Explaining your job to your family

If you’re reading this article, it is highly likely that you and I are in the same industry……. If I have your email address, it is likely that our paths crossed at International Telecoms Week in Chicago or another conference or event. The question still remains…… How do I explain my job to my family? Depending on who’s asking and if I need to keep it short and sweet, I’ll simply say I work in Telecoms. However, sometimes a relative will conclude that you work in a phone shop. In those instances, nod your head, make approving noises and slip away quietly. On rare occasions, you get a good crowd who are engaged and have a reasonable level of understanding. So when I am asked about my job in this type of scenario, I try to frame the answer as three questions: In the UK, when a mobile phone user on the Vodafone network calls or sends a SMS to someone on Virgin Mobile, Vodafone has to pay for those minutes or SMS to Virgin Mobile. In the USA, when a cell phone user on T-Mobiles network calls or sends a SMS to someone in Guatemala using the Comcel network, T-Mobile has to pay for those minutes or SMS to Guatemala Comcel. Someone at Vodafone or T-Mobile is BUYING those minutes or SMS, but in much larger, wholesale quantities. Whilst someone is SELLING those minutes or SMS to Vodafone or T-Mobile. These guys doing the wholesale buying and selling of minutes and SMS are traders. Those technically supporting the wholesale buying and selling of minutes and SMS are engineers. Opt1mize builds the software that these traders use to BUY and SELL wholesale minutes and SMS. The same software that the engineers use to provide technical support to the traders. A platform you can use to get the job done! We used to be the traders, buying and selling these wholesale minutes and SMS between Telecom companies. We also used to be the engineers providing technical support for these trading activities. Because of this experience, we stand for the community of traders and technicians involved in wholesale trading of minutes and SMS. Software solutions that OUR community can use so that trading or even supporting trading activities is quicker, easier and more intuitive. A solution for OUR community to protect their trades from defaulting so they can trade more without risk of not being paid. Platforms that are affordable, open for use by all the community, regardless of whether they are a trader or an engineer, so that the technical and financial barriers of entry into this industry are removed. We built our software so that we could deliver the necessary tools needed for trading volumes to grow and remain profitable. To bring the community together, fostering new relationships and removing the obstacles in the way of new business. Platforms built for you! The bottom line is that we fit in this world to provide our community of traders and engineers with access to MORE traffic, access to MORE routes, and to ensure our community is always paid for their hard work. These are our core values, the same values and sentiment that were invested into the build of our software platforms. The same core values we use to improve, to learn and to innovate!