In the early days of the digital ecosystem, marketing was a creative pursuit. If you had catchy copy and a decent visual, you could print money on Facebook and Google. Attribution was simple. Privacy rules were loose. Most businesses grew without needing deep technical skill behind the scenes. But as we navigate through 2024, that era is dead.
The introduction of iOS privacy changes, the death of third-party cookies, and the saturation of AI generated content have broken the traditional marketing playbook. Yet many founders still hire Digital Marketers whose primary skill set is creative strategy. This is a mistake. The ecosystem no longer needs more creativity. It needs Growth Engineers.
The Data Disconnect
The biggest failure point I see in startups today is the disconnect between the Marketing Dashboard and the Database. A marketer looks at the Ad Manager and sees a Cost Per Lead of $5. They celebrate. But the Data Engineer looks at the backend and sees that those $5 leads have a 90% churn rate within week one. Without technical literacy, specifically SQL and Data Visualization skills, the marketer is flying blind. They are optimizing Vanity Metrics rather than Revenue and Retention. This is why technical ability is becoming just as important as creativity. The new generation of marketers does not only think about ads. They think about the infrastructure behind those ads.
Code is the New Copy
The Growth Engineer does not just write ad copy. They write queries. They understand that to scale a product, you need to build a proprietary data infrastructure. Instead of relying only on tracking pixels, they implement server-side tracking so conversions are not lost to ad blockers. Instead of accepting default attribution like Last Click, they create simple and accurate models to understand which channels truly drive results. Instead of making manual campaign adjustments, they use scripts or basic automation to respond to customer behaviour in real time.
In short, the Growth Engineer does not just push ads live. They build systems that help companies grow reliably with data that reflects reality.
The Future of Hiring
For the tech ecosystem to mature, we need to change how we define talent. The most valuable marketing hire of the next decade will not be the person who can write the best tweet. It will be the person who is as comfortable inside a PostgreSQL database as they are inside the Meta Ads Manager. They do not need to be full-time programmers, but they do need to understand how data flows. They need to understand how tracking works. Most importantly, they need to measure the metrics that truly matter, which are revenue, retention, and long-term value.
Marketing is no longer an art. It is an engineering discipline. Companies that adapt will grow faster. Marketers who adapt will future proof their careers. Those who do neither risk falling behind in a world that now rewards technical problem solvers just as much as creative thinkers.
Timothy Oluwapelumi Fadipe is a Growth Engineer and Performance Marketing Strategist. He specializes in building data infrastructures that bridge the gap between marketing creativity and technical engineering for global technology startups.
