doing the write up on the contest of course has its own benefits, it just seems to me whenever I read one of these things I think it isn't worthwhile. Not just this contest, this one seemed worthwhile, but this has to also be compared with all the other contests, payoffs etc. This seems like a big win that even if it took 20 hours (which seems the max of time it could have taken - given edits took 8 hours) would still be a good wage - do you pay taxes on context wins?
But for every contest he enters and puts effort in what is the overall payoff, seems unlikely to be this high, and with that I would think it seems like a bunch of stuff to do for little money.
if you work for money you build up a portfolio and probably learn new skills - it is difficult not to.
I have considered doing this before, contests etc. but I'm not sure I can breakdown the actual cost of doing it, the benefit, and risk to be able to see what one actually gets from the time devoted.
Not to say that I might not do other things that cannot be quantified easily either, but in the contests case I want more quantification, I guess it just seems more likely a waste of time to me.
But for every contest he enters and puts effort in what is the overall payoff, seems unlikely to be this high, and with that I would think it seems like a bunch of stuff to do for little money.