Hello, I’m curious to ask the Blind community how I should go about trying to get into a tech company? I am 20yr old , yoe: 1yr & tc: 120k. I got lucky landing a sales job for AT&T, became top seller in my region in retail for about 7-8 months before I got promoted to account manager here and just last month was #5 in the nation as a seller and consistently fighting at the top of my market. AT&T seems like it wouldn’t get me too far by staying there, and I commute 4 hours a day for it working 10-12 hr days 6 days a week typically while on salary meaning no OT… and not a good environment. I have a great track record but want to look for better opportunity companies. I am currently updating my LinkedIn & resume to shoot my shot at applications and connect with people in the industry. Thanks!! 20yr old - YOE: 1 1/2 yrs TC: $120k #tech #sales #faang #amazon #facebook #meta #google #cisco #zoom #microsoft #apple
The best path is roles like SDR, DGR and Inside Sales. These are feeder roles into outbound sales. You’ll have to dial for dollars at first but you’ll graduate out of it. Get you AWS Cloud Practitioner cert. telco sales doesn’t translate one to one.
For tech sales from retail telecom you’re basically coming in at the entry level as though you have no experience. Look for any SDR role in tech that you can get. In SF, your salary shouldn’t take too much of a hit but even if it does, just hustle and learn as much as you can. If you’re good, you’ll get promoted into an AE role within a year, and then you’ll start up the ladder. But you’re right, at AT&T there’s a ceiling. Get into tech while you’re still early in your career and you’ll be thanking yourself in five years.
Did you finish school? If so what's your degree in
No, no education whatsoever besides the fact that I dabble into coding. I simply hustled, flipped stuff & whatnot til I landed a retail sales position. Was top seller in the region & whatnot. Got promoted into a sales manager level but out of retail, made a lateral move into a mobile position where I sell D2D off my tablet I carry everywhere with me. I sell to customers who aren’t really expecting me. Happened to be pretty decent at it
I’ve always somewhat been alone on my journey & so I appreciate the insight I’m getting on here! Lets me know what I can do to continue progressing 👍
I’m a hiring manager in BD and I am not going to lie. I look down on telco sellers. If you’re selling data plans and devices it’s just not an impressive sale. You’re young so take the risk. Find a way to get into sales in tech. Sell software. Sell cloud consumption. Sell AI model usage. Etc. I know you’re proud of yourself and you’re probably a great seller. Unfortunately telco sellers are looked down upon. Make the flip to real tech.
Appreciate the reply and honesty man thanks 🙏 I figured this is the case honestly since even at the retail store back then I would come across people in tech doing sales. Sucks I might take a cut to begin with but worth it in the long run. Thanks for the insight my friend.
Cloud consumption is the ‘new’ thing at MSFT, GCP and AWS. It’s not licenses anymore - it’s all about that recurring revenue from clients using services on the ‘public’ cloud. Lots of hiring for that right now so keep applying and maybe get a cert to demonstrate your commitment to get into tech. Also, if you can’t break into the enterprise sales side, try customer success as a stepping stone.
The big challenges in leveraging the OP’s background is the need for some technical skills focusing on a specific cluster of cloud services and the need for an entirely different skillset to identify decision makers in an organization (which isn’t any effort at all in the OP’s current work). Basically, far more knowledge, relationship building, and tenaciousness is necessary.
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What are you currently selling? There’s a big difference between widgets, enterprise software, and various types of services.
Mobility services at AT&T. Just basic phone lines & whatnot. Consumer sales and a bit of business as well whether it be small business or corporate sometimes.