"You've got to find your niche..."
Discussion
Was reading through the PH Mat Armstrong thread where he's restoring a knackered twin V12 engined yacht and Rodders commented on the boat mechanics and made the following post...
I'm very much in a niche, really a niche of a niche, in financial services. It was booming when I got into it almost by luck in 2005, but suffered heavily in 2009 onwards with the results of the Global Financial Crisis, which probably saw the industry shrink by 60%+ and my job went with it, so I had to side step into quite a different job, which didn't suit me.
A couple years later, my original industry started to pick up and I managed to get back into it in 2014 - albeit on a part time basis for the first year and then growing to full time and thriving again by 2020 (with a hiccough of 6 months or so after the Brexit vote), just as Covid hit and shut it down again, leading to 6 months of job insecurity and me moving to another firm.
The pros of being in that niche is that it's comparatively well paid, the people I work with are more similar to me than other roles I've tried, it provides great travel opportunities and now I have expertise that not many other people have, I can dictate a lot more of my working conditions.
The downsides are undoubtedly the job insecurity - 3 times in my career I've been forced to consider abandoning the expertise I've built up and going into a more generalised role, competing with people who have more generalised experience.
So, I wondered what other people's experiences are? And would you recommend specialising, or remaining a generalist?
_Rodders_ said:
As I get older I look at these more niche jobs and wish I could impart that info on to a younger me.
What does a regular car mechanic earn? £30-40k on salary.
Working on those engines seems like a piece of piss in comparison to anything with a VW badge for example and I bet a marine diesel mechanic earns a healthy amount more.
You've got to find your niche.
...and I wondered what the wider community's view is?What does a regular car mechanic earn? £30-40k on salary.
Working on those engines seems like a piece of piss in comparison to anything with a VW badge for example and I bet a marine diesel mechanic earns a healthy amount more.
You've got to find your niche.
I'm very much in a niche, really a niche of a niche, in financial services. It was booming when I got into it almost by luck in 2005, but suffered heavily in 2009 onwards with the results of the Global Financial Crisis, which probably saw the industry shrink by 60%+ and my job went with it, so I had to side step into quite a different job, which didn't suit me.
A couple years later, my original industry started to pick up and I managed to get back into it in 2014 - albeit on a part time basis for the first year and then growing to full time and thriving again by 2020 (with a hiccough of 6 months or so after the Brexit vote), just as Covid hit and shut it down again, leading to 6 months of job insecurity and me moving to another firm.
The pros of being in that niche is that it's comparatively well paid, the people I work with are more similar to me than other roles I've tried, it provides great travel opportunities and now I have expertise that not many other people have, I can dictate a lot more of my working conditions.
The downsides are undoubtedly the job insecurity - 3 times in my career I've been forced to consider abandoning the expertise I've built up and going into a more generalised role, competing with people who have more generalised experience.
So, I wondered what other people's experiences are? And would you recommend specialising, or remaining a generalist?
Edited by RearEnginedMidLife on Tuesday 3rd November 12:29
I'm a big fan of the niche approach. It has served me very well but comes with caveats, obligations and risk.
If you are going specialise, you need to become an expert in that specialisation; attended the trade shows and conferences, read the trade press, network and generally sink your self fully into your chosen sector or field.
To capitalise on your specialisation you need to promote it; write articles for the trade press, speak at the conferences join and participate in any trade association that exists. Become known amongst your peers.
The risks....
You cannot afford to drop the ball. If you screw something up badly, you're done because there's nowhere to hide.
You are also reliant upon your chosen sector to be resilient to economic fluctuation. If your industry is hit, so will you.
And you have to be fully enthused about your chosen field.
If you are going specialise, you need to become an expert in that specialisation; attended the trade shows and conferences, read the trade press, network and generally sink your self fully into your chosen sector or field.
To capitalise on your specialisation you need to promote it; write articles for the trade press, speak at the conferences join and participate in any trade association that exists. Become known amongst your peers.
The risks....
You cannot afford to drop the ball. If you screw something up badly, you're done because there's nowhere to hide.
You are also reliant upon your chosen sector to be resilient to economic fluctuation. If your industry is hit, so will you.
And you have to be fully enthused about your chosen field.
My own experiences, as someone in financial services IT with both fairly general and some niche dev/consultancy skills is in agreement with what Terminator X says above.
In the good old days (2000s) you would get random approaches from recruiters on LinkedIn or by phone or email even for generic Microsoft tech stack dev jobs.
These days I only ever get approached by recruiters on LinkedIn for niche skills within specific sub-areas within financial services. I'm fortunate to have been able to find work ok for most of my career. During one period between contracts the niche I was in at the time went from buoyant demand to little new hiring, so there were only roles available if someone jumped ship. A bit like musical chairs. It was only for about 3 months, but I had a mortgage to pay so went into something else that came up and ended up picking up different niche skills there. Well over a decade later I still get approached for that first niche skillset even though I've done nothing in it since. And noticed a similar pattern emerging with the more recently aquired niche skills.
So, in summary it makes you stand out and it means less competition, but it can be a feast or famine dynamic. Yes you might be able to demand a higher salary or day rate for whatever niche you are in, but you may have longer fallow periods between engagements and have to be flexible on location unless you live near a big city where such roles exist or land a remote-only gig. 2 or 3 big projects by more than one large company at the same time can sometimes have quite an impact on marginal demand for those with the required skills.
In the good old days (2000s) you would get random approaches from recruiters on LinkedIn or by phone or email even for generic Microsoft tech stack dev jobs.
These days I only ever get approached by recruiters on LinkedIn for niche skills within specific sub-areas within financial services. I'm fortunate to have been able to find work ok for most of my career. During one period between contracts the niche I was in at the time went from buoyant demand to little new hiring, so there were only roles available if someone jumped ship. A bit like musical chairs. It was only for about 3 months, but I had a mortgage to pay so went into something else that came up and ended up picking up different niche skills there. Well over a decade later I still get approached for that first niche skillset even though I've done nothing in it since. And noticed a similar pattern emerging with the more recently aquired niche skills.
So, in summary it makes you stand out and it means less competition, but it can be a feast or famine dynamic. Yes you might be able to demand a higher salary or day rate for whatever niche you are in, but you may have longer fallow periods between engagements and have to be flexible on location unless you live near a big city where such roles exist or land a remote-only gig. 2 or 3 big projects by more than one large company at the same time can sometimes have quite an impact on marginal demand for those with the required skills.
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