Transitioning military officer eyeing an internship (Paid while on active duty) opportunity at Cisco that fast tracks vets to AE/AM roles. Jump on it or take my shot with early round startups (also paid internship)?
Agreed with Intel go with the Cisco internship. I am a sales engineer so I work closely with several AE/AMs. The sales culture is good, the pay mid/low, and the WLB (team dependant) is great. As a first tech sales job it will give you experience selling a lot of different architectures. Cisco also has a lot of good competitors which imo makes for great sales skills building experience.
My take - go for the "brand name" (even a t2+ brand like Cisco) for an internship over a no name start up. Even if you don't go to Cisco full time it will be more help in future interviews.