When would you say you figured out the importance of money?
In 2006. It was the year I got into a private boarding secondary school. One of the first things I learnt was that there’s a set of people who have money and others who don’t. It was my first lesson in “social class”.

What was it about secondary school that brought this into full view?
The school had a fair population of rich kids and children from comfortable but not quite rich homes. There was a constant show of money — little things like the quality of provisions students brought to school and big things like the fancy places they travelled to for holidays.

I was in the “kid-from-a-comfortable-home” category. My parents ensured I got the nicest things, so I didn’t feel out of place. But by the time I graduated from secondary school in 2012, my biggest realisation was that I needed money to get nice things. While I could rely on my parents to provide for me, it was also top of mind that it’d be my job to make money and provide for myself at some point.

When was the first time you made money?
2013. I got into university in 2012, and ASUU went on strike barely a year after. Sometime during the strike, I worked as a lesson teacher and earned ₦5k/month. My first salary was my first fruit offering.

First what?
I was raised in a Christian home, so this was important to me. I believe that when you get a job or an increase in earnings, you should give out the first payment to someone who could use it or to the church.

I spent two more months at the job before the strike ended and I returned to school. Subsequently, I lived on my monthly allowance of ₦20k – ₦30k until I found another opportunity to make money in my second year. My motivation was having enough money to save up for a phone I wanted.

What job did you find?
My roommates had ushering gigs, so I started tagging along and working with them. I started with the small ones, usually at wedding ceremonies, which paid ₦5k. I got a two-week job advertising brewery products and got paid close to ₦30k. It completed the amount I needed for the phone — a Blackberry Z10.

I started working with an ushering agency where I was paid ₦15k for every job I did for them, an average of two events per month. I was with this agency until my third year in the university; it was a good place to work until it wasn’t. In 2015, I did one job for them, and they ghosted me. It was the last I heard from them.

Wild. How was money moving in and out at this point though?
My monthly income at that time — allowance and earnings — was ₦50k – ₦60k. My major day-to-day expenses were feeding and school bills. Once these were sorted, I saved whatever remained, about ₦10k/month. I always dipped into my savings to make big purchases — clothes, accessories, random gifts to my boyfriend.

When the ushering jobs stopped, I lived on my monthly allowance and occasional money gifts from my boyfriend — he had a business, so he had more money.

I didn’t bother to find another job until I graduated in September 2017. By this time, my savings were at zero. Whatever I managed to save, I ended up spending on a want.

A familiar struggle. What came after graduation?
My parents wanted me to return home, but I was determined not to. I was in Lagos; the job opportunities and my friends were here. So I struck a deal with my parents: they’d send my allowance for three more months, but if I didn’t find a job within that window, I’d return home.

I moved in with a friend and started job and internship hunting. I studied computer science, but I couldn’t code to save my life, which complicated my chances. Luckily, I found a job in December — a week before the three-month deadline my parents gave me.

Must’ve been a relief
It was. It was a telemarketer role at a startup, and my salary was ₦‎50k/month. About four or five months later, I was mobilised for NYSC. The plan was to continue working at the startup after I left camp, but they pulled an interesting move.

What did they do?
They wanted to slash my salary in half; something about how I was now a corps member and would be paid ₦‎19,800/month by the federal government. It didn’t make sense to me, so I quit. NYSC reposted me to a government agency, but there was nothing to do there. I was pretty much a ghost worker who only showed up once a week. The good thing about it was it gave me the time I needed to job hunt again. Multiple applications and rejections later, I got a job at a tech startup. My salary was ₦25k.

The universe said you must take a pay cut by force
They had the same argument — I was a corps member. But I took it because they seemed to have more structure than the previous startup.

Three months after I started working there, they increased my salary to ₦30k. For the rest of my service year, my combined income was ₦49,800, and I was saving ₦10k – ₦15k.

How long were you at the job?
Until 2020. After my service year ended in 2019, they retained me and increased my salary to ₦70k. My idea of a decent income for an entry-level role was ₦200k. Since I wasn’t earning that, I felt very insecure about my finances. I knew I wasn’t doing badly, but I thought I could be doing better. Another source of my discontent was the job itself; it was almost like I was stuck there.

Why?
I was doing business development — which I didn’t like very much. Sadly, I couldn’t quit because I didn’t have much to leave with. The plan was to transition into something I’d enjoy more, which was product management. However, I hadn’t built the skills, so I couldn’t apply for product management roles. I spent the next year taking courses.

How much did this cost you?
I took two paid courses. One on Udemy which cost $9.99, and the other was a ₦150k course on Product Dive. I also took any free course I could find.

Nice
On the work front, my salary was reduced to ₦50k when COVID hit in 2020. I knew I had to find another job. Thankfully, a friend came through and linked me up with a product management role in another company in August 2020.

Whew. How much did it pay?
₦180k. I probably would’ve earned more if I didn’t mess up during negotiations. I asked for ₦250k, but they asked what would be a fair amount if they couldn’t pay that, and I told them ₦180k. They sent me an offer letter almost immediately after.

It felt like the world had stopped because it was a bump from my previous salary. Then I started my new role and found out that my colleagues were earning about ₦270k. If I’d insisted on ₦250k, they would’ve paid it.

This plot!
While I felt cheated, I was still happy with my ₦180k. For starters, I could conveniently save ₦100k/month. However, the job was the absolute trenches. The work culture wasn’t great. There were lots of organisational issues and we were often running behind on projects. This took its toll on my mental health — there were lots of tears. But I was doing the job and money was entering my account.

The experience boosted my technical skills and put me on a path to earning more. First, I got a raise to ₦220k in April 2021. Two months later, I got another job in an American startup I applied to earlier in the year.

*Drum roll*
The offer was ₦600k/month. I felt like I’d arrived. I called my family, and everyone I know, to let them know there was a new boss in town.

DFKM
See, I started the job with my shoulders up. Then I was laid off in my first week. My opps were working hard.

Wait, what?
That was my exact reaction. The company was closing down because the CEO had mismanaged investors’ money.

Read full story here: https://www.zikoko.com/money/nairalife-product-management-jobs-in-nigeria/