
Ask HN: How do I become a Sales Engineer? - tsax
Hello HN.<p>I&#x27;m a developer with ~6 yrs experience mostly with back-end systems, web services (C#), some Asp.net MVC, some Ruby&#x2F;Rails, some Node.js.
I recently came across a Sales Engineer position and was wondering how one transitions and if it&#x27;s ever worth it - for context, I like being an engineer, and I&#x27;m wondering about pay gaps b&#x2F;w the two positions, especially their asymptote over ~10 yrs.<p>Much appreciated!
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JSeymourATL
> How do I become a Sales Engineer?

Start by reaching out directly to individuals on your company's Sales Team.
Tell them that you're interested in learning about their end of the business
and what they do.

A great question to ask them - 'From a technical perspective, where are you
guys struggling? Where do customers seem to struggle?

Then offer to assist. Imagine a pilot project where Sales gets special
permission to enlist your help with a customer sale. It builds from there.
Eventually, they might create a role just for you.

Incidentally, a great primer to read up on sales- Mike Weinberg >
[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15863998-new-sales-
simpli...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15863998-new-sales-simplified)

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tsax
Great suggestion, thanks.

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slgeorge
A Sales Engineer is fundamentally responsible for the technical aspects of a
sale, in my opinion. That means listening closely to customers so you
understand their problems, presenting how your companies technologies fit the
general case and presenting solutions to the customers specific challenges.
It's a collaborative team game and specifically involves working closely in
partnership with a sales person/s.

Communications, both verbal and written are the core skills. Take listening to
clients - it means interpreting what they're saying and converting it into
recognisable requirements, since many clients won't know the technologies or
constraints in the way the specialist does.

The first thing you have to know is whether you'll enjoy the role, and be any
good at it. While much of the role is about active listening, it also involves
communicating complex technologies in a straightforward manner - if you enjoy
doing that, then you may well enjoy the role. I'd suggest (if you don't
already) presenting at conferences, writing blog posts and teaching other
people are all things that you can do to discover if you'd enjoy it.

In terms of transitioning, I would look for situations or roles where you can
work in a customer-facing situation. The closer you can get to sales and
marketing the better. Your current organisation might be willing to work with
you on it as part of a career plan: that's how I've handled people who wanted
to move from back-end roles to a front-end one. For example, meeting with
customers to update them on new upcoming technologies, or present how existing
solutions could be improved, presenting at marketing events. If not in your
current environment, then roles such as developer relations may be a useful
stop-over point. Of course, the easiest way to transition is to .... apply
lots ;-)

I should mention, that while the money is often good, there is a significant
level of pressure. In most organisations the sales function is less stable
with constant pressure to hit targets. While there will be fun if everything
is going well, it's less so when it's not! If your sales person/team is having
a hard time hitting their targets you will know all about it, and may suffer
the consequences. You may also find that the obviously "technically right"
solution is not as easy to determine when dealing with customers and sales
people - both are an interesting design constraint. Finally, working with
sales people is it's own challenge as they are often very different to
technical people.

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tsax
Thanks for the excellent summary. I do feel I'm good at presenting ideas,
hence this may be a role for me. I've mostly been at large corporations with
boring stability and so wouldn't mind the pressure for a change. If it gets to
be too much to handle, I could always switch back to being a developer.

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quickpost
Good discussion here with a couple people that have made the transition
offering assistance:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9611668](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9611668)

~~~
tsax
Thank you!

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bandrami
At midnight, you go to the Crossroads and wait for a man in an all-black suit
and dark glasses to show up...

