I am bored of engineering roles now and want to do something more customer facing. Has anyone done the Engineer -> Sales transition? Also, what's the usual TC range for sales?
You will regret
Yep, lots of people so this when they decide to cash in. A partner engineering or business development middle ground can ease the transition as many companies won't just let you move from eng to the spotlight like that.
I’m currently doing the opposite. I was good at sales but hated it. You’ll never know til you try
Yes. If you're good at sales and blast past your quota, the TC can be way more than engineer TC. If you're good at it and enjoy it, you won't regret it. If you're not good at it, you will regret it.
Engineer->Solution Architect/Sales Engineer->Full Sales Rep Even if you are an averageiah sales rep, your yearly TC will be 2-300K a year and you’ll have the occasional year 500+ by getting lucky, WLB is excellent as well. If you are a good rep and get lucky, you’ll have multiple 700k+ years in your career.
Cool can u elaborate on the sales engineer part? I'm assuming their TC is also tied to sales quota?
Generally Sales Engineer comp is based on a 80/20 or 70/30 split. On a 70/30 split, your On Target Earnings (OTE) is 200K then your base is 140 and your commissions for 100% quota attainment is 60k. Any sales over quota are subject to an accelerator, typically 1.25 or 1.5%. Sales reps are paid a higher total OTE but generally on a 50/50 split. RSUs/Options as well if you are at a tech company.
You don't know stress until you've had to deal with customers directly. It's all sunshine and roses on the race to get the PO (purchase order); but can you sleep at night if you didn't sell the right thing & it blows up in your face? Ie, the customer blames YOU; and you never get to walk in there again, no matter who else you work for, so since you can't be trusted? There's a reason sales managers and pre sales engineer have horrid wlb (the good ones) & most have health issues. Sales comp (multipliers) are the name of the game.
Meh, you are overstating it. If you are good at your job you aren’t going to sell them the completely wrong thing. Now, things will Definitely blow up, but most of the blame goes to your company/vendor and not yourself. In that case it’s how you handle the trouble that will build trust and get you back in the door when you move to the next company. As to WLB, I don’t think it gets better. Home based, with almost sole discretion to set your schedule/meetings. Happy hours, lunches/dinners at restaurants you’d never pay for yourself, and no commute.
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