If I move from engineering to tech sales.....
Will I keep technical? I’m not a super technical guy but I’m a hack-coder with great soft skills and a good understanding of hw and sw but not an expert at either. I’m not really looking to become the expert but I certainly like having a basic understanding of how 256QAM, database structures, and basic computer HW architecture. I like learning more about these things and I want to keep on top of the technology. But I do want to manage technical projects and work with technical people. Would a tech Sales move be a good idea if I do want to get into management. Basically I’m asking if I should look for more technical roles or look for things that will really people my soft skills (tech sales) if I want to manage technical stuff. 2yoe tc: 90 (in the Midwest) Tagging 3 companies I admire, but welcome anyone’s experiences/perspectives.
Tech sales is not a place to improve soft skills. You’ll be going up against people who have really strong soft skills, ie you’ll probably fail hard.
this is pretty subjective. I started tech sales with mediocre soft skills and was closing 65% of leads by eoy.
Mediocre is relative. This person is trying to develop social skills to meet the bar for an engineering manager.........
Short answer is no. Tech sales is sales plain and simple. No engineering work, just telling the customer that we can d everything they’re looking for and then pass off to Engineering to deliver
Did you explore Technical Project/Program management ?
Try TPM roles or SA roles. You’ll have the best chance and actually grow well.
Unless it is a small shop and you are also doing implementation, your involvement with the project will end when the deal closes. Staying technical would depend on the role. Are you selling to executives or engineers? You might want to consider an ops or devops role with the goal of moving to management (not super technical, but leaves room for hacking).
I’m confused on the path you see from Tech Sales to Tech Mgmt at best you’ll become qualified to manage other Tech Sales people
You should look at System Engineer roles in Sales. These are the technical folks that partner with sales people. There is a lot of technical work (helping customers plan networks, dbases etc) but it’s not pure sales meaning you won’t die if you don’t make quota. This is a great place to start in most tech companies if you are looking for interaction with customers and a path to management.
Consider solution architect or sales engineering
This.
Thanks for all the advice! After doing some looking I found some TPM positions at google. Anyone interested in referring me? Best!
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