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Attention Factory
The AI
Job Map
Your 30-day roadmap and portfolio templates for the 8 jobs AI is creating right now.
Pick one role. Spend 30 days building proof. Walk out with work you can show and a way to get paid for it.
Mercy Thaddeus · attentionfactory.io
Start here
The one rule
this whole
guide runs on
The market is moving so fast that “I built this in 30 days” beats five years of unrelated experience. You do not need permission, a degree, or a perfect plan. You need proof, in public, that you can do the thing.
The universal play
1Pick ONE role from this guide. Not three. One.
2Spend 30 days building proof using the week-by-week plan.
3Build 3 things. Document every one of them.
4Post the work publicly so people can see what you can do.
5Apply to 10 jobs or pitch 10 clients. Then keep going.
How to pick your one
If you can already build or code: Agent & Automation Engineer, Solutions Architect, or No-Code Builder.
If you make content or run socials: Content Strategist or Custom Project Builder.
If you run ops, projects, or a team: AI Operations Manager or Workflow Designer.
If you are great with people and product: AI Customer Success.
If you have no idea: start with Workflow Designer. Everyone has repetitive work to kill, and the wins are fast.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 01 of 08 · Attention Factory
Claude Skills & Custom Project Builder
Turns a generic chatbot into role-specific assistants that execs and teams actually use every day.
Skills to build
Claude Skills, project setup, knowledge file design, system prompt writing, basic ops thinking.
The 30-day plan
W1Set up 3 Claude Projects for yourself (inbox, research, writing). Write a system prompt and one knowledge file for each, and live in them all week.
W2Pick one role you understand well (founder, sales lead, recruiter) and build a complete Project for it, plus one Skill that automates a task they do over and over.
W3Build 5 sample Projects for 5 different roles (CEO, sales, HR, marketing, ops). Record a 60 to 90 second screen walkthrough of each one.
W4Post the walkthroughs on LinkedIn with what each Project does and the time it saves. Offer to build one free for a small business to land your first testimonial.
Proof to ship
5 role-specific Projects with screen recordings, 1 reusable Skill that automates a real task, and 1 written case study of hours saved.
Where to position
Sell custom Project builds to founders and small teams at $500 to $2K each. Pitch 10 people who post about drowning in admin.
Tools
Claude Projects, Claude Skills, Loom, Notion or Google Docs for knowledge files.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 02 of 08 · Attention Factory
AI Operations Manager
Oversees every AI tool deployed across a company and keeps them governed, adopted, and worth the spend.
Skills to build
tool selection, governance, training plans, ROI tracking, change management.
The 30-day plan
W1Audit the stack. Map every AI tool your company (or a friend's) already pays for, who uses them, and what they cost. One simple spreadsheet.
W2Pick the slowest workflow and design the AI fix. Write the rollout: tool, owner, training, and the one metric that proves it worked.
W3Run a two-week pilot with a single team. Track time saved and adoption, and document the before and after honestly.
W4Write the 90-day rollout doc: tool stack, governance rules, training plan, and ROI projections. That document is your portfolio.
Proof to ship
an AI tool audit spreadsheet, a 90-day rollout plan, and one documented pilot with time-saved numbers.
Where to position
Be the AI person at your current job first, then pitch fractional AI Ops to companies with 20 to 200 staff who bought tools but have nobody running them.
Tools
Notion or Sheets, the company's existing stack, a simple ROI calculator.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 03 of 08 · Attention Factory
AI Content Strategist
Runs AI-assisted content pipelines that multiply output for brands and creators without losing their voice.
Skills to build
brand voice training, AI editing, content systems, repurposing workflows.
The 30-day plan
W1Build a voice system. Take one creator (yourself counts) and capture their voice in a reusable prompt or Project. Test it until the output sounds right.
W2Build the pipeline. Set up a repeatable flow: long-form source, atomize into posts, edit for voice, schedule. Run it on one week of content.
W3Repurpose 30 days of one creator's content using your system, and track the output: how many posts from how few hours.
W4Package the case study. Show the before and after, the time saved, and the system itself. Pitch it to 10 similar creators or brands.
Proof to ship
a documented voice system, a working content pipeline, and a 30-day repurposing case study.
Where to position
Offer content systems to creators and founders who post inconsistently. Retainer range $1K to $5K per month.
Tools
Claude, TranscriptX or another transcription tool, a scheduler, Notion for the system.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 04 of 08 · Attention Factory
AI Customer Success
Gets customers of AI products to value fast and keeps them from churning once the novelty fades.
Skills to build
onboarding design, product knowledge, account management, light data work.
The 30-day plan
W1Pick 3 AI products you can use daily and learn them deeply enough to teach them to someone else.
W2Map a great onboarding for one of them. Find where users get stuck, then design the first-7-days experience that gets them to value.
W3Write a re-engagement playbook: the emails, check-ins, and nudges that bring quiet users back before they cancel.
W4Package the onboarding teardown and the playbook as proof. Apply directly to AI startups, since most are hiring CS right now.
Proof to ship
an onboarding teardown of a real AI product, a re-engagement playbook, and a short Loom pitching your approach.
Where to position
Apply to AI startups from seed to Series B that are hiring CS or onboarding leads. Lead with the teardown, not your resume.
Tools
the AI products themselves, Loom, a doc tool.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 05 of 08 · Attention Factory
No-Code AI Builder / Vibe Coder
Builds real apps and internal tools for small businesses using AI builders, with no traditional coding required.
Skills to build
Lovable, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0, basic UX.
The 30-day plan
W1Pick one builder and ship one tiny app for yourself: a tracker, a form, a dashboard. Get through a full build once.
W2Build app two for a real person you know, solving an actual problem they have, not a demo.
W3Build app three and document the whole process publicly: the prompt, the iterations, and the result.
W4Turn the three builds into a portfolio, post the demos, and start charging $1K to $10K per build.
Proof to ship
3 working apps, 3 public build write-ups or demo videos, and a simple services page.
Where to position
Pitch businesses you already know first, then niche down (clinics, agencies, real estate) and sell the same build repeatedly.
Tools
Lovable, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0, and somewhere to host the demos.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 06 of 08 · Attention Factory
AI Agent & Automation Engineer
Builds autonomous agents and wires AI into existing tools so multi-step, repetitive work runs on its own.
Skills to build
agent frameworks, tool calling, n8n, Zapier, evals.
The 30-day plan
W1Automate one annoying task in your own life end to end: inbox triage, lead capture, or a daily digest.
W2Learn agents. Build one agent that does a real multi-step job, like research a list, draft outreach, and log the results.
W3Build two more automations or agents for real use cases, and add simple evals so you can prove they actually work.
W4Document all three as case studies with hours saved, and post the demos where buyers will see them.
Proof to ship
3 working automations or agents, eval results showing reliability, and demo videos with time saved.
Where to position
Sell automation audits and builds to small businesses, or apply to startups hiring automation and agent engineers.
Tools
n8n, Zapier, Claude, an agent framework, and a logging sheet.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 07 of 08 · Attention Factory
AI Solutions Architect / Implementation Consultant
Maps a company's messy problems to the right AI stack, installs it from scratch, and trains the team to run it.
Skills to build
systems design, model selection, connectors, change management, training.
The 30-day plan
W1Pick one niche (law firms, clinics, agencies) and learn their top 3 recurring problems cold.
W2Design the stack for one of those problems on paper: tools, data flow, who owns what, and the security basics.
W3Run a free 90-day build for one business in that niche. Install it, train them, and measure the results.
W4Publish the architecture and the results. That write-up becomes your case study and your pitch.
Proof to ship
one full architecture diagram and write-up, one installed build, and one trained team with results.
Where to position
Niche down and sell implementation to businesses that have heard of AI but have no idea where to start. $5K to $50K per engagement.
Tools
a diagramming tool, connectors, the client's stack, and a training deck.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Role 08 of 08 · Attention Factory
AI Workflow Designer
Designs repeatable AI workflows that save a company 10 or more hours a week on work they already do.
Skills to build
Claude Skills, system prompts, n8n / Zapier, ops thinking.
The 30-day plan
W1Find the time sinks. List the repetitive tasks in your team's week and rank them by hours lost.
W2Design and build one workflow that kills the biggest time sink, and measure the before and after.
W3Build two more workflows, documenting each one: the problem, the build, and the hours saved.
W4Package the three as case studies, post them, and offer the same to 10 similar teams.
Proof to ship
3 documented workflows, before and after hours for each, and a one-page services sheet.
Where to position
Sell workflow design to ops-heavy teams. Charge per workflow or move them onto a monthly retainer.
Tools
Claude Skills, n8n / Zapier, a time-tracking note, Notion.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Attention Factory
The portfolio
templates
Building the work is half of it. The other half is documenting it so a stranger can tell, in ten seconds, that you can do the job.
Copy each template, fill in the brackets, and ship it. Use Template 1 for every project, then pick the others as you need them.
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Portfolio templates · Attention Factory
Template 1
The Proof Case Study
Use this for every single thing you build. One filled-in version per project. This is what turns "I learned a tool" into "I can do this for you."
The problem: [ Who had it and what it was costing them in time or money. ]
What I built: [ One or two plain sentences. No jargon. ]
How: [ The tools and the steps, short enough that a buyer trusts you did it. ]
The result: [ The number. Hours saved, money made, speed gained. Always a number. ]
Proof: [ Link to the demo, recording, or live thing. ]
Template 2
The Build-in-Public Post
Post one of these every time you ship something in your 30 days. This is the engine that gets you found.
Hook: [ The result or the surprise in one line. "I automated X in a weekend." ]
Context: [ What you built and why it mattered, two or three sentences. ]
The hard part: [ The thing that nearly broke. People trust the struggle. ]
The result: [ The number again, plus a screenshot or clip. ]
Soft close: [ One line on what you learned. No hard pitch yet. ]
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Portfolio templates · Attention Factory
Template 3
The Cold Pitch
DM or email. Send 10 of these a week once you have proof. Keep it under 90 words.
Opener: [ One specific, true line about them. Not "I love your content." ]
The problem: [ The thing you noticed that you can fix. ]
What you'd build: [ One concrete thing, not a menu of services. ]
Proof: [ One link to a case study from your 30 days. ]
One ask: [ A single clear next step. "Worth a 15-minute call this week?" ]
Template 4
The "AI Person at Work" 90-Day Doc
For the roles you grow into from inside a job (Ops Manager, Workflow Designer, Solutions Architect). This doc is your portfolio and your promotion case.
Days 1 to 30: [ Audit. Map the tools, the costs, and the slowest workflows. ]
Days 31 to 60: [ Pilot. Ship one fix with one team and track time saved. ]
Days 61 to 90: [ Scale. Roll out, write the governance rules, and report the ROI. ]
Metrics: [ Hours saved, adoption rate, cost saved or revenue added. ]
The ask: [ What you want next: the title, the budget, or the fractional contract. ]
The AI Job Map · Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory
Attention Factory
Start this
week
Reading this changes nothing. Building does. Pick your one role today, block four weekends, and run the plan. By day 30 you will have three things to show and a reason for someone to pay you.
Keep going with us
I break down this exact work every day on Instagram at @mercythaddeus. Follow there for the live version of all 8 roles.

Attention Factory trains people and teams to build, position, and get paid in AI. If you want to go faster than 30 days on your own, that is what we are here for. Find the next cohort and everything else at attentionfactory.io.
Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory