How do I pivot into Tech Sales?
TC: 150K, Midwest, YOE 15+ I've been working as a SWE for most of my career. My goal has always been to reach principal level. However, lately I've been craving the financial stability without having to be so hardcore technical all the time. I also like being social and just talking about technology and industry trends. I've heard that tech sales can be pretty lucrative, and I wanted to know how to get into it? Are there any success stories anyone has to share? Appreciate the advice.
Try solution architect roles(which involve tech + sales) and then transition to sales specialist would be easy.
Sales means you have to hustle all the time. Is that what you want to do? Cold calls (about 2% response rate), warm calls, referrals, sales pitch, in-depth discussions, pricing, schmoozing. You will have a quota to hit - maybe you need to bring in 200k of revenue per quarter. You need to respond quickly to every email. Be on calls and demo at whatever time works for the prospect. Your base salary may be 100k and then commission on each sale. If this works for you, then go for it. For pivoting… talk to some sales reps in your company. Ask if you can shadow them. Ask them how you can pivot. You may need to start as an SDR making cold calls or taking inbound requests. After a couple of years and taking some training, you may be promoted to account representative.
Sales is not the route to go if financial stability is your goal. It can be feast or famine, and it usually takes time to build up a book. You could look into sales engineer roles to transition, which someone with a SWE background would be a good candidate for if they also have the social skills. But it will pay around what you're making now, at most, and you'd have to try to move to a quota carrying role later.