You see, I had purchased my RenderATL ticket as soon as they went on sale last year — I got the earliest early bird ticket you could get! After missing the conference in 2024 I wanted to ensure I wasn’t going to miss it in 2025. Conference FOMO is a real thing.

In early January 2025, my days off for Render were approved! This is a big deal since that job was not in the tech field so they wouldn’t support me going somewhere to look for a new job 😅. With that approval out of the way, I’d be in Atlanta from Tuesday through Saturday! Then I booked my hotel room after finding a pretty affordable one within a 10-minute walk of the venue.

Also in January 2025 I got my first dev job and within a week of starting it, I left my old one. It’s a part-time contract gig, however, I was promised I’d get 20 hours per week. This went well for a bit, but about two months ago those hours dwindled and I’ve had to use up any savings I had to ensure my bills were paid.

We can talk about how wise or unwise that decision was another time…

It was a couple of weeks before Render where I had to face the facts that I wasn’t going to be able to attend and thought I should at least try selling my ticket to help out with bills as well as help someone attend with a more affordable ticket.

That’s where Jason comes in. I sent out a tweet and messaged some various discords about my ticket being available. Jason wasn’t having it.

Nah, this is NOT happening.

#techtwitter

dm me let’s get my boy

@ryandotfurrer

to @RenderATL https://t.co/Svp5COqIQF

— Jason Torres (@TasonJorres)

May 29, 2025

Before I know it, Jason booked my flight and reached out to his network — no, his community — if anyone were able and willing to monetarily support my trip., My friend Chris changed his hotel reservation to accommodate an additional bed for me.

On top of that, several people sent me money via Venmo and Zelle. I am not writing this to brag. I am not writing this to shame you for not contributing. I am writing this to tell you how I’ve changed my tune on accepting this kind of help and why you should too.

Changing my tune

I could’ve easily told Jason “No” to his offer; though it was more of a statement that he was doing it. But I really could’ve pushed back because I hate taking money from people which is odd considering I’m more than happy to give it.

Across last year I sent food and drinks to support someone’s 24 hour charity stream. I also helped pay for someone’s trip to the Commit Your Code Conference. Hell, I even helped pay someone’s electricity bill because their money situation was that tight.

So if I can help others why can’t I accept help myself?

As soon as Jason set these things in motion I ramped up my activity on social media again, ensuring people knew I was attending. I planned out my days in an effort to make the most of this opportunity. I want to do everything in my power to bring the best version of myself for everyone I meet and make the best impression possible.

So shoutout to my RenderATL sponsors, y’all are amazing people ❤️

• Jason Torres
• Chris Nowicki
• James Q. Quick
• Dennis Ivy
• Roxy Rodriguez
• Jennifer Tieu