Get in the Game
Break into any field by going where it's actually played
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 82%
Get in the Game rejects the resume-blast model of career change. If you want to play a game, you go where it is played. Sanchez, knowing nothing about finance, attended 30-40 free finance and investing conferences as a student. Most produced nothing, but she absorbed the industry's vocabulary and, at one event she almost skipped, sat next to a Vanguard recruiter whose curiosity about her questions led to a job interview. The mechanism is physical proximity plus relentless curiosity: put yourself repeatedly in expert rooms, learn the language, ask questions, and let chance compounding do the rest. The cost is time and discomfort, not money, which makes it accessible to anyone willing to show up.
Origin
Sanchez had no finance background and wanted in. Rather than applying online, she attended dozens of free industry conferences as a student, learned the vernacular, and landed a Vanguard interview through a recruiter she met by asking questions at an event she nearly skipped.
Core principles
- 01Proximity beats applications
- 02Every industry has a vernacular you must learn in person
- 03Show up even when you don't want to
- 04Curiosity and questions open doors resumes can't
- 05Most rooms lead nowhere, but you only need one
How to run it
- 1
Identify where the game is played
Map the specific conferences, events and rooms where practitioners in your target field congregate.
Pro tip As a student, most industry events are free to attend.
- 2
Show up relentlessly
Attend as many as you can even when you are tired or late. Most will produce nothing, and that is fine.
Pro tip Always show up, then look for the exit, so you can leave but still get your foot in the door.
Watch out Do not expect any single event to change your life.
- 3
Learn the vernacular
Absorb the language and context of the industry so you sound like an insider, not a tourist.
- 4
Ask questions, don't pitch
Be genuinely curious with the people you meet. Everyone loves to hear their own voice, and your questions make you memorable.
Watch out Selfish, self-promotional asks kill the connection.
- 5
Follow the one thread that opens
When a real connection forms, pursue it. One recruiter, one referral, one conversation is all the game requires.
In the wild
As a student, Sanchez forced herself to attend a finance event after a long day of classes. She knew nothing but asked the woman next to her endless questions. That woman was a Vanguard recruiter who, impressed by her curiosity, invited her to interview for the firm's rotational development program.
→ Landed her first finance job and $100k of training on someone else's dime.
Common mistakes
Blasting resumes instead of showing up
Sending applications to job sites and hoping is the default and the least effective route. Proximity to experts beats it every time.
Skipping the event you don't feel like attending
The breakthrough often comes from the room you almost didn't enter. Show up anyway.
Is it for you?
Best for
Students and career-switchers with no network in a field they want to enter.
Not ideal for
Someone who already has deep insider access and just needs to execute.
From the transcript
“I have a theory called get in the game and basically I think if you want to go play a game you need to to…”
“always show up and then look for the exit so you can go but just step your foot in the door because that's when magic…”
From the episode
Unlock Financial Freedom: Secrets From A $50 Million Portfolio - Codie Sanchez
Codie Sanchez