Even Steve Jobs Has a Replacement

A Japanese comedian named Kazlaser once said:

“There’s always a replacement. Even Steve Jobs had one.”

It’s an extreme way to put it, but I think it captures something real about how the world actually works.

After Steve Jobs passed away, Apple kept going. Tim Cook took over, and the company didn’t collapse.

Was Tim Cook the same as Jobs? Probably not. That kind of charisma — the ability to push products to the level of “inventions” — was pretty unique.

But that’s not really the point.

The point is: companies are built to keep running, even when key people leave.

The same is true in IT

A lot of engineers think:

“This system would fall apart without me.”

And honestly, in many cases it’s partly true. There’s design knowledge or operational lore that lives only in their head.

But from the company’s side, the options look like this:

• keep paying a premium forever
• carry the key-person risk
• depend on that person’s mood

versus:

• spend a bit more and bring in someone else

The second option is a perfectly normal business decision.

In other words:

A replacement exists — but the replacement isn’t cheap either.

That’s the important part.

The flip side: replaceability and pay

The easier you are to replace, the harder it is for your pay to go up.

If a job can be:

• done by anyone
• turned into a manual
• learned in a short time

market forces push the rate down.

On the other hand, work that:

• requires experience
• involves hard judgment calls
• carries a high cost of failure
• can’t easily be handed off to AI

is hard to replace, so it commands more.

In the end:

“how hard you are to replace” and “what you get paid” are roughly proportional.

But “only I can do this” is its own trap

The moment you start thinking “only I can do this,” you’re in a slightly dangerous spot.

Companies will pay a premium to find someone else if they need to. And thanks to AI, knowledge that used to take 10 years to acquire can sometimes be caught up to in a few months.

So instead of aiming to be irreplaceable, I’ve been thinking lately that it’s stronger to be the person people want to come back to.

“I want to ask this person again.”

On top of technical skill — things like consistency, ease of communication, good design instincts, a sense of quality. The accumulation of those small things is probably the part that’s hardest to replace.

…okay, having said all that

If even Jobs had a replacement, mine is probably already lined up for next week.