Invest
So, I’ve been a software engineer, engineering manager and most recently a director (~30 people) within large software based companies (Zalando, Delivery Hero). However, it is not my goal to “climb the corporate ladder” — instead, I try and solve a series of problems I can see around me, and so far, that’s been a good way to grow my career.
Goal
What I would like to do long term is to shift away from the kind of work that is “time for salary” (i.e. salary, consulting) based and toward “insight for payment”. There are multiple ways to do this:
Write, and get paid for, material. I’ve done this a little, but the ROI is not sufficient.
Write courses / learning material. I’ve done this also, but the ROI is only a couple of Euro per participant, and is also insufficient unless I produce a lot of material (or substantially change the unit economics)
Invest in the “market”. I do this anyway, keeping chunks of cash in stock based ETFs (fairly high risk for “parked money”)
To have a large change in a financial position though, I’d need to own or have rights to something that has a substantial change in value over time. Given that I work in software, and software’s exposure is unique (it’s worldwide), being part of a software based company at an early stage seems ideal.
Pitch
I have what I think is a bit of a unique way of working. I absorb a large amount of context quickly, articulate that in writing for others, align, and then rally people toward a common goal. It doesn’t work for everyone, but where it does work, we’re able to build initial solutions quickly, and then compound value quickly. Over time, that creates a high performing environment. We’re able to out-strip most others within a couple of years; likely far less if I’m able to hire freely outside a corporate environment.
If this sounds like your jam, or if you otherwise have these challenges, please reach out.