Getting Paid

Money is made by solving problems for decision-makers with money. Desire to solve those problems is not enough. You need the skills and knowledge to be able to deliver. To do that, you need training/studying. You also need the decision-maker to choose you specifically. There will normally be others who can solve the problem too. How many others is the key factor in how much you get paid. It is not about you. It is about the supply of problem solvers, and demand for problem-solving. Beyond merit (skills and knowledge), the two other key factors are capital and containers. Capital buys you time to build skills and knowledge. Ideally, you can build while earning, but often there is a trade-off. Time to learn. Time to earn. The container is the barriers to entry that make it worth your while. The container is the “rubber hits the road” way to get paid. You can spend years developing merit, but if there is no container to fit that into a countable “product” where an ask meets an offer, there will be no reward.

Where the rubber hits the road

Job Rotation

My first job change was internal. This meant different dynamics to normal job hunts of deciding if someone is “good enough”. There was a rotation committee, and an understanding that people are on learning curves. You are balancing an individual’s career path with the needs of the company. There is still the challenge of limited roles and seats being open or not. You cannot simply pick a job you want and develop the skills required. Timing is a thing. A seat came open for the Marketing Actuary role in Joburg. I had not finished learning what there was to learn in Product Development. My old boss and new boss had overlapping interests though. Marketing Actuaries work with Product Development to listen to what is needed, and iterate towards solutions. There are always trade-offs as people come and go. It helps when there is the common ground of a bigger container.

Product Development

Product Development is a process that is never finished. It is a constant dance between users and the people tweaking the solution. The product/service offered can be a slight change or a completely new way of getting the desired result. It can even be a new result that hadn’t been thought of. Or simply rolling out best practice. Seeing how a problem is solved elsewhere and introducing it to a new community in a way they recognise. This requires a deep understanding of the community being served and an ability to observe and listen. It requires awareness of the alternative solutions being offered. What are the challenges a community is facing? Who are the decision makers in that community? How can you help them? What resources would you need to do that. Product Development also involves identifying the skills, knowledge, and resource gaps you might have. That isn’t the end. Once you know the gaps, you can fill them. Product Development isn’t about you, it is about the people being served.

Weaver - Van Gogh (1884)