It Gets Harder

March 29, 2024

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Transcript

Chan
00:00:00 – 00:00:06
Never fun to be in a hole, but, you know, if you're in a hole with friends, it's it's not too bad. Yeah.
Aaron
00:00:07 – 00:00:11
That's better than being in a hole alone for sure. I agree.
Chan
00:00:11 – 00:00:35
So I I guess just to bring some context to all of this, I was recently laid off in a video creator type of role. And then very shortly after you announced that you were laid off from a very similar to that point?
Aaron
00:00:35 – 00:00:41
First of all, thanks for having me. It's a real pity that I'm here because, under the circumstances. But I'm glad to finally talk
Chan
00:00:41 – 00:00:41
to you.
Aaron
00:00:41 – 00:01:01
So at least that, you know, that's some good that came out of it. So, yeah. I just got, like, go a week and a few days ago from Plan and Scale. Based on their public blog posts, they let go of a lot of people, in sales and marketing, and you could scour you could scour LinkedIn to find all of those people. Every single one of them is wonderful.
Aaron
00:01:02 – 00:01:40
So, yeah, I you know, this is first first layoff, and up until that time, I had been basically video guy. I mean, the the last 3 months I was on paternity. But before that, when I was still, you know, still working, I was video guy. And what that kinda looks like for me was when I joined Planet Scale, I actually came into Planet Scale with the beginnings of a course on on MySQL, which is, you know, of database flavor. I had been independently working on building up the content and this mailing list for a course, and then I joined PlanetScale and kinda that in house.
Aaron
00:01:40 – 00:01:43
And that's what I spent the first many months that I was
Chan
00:01:43 – 00:01:44
Interesting. You
Aaron
00:01:44 – 00:01:52
know, employed at PlanetScale working on was, like, this huge 64 video, 8 hour Wow. Like, pure education course on
Chan
00:01:52 – 00:01:53
Mega course.
Aaron
00:01:53 – 00:02:00
MySQL. Mega course. Yeah. And it just, like, it just smashed. It was the best thing.
Aaron
00:02:00 – 00:02:18
It was the best thing ever. And so from there, I kinda, like, I was, like, wait a second. I really love, you know, I really love the the medium of teaching on video. But from there, I was like, what if, you know, I took over the PlanetScale YouTube? And so we, you know, we had a YouTube that had maybe a 1000 subscribers.
Aaron
00:02:18 – 00:02:27
Subscribers. Mhmm. And I took it I took it over, probably in June or so and grew it up to, like, 37,000 before Woah.
Chan
00:02:28 – 00:02:28
Before I got
Aaron
00:02:29 – 00:02:31
yeah. It was crazy before I was
Chan
00:02:31 – 00:02:32
like, oh That's amazing.
Aaron
00:02:32 – 00:02:43
It was so fast. Yeah. So, was doing all their video content. I ended up getting paired with an incredible editor, Steve the editor, who's much more than an editor, but it's,
Chan
00:03:09 – 00:03:15
I was a developer. I
Aaron
00:03:19 – 00:03:45
was a is an insane thing to say. Oh, wow. So, like, I've I've always loved it, and I did a few conference talks on databases, primarily from, like, the developer's point of view, which I think is Okay. An interesting angle. And when it came time to, like, talk to PlanetScale about working there, I was like, hey, y'all.
Aaron
00:03:45 – 00:04:13
I've got, you know, I've got this mailing list, and I've got the beginnings of this course. Like, here's all of my outline and all of the content for the course. I haven't recorded anything, but, like, I feel icky, going to work as a database educator and then on the side selling database education. Like, I don't feel icky about doing stuff on the side in general, but when it competes with my job, I'm like, why didn't I give all of my best content to my job? Like, that feels weird to me.
Aaron
00:04:13 – 00:04:35
Mhmm. And so I you know, on the way in, I made it I I made that clear, and we figured out a deal that worked. Then it was way easier to do the course because it was like that was my 9 to 5 job. And so imagine, like, recording all of that nights and weekends and stuff, which is which was my plan, and then doing it 9 to 5 with the support of a team and of, like, doing the web site and stuff like that.
Chan
00:04:35 – 00:04:35
Yeah.
Aaron
00:04:35 – 00:04:37
It just made it a lot easier.
Chan
00:04:37 – 00:05:15
Now I know that that that right there, that thing that you described is something that a lot of people struggle with, and it's something that was very kind of, like, intoxicating to me as well stepping into, like, similar role. Now, I I wasn't bringing a fully planned out course into the mix, but Mhmm. There was something very intoxicating about this idea of, like, oh, I could do this thing that I like on the side during work hours, and then I guess maybe have that time back for for family or whatever. Totally integrate those a little bit. I think that's kind of, like, the intoxicating piece of, like, the I I I started calling it the corporate creator role.
Chan
00:05:15 – 00:05:19
Yeah. I like that. Slightly derogatory, but accurate. Uh-huh.
Aaron
00:05:19 – 00:05:22
Yeah. It's just right on the edge. It's perfect. Yeah.
Chan
00:05:23 – 00:05:39
What did you realize in that space kinda coming to it from that mindset. The mindset of, like, oh, hey. This could be a perfect integration of everything that I like doing. What have you learned in that time since afterwards?
Aaron
00:05:39 – 00:05:56
I think there are different things I learned during and after. I think the easy thing we can start with is after, which is if a business makes a business decision, you could get cut immediately. Mhmm. Like, that's that's just reality. And, like, would I prefer to still have my job?
Aaron
00:05:56 – 00:06:04
Yes. Can I blame PlanetScale for that? No. Not really. Like, you know, they they decided based on their blog posts.
Aaron
00:06:04 – 00:06:15
They decided that they were eliminating the free tier. And a lot of the work that I was doing was top of funnel work. Right? Mhmm. So it's like, let's get our name out there so that people know about us so that they sign up.
Aaron
00:06:15 – 00:06:26
Like Yeah. That's a very obvious playbook. Everybody knows that that's the playbook. And if the business changes their mind on what makes sense for the business, you can get let go.
Chan
00:06:26 – 00:06:27
Yeah. And, like,
Aaron
00:06:27 – 00:06:51
I knew that going in. If you like, if someone doesn't know that going to a job, especially in America, that you could be let go for any reason or no reason at all. Yeah. Like, that you have to, like, you have to learn that eventually. On the flip side, this should also empower you to quit a job that you don't like because I remember, like, I remember I remember when my my wife and I first got married, and she hated her job.
Aaron
00:06:51 – 00:07:00
And one of the things she kept saying was, like, I'm just really gonna leave, like, them in a lurch, because they don't have anybody to do this stuff that I'm doing.
Chan
00:07:00 – 00:07:00
Yeah.
Aaron
00:07:00 – 00:07:12
And I'm, like, Jennifer her name's Jennifer. I said, Jennifer, if it made sense, they would fire you in a second. Mhmm. And, like, unfortunately, that is what you owe to them, but because that is what they're giving to you. Yeah.
Chan
00:07:12 – 00:07:12
And, like Yeah.
Aaron
00:07:13 – 00:07:24
I you know, I've known that for forever, and it just so happens it finally got me. It's, like, well, that's the game we're all playing, and I've been playing it successfully, but now I got got. It's, like, oh, it's too bad.
Chan
00:07:24 – 00:07:31
I kinda got a little bit on this on Twitter the other day that there's a disingenuine attitude, I think, inside of corporations
Aaron
00:07:32 – 00:07:32
Mhmm.
Chan
00:07:32 – 00:07:50
Where there's so much talk about culture and, like, building a team and, like, there's all these visual metaphors that bring you into this, like, cognitive state of feeling like you owe these people something more than just the work that you're producing today.
Aaron
00:07:51 – 00:07:52
Mhmm.
Chan
00:07:52 – 00:07:59
And it is a lie. A trap. It's a trap. It is a trap.
Aaron
00:08:00 – 00:08:12
It is planned. It is a trap. Yes. Especially especially if the company, which, you know, PlanetScale didn't. If the company goes as far as to say we're family, that is a trap.
Aaron
00:08:12 – 00:08:12
Yeah.
Chan
00:08:13 – 00:08:13
Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron
00:08:13 – 00:08:49
It is wonderful to work with people that you really know, care, and respect. At PlanetScale, I was, and I'll say this freely, the dumbest person in the company. Like, I worked with some people that, like, you would go check the MySQL bug reports from, like, the late nineties, and their names are there. So I'm like I'm like in the bowels of researching for this course, and I'm like, oh, I work with that guy. Like, I'm on a I'm on a page that no one has been on in 15 years that's, like, hosted on some archive, and it's like, oh, Shlomi.
Aaron
00:08:49 – 00:09:08
I guess I could just DM him. Like, it's wonderful to work with people who are conscientious and caring and trusting and, like, smart and good at what they do. And I had that at PlanetScale, but fortunately, PlanetScale never claimed this. But if your company claims that you're a family, like Mhmm. That's a trap.
Aaron
00:09:08 – 00:09:41
Now I think I I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna, like,
Chan
00:09:43 – 00:09:44
like, I
Aaron
00:09:44 – 00:10:12
family at home. I'm not really your Twitter. I will
Chan
00:10:12 – 00:10:53
say I have been at one of those a lesson that I learned from that time is that I was a little bit more prepared for it, but the havoc that it wreaked on my family Mhmm. Was friends at that company, and, like, my kids made friends at that company. And it's, like and now I'm the now I'm on the outside, and it's, like, all the like, who who do they pick? That's rough. That is the decision a lot
Aaron
00:10:54 – 00:11:01
easier. Yep. So that that's my post learning is it could happen to you at any moment. You gotta be prepared for that.
Chan
00:11:01 – 00:11:07
Something you said, like, specifically in the US, literally any moment. I I and I think
Aaron
00:11:07 – 00:11:09
For literally any or no reason at all.
Chan
00:11:10 – 00:11:26
Yeah. Yeah. The the first time it happened I, you know, contracted a lawyer, and I said, hey, is there any type of, like, wrongful termination, you know, thing here? And he's, like, just take the severance and find someone who wants to work with you because that's Yep. Especially in California, there's, like, nothing we can do.
Aaron
00:11:26 – 00:11:26
Yep. I
Chan
00:11:26 – 00:11:31
was, like, that is truly wild Wild. Horrifying Yeah. And alright.
Aaron
00:11:32 – 00:11:43
There there is such a thing as a protected class, and Mhmm. Those those do exist, but Mhmm. You know, it's it's a it's employment at will, like, and Yes. That's it. That's how it goes.
Chan
00:11:44 – 00:11:48
Well, let's go back into Yeah. Kind of, like, what you learned in the middle of it.
Aaron
00:11:48 – 00:12:03
What I learned in the middle. Yeah. One huge thing that I learned is people want to connect with people and not companies. Mhmm. And so a big part of why the story worked was because I was very forward.
Aaron
00:12:03 – 00:12:29
Like, as an individual, I was very forward in the story of the videos and the course and everything like that. And a a a place that I see a lot of, like, primarily dev tools or b to b SaaS falling down is they are creating content, but it's this cold behind the corporate veil kind of content. You can't go on YouTube and compete against Mr. Beast with a webinar. Like, you just you just can't do it.
Aaron
00:12:29 – 00:12:55
And, like, the competition the competition is not, Vercel or CloudFlare or whoever else is a dev tool company that has a YouTube channel. The competition is mister beast and videos that may or may not be true about dinosaurs and ancient lost history. And it's like, I kinda wanna watch those. And so if you go on there and you're like, hey. Here's a recording from our webinar that's 48 minutes, and it's like, I don't wanna watch that.
Aaron
00:12:55 – 00:13:11
Yeah. And that's what I see a lot of SaaS YouTuber. Like, you can absolute like, I had a SaaS YouTuber. Like, you can absolute like, I had a great job. Now I don't have it anymore, so you tell me.
Aaron
00:13:11 – 00:13:28
But I had a great job. And I think as long as you try really hard and, like, you're conscientious about the fact that you represent the the brand, that was one thing that was always, like, on my mind was Yeah. In some way, in some regard, I'm always representing the brand.
Chan
00:13:28 – 00:13:28
Yes.
Aaron
00:13:28 – 00:13:45
And so, like, when I respond to YouTube comments or when I say something on Twitter, in the back of my mind, I'm always like, I need to be I need to be careful about, you know, what I say. And that didn't come from them. That came from me. Like, I wanna faithfully execute my duties. Mhmm.
Aaron
00:13:45 – 00:14:10
It just so happens that it's not it's it's a lot easier for me because my personal brand is not, like, cynical shitposture. And, like, there there are there are cynical shitposters. There are regular shitposters, but none of those are my brand. My brand is very, like, earnest and forthright and transparent. And so it makes it a lot easier to, like, not have to worry about representing a company accidentally.
Chan
00:14:10 – 00:14:12
There's not a huge conflict there in next There's
Aaron
00:14:12 – 00:14:26
not a huge conflict. Like, I'm not I'm not wishing that I could go on Twitter and flame a bunch of people and thinking, oh, I shouldn't because I have a job. Right. But I do like when I respond to comments on YouTube and people are terribly mean, I wanna be mean back, but I'm like
Chan
00:14:26 – 00:14:26
Yeah.
Aaron
00:14:27 – 00:14:47
I'm just gonna let that go. The world is open for this kind of content, and nobody nobody's really doing it super well. It's just a matter of, like, finding finding the niche to get in there and and create it. But I think a lot of companies are looking for it because they're seeing, man, video is the future and we suck at it. And I'm like, yeah, y'all kinda do suck at it.
Chan
00:14:48 – 00:14:59
Well, I'm curious if and I'm gonna press into that a little bit. Like, did so so on one side going into it, we have these 2 separate facets of your life that are now have the possibility of being integrated.
Aaron
00:15:00 – 00:15:00
Mhmm.
Chan
00:15:00 – 00:15:16
But now in the middle of it, you feel almost like a unique pressure of those things being integrated where it's like you are, as you said, always representing yourself and someone else. There you you come as a pair. Do you feel like the exchange was worth it?
Aaron
00:15:16 – 00:16:05
I can only speak to my experience Mhmm. And I feel like the exchange was totally worth it. Already PlanetScale content. Because, like, when I created a PlanetScale video, I want to tell people about it. And people find that on Twitter, and they're, like, oh, this guy creates good content.
Aaron
00:16:05 – 00:16:20
Let me follow him. Mhmm. And so, yeah, I feel like the deal the deal that I had with PlanetScale, like, if the downside is, like, I should be I should be kinda careful. Like, I should not say necessarily everything I want. The upside is just it's it's just so much higher.
Aaron
00:16:20 – 00:16:30
The fact that I got to spend a lot of time honing my craft and putting it out under someone else's name, but with my face on it, that was a good deal for me.
Chan
00:16:30 – 00:16:31
Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron
00:16:31 – 00:16:38
And they they were very like, PlanetScale was very good to me. It was a great job. So I think the trade off was worth it far beyond.
Chan
00:16:38 – 00:16:59
Very interesting. Yeah. I think it's helpful in that it is realistic. Right? And so anyone who's kind of curious about this type of work, they can use that as a framework for determining what value they can get out of it, which is very important because, you know, as we've already established, you can lose it for any reason.
Chan
00:16:59 – 00:16:59
And so knowing
Aaron
00:16:59 – 00:17:00
Yep.
Chan
00:17:00 – 00:17:29
Knowing what the end looks like kind of helps you decide what the starch should look like as well. Something I'm curious about is you you talked about the importance of really great content and how Mhmm. Companies are looking to fill this role, but then really aren't very good at it yet. What does the role of this, like, corporate creator look like at its best? And more personally, do you think that's something that you will do again, or will you choose a different tact?
Aaron
00:17:30 – 00:17:54
That's a good question. I think at its best, and this is coming from my own, you know, history and preferences and desires. I think at its best, it looks like educational entertaining ish content. And the reason I say educational and entertaining ish is because in my heart, what I want to do is teach people.
Chan
00:17:54 – 00:17:55
Like Yes.
Aaron
00:17:55 – 00:18:11
That's that's where that's where I get excited. That's where I'm like, oh, this is really fun. Let me especially, like, let me go learn something and then come back to you and teach it. I'm like, yeah. That seems that seems awesome to me.
Aaron
00:18:11 – 00:18:39
And so the business case for that, and this is where I see, I think, a lot of companies go wrong. I think the business case for that is nobody is going to watch your videos on how to do X with Y if they don't know what X and Y are. You know, how to integrate Next. Js and Auth0. And you're like, I I mean, at this point, everyone knows Auth0, but you're like, I don't need to do that thing specifically right now, or I have never heard of that.
Aaron
00:18:39 – 00:19:03
And so people are like, I'm not gonna watch that. That feels like one prong of a content strategy, which is like resources, like, as search intent or tutorials for people who are asking for it. Right? If the other prong and that prong is fine. But if you're trying to use that type of content to get broad reach and distribution and appeal, I think you're missing it.
Aaron
00:19:03 – 00:19:22
And what we did at PlanetScale is very, very broad educational, like MySQL content. It wasn't how to set up PlanetScale with Django, because it's like, who's planet scale? Don't know. Never heard of them. But if it's like how to make your database queries a 100 times faster
Chan
00:19:22 – 00:19:23
Yeah.
Aaron
00:19:23 – 00:19:36
Everyone is gonna at least think about it. Everyone's gonna at least think about it. And if they're, like, in a world where databases are important to them, they're gonna click on it. The the other thing is you have to be entertaining ish. Right?
Aaron
00:19:36 – 00:19:58
Because, again, you're competing with, you know, videos about dinosaurs or, like, tunnels underground. It's like woodworking. This is all the videos I watch. And you gotta deliver the value, but you have to do it in kinda like a fun way because otherwise people are gonna be like, oh, this is this is so boring. And so adapting the message for the medium, I think is really important.
Aaron
00:19:58 – 00:20:11
The course that I did is not on YouTube, and it's Mhmm. Like, it's still me. It's still my personality, but I didn't think a lot about how do I make this entertaining. Because it's like, this is a this is a different type of resource. Sure.
Aaron
00:20:12 – 00:20:32
And so that at its best, I think it's entertaining. It's educational, and it's like you learn about the product almost as an ancillary thing. Like, I'm teaching you how to be better at MySQL. It would be great while you're here if you heard the name PlanetScale. That would be awesome.
Aaron
00:20:32 – 00:20:37
But if you don't, at least you walk away with a lot of a lot of value regardless.
Chan
00:20:37 – 00:21:04
It's a very mature way of looking at content is that, you know, where you place things and how you package them up is very important. And being able to walk into conversations knowing where something's gonna go and what purpose it serves, is really important. And I think probably one of the things that we spent the most time churning, you know, around at Chromatic was the idea of, like, okay. Where does this where does this live? Who is it for?
Chan
00:21:04 – 00:21:18
All that kind of stuff. You know, we made a bunch of mistakes there, but that, like, is the whole conversation. And, like, the the thing that you do is just kind of an artifact of, like, deciding, like, making those decisions for the platforming and packaging of things.
Aaron
00:21:18 – 00:21:28
Yep. Exactly. I think people take video and put it anywhere that supports video. And it's like, I think there's there's an angle. Like, you have to
Chan
00:21:29 – 00:21:29
Yeah.
Aaron
00:21:29 – 00:21:33
You have to have a different angle if you're gonna try specifically to do YouTube. That's that's
Chan
00:21:33 – 00:21:33
Mhmm. My opinion, I think. Your second question
Aaron
00:21:33 – 00:21:34
was what? Am I gonna do it again? Yeah. I basically. Yeah.
Aaron
00:21:34 – 00:21:45
Yeah. It's a good question, Chan. It's a good question. I don't know. I don't know.
Aaron
00:21:45 – 00:21:52
And I so this week I've I've talked to as many people as I can, which I think is, the wise move. Mhmm.
Chan
00:21:52 – 00:21:52
I
Aaron
00:21:52 – 00:22:10
feel a little bit torn about, like, just going to do it all again. Mhmm. And so I don't know if I'm gonna go do it all again, frankly. I kind of feel like, man, I I did the thing. Like, I did the thing I set out to do and Understood.
Aaron
00:22:10 – 00:22:29
I, you know, freaking crushed it. And, like, what's next? The counterargument to that is, I have 4 children who are under 3 years old and a wife that works harder than I do, but she doesn't get paid for it. She's a stay at home mom, and somebody's gotta make the money. Right?
Aaron
00:22:29 – 00:22:51
So Yeah. The I think the open question is, like, can I find somewhere or something that, like, aligns with what I want to do with my life? And can I go there and do it all again and have a lot of fun doing it? Or do I need to find a new challenge which could be doing some sort of, some sort of, like, my own thing out there?
Chan
00:22:51 – 00:22:51
Mhmm.
Aaron
00:22:51 – 00:22:54
So that that's that's the open question.
Chan
00:22:54 – 00:23:29
I don't know. I try to shy away from, like, stage of life, but it's, like, such an important part, like, piece of this puzzle is that these decisions become so much harder the more life is kind of, like, stacked on on you or or the more, like, decisions that you've made that now have long term consequences, if you will. Right? Like, you know, have, you know, 5 people who are depending on you to make a decision that supports, you know, supports the whole thing that you've you've made. You've you've opted into.
Chan
00:23:29 – 00:23:45
You've made that decision. Right? Yep. It really does make this type of decision harder because I think, you know, if it was if you were just making decisions for you, given the audience that you've built and the support that you've seen over the last, couple weeks, it may be a lot easier to say, like, oh, yeah. Mhmm.
Chan
00:23:45 – 00:24:02
I I got everything that I need to do my own thing. And that may be true to an extent, but, like, how much? Like like, are you able to do it enough to fulfill the responsibilities that you've already chosen and have to, like, enjoy fulfilling as a as a parent Yep. Husband. You know?
Chan
00:24:02 – 00:24:15
How does that how does that weighing on you in this exact moment where you see something that you could reasonably do, but don't know if you could do it to the extent that you would need to?
Aaron
00:24:53 – 00:25:32
In But to, like, almost an even more real extent, my wife knows what's going on. She's not she's not 2 years old. Right? She knows she knows what's going on. Oh, yeah.
Aaron
00:25:32 – 00:27:14
Yeah. And the way to that
Chan
00:27:18 – 00:28:10
is illnesses so hard to communicate and, like, what it what it means to, like, put your trust in a company, I guess. Right? Yeah. Because I think that, you know, times we're not sure why. And we're like, hey.
Chan
00:28:10 – 00:29:57
These are these are people, like, they've and We're gonna have to go pretty far from this topic to hit high note. But, yeah.
Aaron
00:29:57 – 00:30:01
Yeah. Yeah. Just we gotta climb out of the crevasse, so just give me something.
Chan
00:30:02 – 00:30:35
Something that I really enjoy about you and your personality and the hopefulness that you bring to the Internet by being a sincere person is I I think it's easy to to look at you and and see that you believe in yourself and you believe in others. And I'm very curious, like, through through this experience and having the opportunity to see people be excited about you and where you're going next, what has that taught you about who you are as a person, in a good way?
Aaron
00:30:35 – 00:30:48
It's been a little bit eye opening. I'll be honest. I've never been laid off. I've never publicly hunted for a job. I've never super come out and been, like, hey, y'all, I need some help.
Aaron
00:30:49 – 00:31:04
And, you know, I've done that in various, like, small ways with, like, oh, I'm gonna have new video or a new course or whatever. And, like, people have been like, hey. That's awesome. Way to go. This is a much different and bigger and more real way of, like, y'all, I need I need some help.
Aaron
00:31:04 – 00:31:19
I don't think my mental model of, like, how I'm perceived had adjusted in maybe the past, like, year, year and a half. Mhmm. Because, like, I'm in it day to day. Right? I I am me all the time.
Aaron
00:31:19 – 00:31:33
I am working. I have got 2 newborns. I've got 2 toddlers. Like, I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about what other people think about me, which is a good thing and something I've actually had to practice. Like, do do your thing.
Aaron
00:31:33 – 00:31:46
It doesn't matter. And so this inciting incident now of me, like, losing my job, which just comes at the end of a storyline that people have been following where it's like
Chan
00:31:47 – 00:31:47
Mhmm.
Aaron
00:31:47 – 00:32:01
You know, he has twins. He's got another set of twins. He's got rheumatoid arthritis now just as a treat. Like, he's on paternity leave, and then he gets laid off. And it's like, I've been transparent all along and open all along.
Aaron
00:32:01 – 00:32:22
And I think what I have learned about myself is, I think I learned that a lot of people really, like, want me to succeed. I knew that I knew that I had friends online. Like, I I knew that, and I've enjoyed that thoroughly. I don't think I knew that there were so many people that were like, I got your back.
Chan
00:32:23 – 00:32:23
Yeah.
Aaron
00:32:23 – 00:32:56
And that to me just is like, woah. Like, it's just totally like, it's a step change function difference of, like, what I thought about myself as, like, a personality on the Internet. I was like Yeah. I think people like me because I'm positive and encouraging and I'm kinda funny sometimes, and that's, like, great. But then seeing all of the support publicly and privately, and it's just like, oh, I think people, like, actually are on my team, and that feels really, really encouraging.
Chan
00:32:57 – 00:33:29
Oh, man. I love that so much. It's and there's nothing good about the circumstances, but I'm grateful that you have had an opportunity to see how much you mean to people as a person and how much they're excited for you. Like, that's Mhmm. That's a that's a just truly beautiful human thing, and, I'm I'm really grateful for that.
Aaron
00:33:30 – 00:33:39
Yeah. You you and me both. Yeah. It's, one of the many surprises of being laid off is, like, I feel I feel pretty good. Like, I feel pretty good.
Aaron
00:33:39 – 00:33:43
Would love a little bit more money, but I feel pretty good, you know.
Chan
00:33:44 – 00:33:48
Yes. Well, speaking of that, I know that you have a course out that people can purchase.
Aaron
00:33:48 – 00:33:48
I do. Yeah.
Chan
00:33:48 – 00:33:49
Tell us a
Aaron
00:33:54 – 00:34:09
a bit tell us about that. How can people kind of contribute to this adventure for you? How can you fund how can you fund the health care? Yeah. So I have a course out, at screencasting.com where I teach people how to create high quality, beautiful screencasts in a very efficient way.
Aaron
00:34:09 – 00:34:27
Because that was one of the things that I think I I I I realized during my time at PlanetScale was like, hey. I'm pretty good at this. Like, this is kinda like the behind the scenes, how do you make the video. Like, you have to bring your own knowledge of, like, what you wanna teach. But, like, if you have that knowledge, I can teach you how to make really good videos.
Aaron
00:34:27 – 00:34:44
So you can find that at screencasting.com. It is, of course, a, video course. So you'll watch me, you know, teach you how to do all of that. And if you wanna otherwise follow me, Twitter, is where I hang out all the time, especially now. And my handle over there is erindfrantis.
Aaron
00:34:46 – 00:34:49
You can find me there. So, yeah, I think that's it.
Chan
00:34:49 – 00:35:01
I love it. Well, Aaron, thank you so much for, having this conversation with me. It has been an honor to get to know you a little bit better, and, I I am rooting for you and wishing you the best.
Aaron
00:35:01 – 00:35:05
Yeah. Thanks. Rooting for you too. Thanks for having me. Thanks.
Me

Thanks for reading! My name is Aaron and I write, make videos, and generally try really hard.

If you ever have any questions or want to chat, I'm always on Twitter.

You can find me on YouTube on my personal channel or the Try Hard Studios channel.

If you love podcasts, I got you covered. You can listen to me on Mostly Technical.