Sandspiel.
I stayed for 9 months.
I come from a middle-class family. I’m extremely fortunate, all things considered.
I wouldn’t have been able to get any of my jobs if I didn’t have a baseline level of financial security. I could always take risks, knowing I had a safety net.
I didn’t have to work when I was a teenager. I could focus on studying and socialising. And my school put a silver spoon in my mouth. They made me pass exams. I would have failed everything otherwise.
After leaving school, I had a place to live for free. I could save money by staying at home while many of my friends had to start renting early, for various reasons.
I see some people attribute their success to their determination, ingenuity, or drive. That’s a lie.
My financial success comes from external factors.
The richer you are, the easier it is to get richer. The poorer you are, the easier it is to get poorer.
I can afford to look after myself and my health. I spend a lot of time and money on getting medicines, which lets me work more and get more money.
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