What Jack is saying here, I think, is really more about commitment/time than it is about money. Other than a laptop and the $20 we spent learning R via @mannyelk's online course, everything we've learned was open-source or available as a community resource. https://twitter.com/JhanHky/status/1264547386975756290

Sure, you can maybe expedite a few areas of learning/etc by paying for things, but I'd argue the bigger issue is people think money = progress. It's not about the money, in my experience, it's about devoting the time and doing the work more than anything else.

This is all in addition to becoming active/a part of the domain-specific community. I like @tangotiger's advice on creating a blog, but that can be or feel fruitless if you struggle to "promote" yourself. See if you can link up with existing blogs/sites. It helped us immensely.

What I'm trying to say: you don't need to spend a lot of money if you want to develop the skills, knowledge, and "reputation" to be considered for front-office type jobs, especially in the data/stats field. You do need a lot of luck, even if you try hard.

We’ve said this before, but if your intentions, dedication, and work are solid, people in the community will take notice. Do the work, don’t grift, ask questions, do more work, don’t grift, be respectful. Or maybe grift and act like youre not and get a job anyway (don’t do this).