Tech Sales or Product Management or Finance?

New
mRpi38

New

mRpi38
Sep 29, 2020 4 Comments

Hi everyone,

I’m at a point where I’m trying to decide which direction I’d like to go in.

I have been an entrepreneur for the past 10 years. My travel business, however, folded due to the pandemic months ago. During the lockdown I decided I would take a product management course with General Assembly so I can acquire a new skill set.

After taking the course I realized that there is a long learning curve ahead of me, which I don’t mind, however I want to pick the right career path that aligns with my “DNA”, but also provide me with a higher income potential. I believe I am better suited in some type of business development role, head of relations, or sales type of role. However I do like the challenge of having to bring a product or feature to the market and finding product market fit.

I have eight years of sales experience prior to running my own business, however I’ve never worked in tech sales. My question is which career path will offer a higher income potential and which career path will present more challenges?#tech #tech #offer #fintech #finance #saas #techsales

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  • Amazon / Product
    ert

    Go to company page Amazon Product

    PRE
    Amazon
     ert
    Over the short term- sales. Over the long term - product management, assuming you are equally suited to both.
    However based on your question, I would recommend biz dev/sales.
    Sep 29, 2020 0
  • Facebook / Product
    pHDP63

    Go to company page Facebook Product

     pHDP63
    Obviously sales in the long run if you’re good.

    But trade offs exist for a reason, and you should think about them.

    Challenges in sales career is that the scoreboard literally resets to 0 every quarter. Management is usually less paid than IC and still high risk / subject to market fluctuations. Finding high value pockets where you capture a large percentage of the upside is extremely hard - eg commercial real estate in tier 1 cities, asset management fundraising.

    Finance has a clear path and job security, but it’s a crowded field and it’s not exactly clear how to excel here. Large amounts of luck in moving up. But the job is stable, since everyone needs to pay employees and bills.

    PM can make a lot of money, but is also a difficult career—doing it well requires striking the risk balance. Some PM roles won’t succeed because of market or team. Others will succeed basically in spite of you. Finding a way to demonstrate your personal impact in a support or management role is a very difficult skill that I haven’t managed yet. Also, the job morphs constantly depending on org/resourcing/circumstances in ways that finance and sales do not.

    TCs at the top of these fields will be similar at the top, with exception of high value IC sales where your earnings could literally be uncapped.

    Finance / PM provides more steady income. In general, PM gets comped at tech pay scales which means more $$$ compares to finance across the board.

    I make consistently what people in finance functions in industry dream of making. On the flip side, I make much less than peers with similar YoE in finance service / investment firms (eg GS / PE shops)

    No one true path
    Sep 30, 2020 0
  • Equinix / Product
    maximus88

    Go to company page Equinix Product

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    Level 3 Communications
     maximus88
    There are product roles at some tech companies that are more outward focused, more external facing, with less technical knowledge required
    Sep 30, 2020 0
  • Adobe / Sales
    missandei

    Go to company page Adobe Sales

    PRE
    Salesforce
     missandei
    I think you can launch your career in technical sales/sales engineering. You’ll start with a good salary and it’s the perfect launch pad to go into product management as the next step.
    Sep 30, 2020 0