The 1% Move is a weekly podcast from The Apex Institute, launching Tuesday, August 18, 2026. Host Tayo Lusi interviews cloud engineers who moved from roughly $120,000 to $300,000 and above, and breaks down the skill, proof and positioning changes that moved their pay. New episodes post weekly.
, /PRNewswire/ — Two things are true in tech right now. Workers keep reading about layoffs, and raises at many companies have settled near three percent. At the same time companies are spending heavily on cloud systems and on the infrastructure that artificial intelligence runs on. Those systems need people to build them, secure them and keep them online, and employers say those roles are hard to fill.
So skilled workers feel replaceable while employers cannot find the skills they need. The 1% Move exists to talk about that gap, and what a working professional can do about it.
Why does The 1% Move exist now?
Because the pay gap in tech is no longer about talent. Two engineers with the same skills can sit $150,000 apart, and the difference is usually what they can prove and how they present it. The show exists to make that difference visible, episode by episode, with people who already did it.
“Most people in tech are not underpaid because they lack skill,” Lusi said. “They are underpaid because nobody taught them how to position it.”
What does each episode cover?
Each episode is one guest and one real story. Recurring topics include:
- Cloud engineering as the highest income leverage skill in tech
- Positioning, meaning how to present the work you already do
- What to actually learn, and what to skip
- Interview strategy for senior and staff level roles
- Offer negotiation, including what to say when a number comes in low
Episodes post weekly and mix guest interviews with solo breakdowns. The show is listed under Business and Careers and is recorded in English.
Who hosts the show?
Tayo Lusi, founder of The Apex Institute, an IT career training company in Lanham, Maryland. Lusi started in a help desk role at $55,000 a year, moved into cloud engineering, and now trains others on the same path. The company works with established tech professionals already earning $100,000 to $200,000. This is not a beginner coding class. The listener the show has in mind already works in tech and has already been passed over for the raise.
What results have students reported?
Guests are students from the program. Across 41 students, reported job offers now total more than $11 million. Individual results vary and are not typical. Reported results include:
- Isaac: laid off from Amazon, then about $1.5 million in total offers
- Christopher: $155,000 to roughly $1.1 million across six offers in four to five months
- Greg: $635,000 in offers in 49 days
- Cleo: $65,000 to $601,000 while working two cloud roles
- Malcolm: hospital worker at $40,000 to cloud engineer at $100,000
Each guest walks through what they changed, in order, and how long it took. They are also asked what did not work. Lusi says the failed attempts teach more than the wins.
“I do not treat $500K as the ceiling. I treat it as the baseline for someone with the right skill and the right positioning,” Lusi said. “The show is me proving that out loud, with real people and real offer letters.”
Where does AI fit into this?
The show takes a clear position on artificial intelligence. Lusi says the popular fear has the story backward. AI runs on infrastructure, and infrastructure needs people who understand cloud platforms, cost, security and reliability. In his view the technology is creating demand for that work, not erasing it. Federal projections agree on direction: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects computer and information technology employment to grow faster than the average for all occupations.
For more on where that money is going, read Where AI Spending Is Actually Going in 2026 and Why the Traditional Tech Job Is Disappearing.
How do you listen to The 1% Move?
The first episode is available Tuesday, August 18, 2026, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms. Related video breakdowns are posted on YouTube at techwithtayo. Free career resources and episode notes are available at apexedu.io. If you want the pay side first, start with why the 3% raise is dead and what skilled engineers get wrong in technical interviews.
Take the next step
Listen to episode one on Tuesday, then find out what your own skills are worth. Book your free career strategy call at pages.apexedu.io/opt-in/
About The Apex Institute
The Apex Institute is an IT career training company based in Lanham, Maryland. The company trains working tech professionals in cloud engineering, DevOps and AI infrastructure, with a focus on positioning, proof of skill, and interview and offer strategy. Students have reported more than $11 million in job offers to date. Individual results vary and are not typical.
Media Contact
Tayo Lusi
The Apex Institute
[email protected]
apexedu.io
SOURCE The Apex Institute
