1) Let's do some math here. First, as an instructor I don't get to keep all of the revenue (nor should I -- CodeLesson is providing value here as well, for whic

1) Let's do some math here. First, as an instructor I don't get to keep all of the revenue (nor should I -- CodeLesson is providing value here as well, for which I am grateful). Second, I will pay approximately 40% in regular and self-employment taxes on my portion of the revenue. My take-home pay for this class, assuming 20 students, will be nowhere even close to $8,000. In exchange for that money, I will spend dozens of hours preparing the content, leading the class, and working with students. This is not a complaint, just a statement of fact. 2) The feedback I have received from students in past classes is that they have found the classes anything but worthless. If you learn well by looking things up on Google, more power to you -- no one's making you take the class. On the other hand, plenty of people benefit from a more guided approach that includes the one-on-one attention of an instructor. Such an approach may expose them to valuable information they didn't know they didn't know, or it may let them make a connection that they wouldn't have arrived at for months or years otherwise. 3) While you may not value training from a subject matter expert, plenty of people do. Companies routinely pay hundreds of dollars per student per day for in-person, on-site training. The cost of the training is expensive; I can only assume that companies consider that cost -- thousands of dollars per day -- quite reasonable relative to the cost of poorly written, unmaintainable code. 4) Finally, if you would like to try your hand at leading trainings for thousands of dollars a day, do it! To find students/clients, expect to spend the next several months traveling to and speaking at conferences; writing detailed, researched blog posts; helping out in support channels; networking at local and regional events; and maybe writing a book or two -- all for little or no money, and perhaps even at a cost to you. Point being: there's a lot more work that goes into becoming someone capable of leading a training than just showing up and cashing a check.