Hey Blinders.. I am going through midlife crisis and want to understand if I should stick with Sales or move into Program Management. I am a techie with an engineering degree and have done software in early days of my career. However I pivot to sales engineering and then pure Sales. I am doing that for almost 8+ yrs now, so my coding skills are stale. I've worked with IT services firms and was thinking of pivoting to product sales, especially cloud or data related products. My current TC is $250k (Base 180 + Commissions 70). And my max is uncapped but I know that I cannot pull in much more here, unless I get super lucky with a very nice client. I can see myself making $400k at the max here, if I get slightly more lucky. YOE is 15. I have seen AWS and GCP salaries and the 60/40 split at AWS seems preferable than 40/60 split at GCP. I think the TC would be about $350k-$400k, but only with full Quota attainment. What do other startups pay, like C3 AI, H2O AI, Scale AI, Snowflake, DataBricks, Celonis etc? Is it worth a gamble to stick to Sales and continue the hustle? Or move onto Program management, I'll still start at TC of about 250k and then can grow in ranks faster and earn upwards of $500k in 5-6 years. Now I know that there are Sales guys making 7 digits a year but that is the top 1%. While in program management side, there are many who climb on to become directors or VPs as a natural progression to their careers. I know this because I talk to a lot of them and surfing linkedin all the day has caused me a lot more of this midlife crisis. Would love to know what Sales guys on Blind think about this? Are they facing this crisis themselves? What are the things that bother you? #ae #enterprise #sales #accountmanager
how wide does your commission range from year to year? last 6 years say
It has only gone up. As I have also made a few changes in terms of my employer. My previous employer had a max cap on commissions. First 3-4 years it was fluctuating, up and down, also due to market conditions from 2012-2016. After that it has only gone up. But this is not some perpetual cycle and won't keep going up without taking on much big targets, and thus risk.
nice, what was the low 5 yrs ago?
I think the idea that you can switch to PgM and be at 4-500k in 5 years is a stretch. 250k is low for a Field Sales Rep in a HCOL area. I’ve never seen anything under 280K OTE in Seattle and normally 300-320 is a starting offer for an experienced rep(the only kind to hire) + some stock. Beyond that the jobs are so different, not sure you can make it purely about TC.
Yeah 400-500 for pgm is optimistic
How many YOE to get to 300k TC? Starting as an SDR soon and wanna know what TC should look like at every step of the journey
Can you share more about what a program management role would entail? Any overlaps with sales?
Many. As I have been privileged to sell several services to several clients, I have a view into systems, best practices and innovative secrets of many organizations like Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft etc. I know their pain points and stuff. I can navigate the org so fluently and can have intellectual conversations at every level, architect to C-suite. What does a director or a VP of business systems actually do at many of these companies? Barrage of program management and scope prioritization. Every organization I have spoken to have broken approaches and they double down on those things. There is no ideal. So a couple of years into program management can get me some headway and then I can quickly pivot my entire career to showcase multi-function multi-domain skills and aim for a strategic role at a startup scale org.
Have you tried simply applying for those strategic positions at startups now? First or 2nd time founders are not looking for ppl who were Cs at FAANG companies. I think you could get lucky and snag a c level role now, especially since you seem fairly articulate and crafty.
Looks like you’ve got some great experience to leverage. Just sent you a dm
I have to say that I am biased on my viewpoint and hence I wanted to see what other sales guys had to say here. One thing I have come to realize that if sales runs in your blood then there is nothing better, but if you are doing sales just because you made a choice early in your career, its always okay to look at options. Also, the low base, even at Amazon and Google, has made me rethink sales, because sales is also dependent on so many externalities and is so time bound. I would like to keep a predictable income and rather do something on the side that can create another income. In sales its almost impossible, because I am always chasing my numbers and for years when I have achieved, I aim for achieving more. Its a vicious cycle. I have seen other full time jobs give you a lot many perks and you have enough bandwidth to do something else on the side. I am analyzing that getting to a 350-400k TC without the dependency of achieving quota is easier in non-sales jobs. But I could be wrong. I hope more sales folks here on Blind help me analyze this. Thanks!
You gave some valuable info here. If you want more predictable income and tired of the constant hunt then for sure sales probably isn't for you long term. It's a lifestyle not just $$$. But keep in mind in any corporate job there is a certain level of hunt required to get that $350k-400k salary. In sales sometimes it's luck, like you get a good territory or market conditions make clients want to buy or the product really sells itself... in other roles like PgM the luck factor doesn't swing wildly for or against you. It's all still on you to play the political game, grow your scope, beat your previous success whether it's # of projects or level of projects, etc. It's still a rat race basically but it's more stable so less wild downside or upside.
Non sales here, just throwing out an idea: with your insights in corporate needs, why don't you start your own business, startup or join a promising one?
Agree with the above comment, not sure I agree with the statement 350-400k TC is easier to achieve in non-sales jobs. Either you got to be a overworked IC in FAANG or product firm or a mid-senior management role good at playing/navigating office politics. Even the SWE’s making this kind of money are burnt out or tired in their role. Also got to assume greater than 25% avg. yoy stock appreciation
Have you thought to build towards VP/MD/Partner roles in IT services in few years that can give 400-500k+ since sounds like you have been successful in selling IT services. If there are good accounts underneath your umbrella life may not be that stressful as long as you have good team OR you think achieving that level will be hard?
What is this? Do I need to pay for it?
@howcouldya, no it is free. You have to Add your own comp to get access
don’t join c3 full of weak engineers who failed FAANG interview.
Actually?? I heard it was much harder than F/M
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Sales can get you to C level faster than any PMO work. Do you sell product or services?
I sell services for now, but am interested to do product sales. I see you work for Wipro and I have rejected 2 offers from Wipro in the past. I am telling this because the guys who interviewed me were not the leaders I would like to work for. They have zero accomplishments under their belt. Unfortunate thing with these Indian IT firms is that they have so many oldies working for them since last 2 decades and are in line to be promoted to C-level or even SVP levels. Its too crowded at the top and it is purely based on how much balls you can suck. I have rarely seen someone climbing up based on performance. Again same 1% dilemma here. Yes, pivoting to sales with a startup would be a risk-reward thing here. What do you think? Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
+1 on the above comment. I’d go as far to say that Standard/Junior reps. at product firms are placed better than WITCH senior leadership.