Role and champion make things different. A Zac in the jungle will gank a lot more than a Shyvana but have less gold than her if his ganks fail.
The idea is learning to gank propperly based on what you have and what the enemy and allies are playing. Say you're Zac with an Annie mid vs a Zed/LeBlanc, early game, unless the Zed/LeBlanc blows his W for farming/harrassing or is at like half hp, ganking that lane won't be of much success. At best you'll blow the W and get him lower AND MAYBE Annie will get the kill a bit later with a Flash QW Stun Ignite combo.
Also, what I noticed from other jungle players, many don't know how to path correctly, don't know how to come back from early invades and camp steals or how to make up for failed ganks because they don't know how to gank propperly (I don't mean they don't know how to gank, but WHEN to gank, WHO to gank and WHY to gank).
Also, you can do some good things with low gold, by buying some defence/tank items, even if your champ isn't a tank. You can do a lot with low gold values in Silver (I know, because I'm there as well)