Yeah, I have been in calls like those. Despite me pushing for "can you show me what your product can just do?" I kept getting "Please tell us what you want first" and that finally culminated into a follow up demo call. The demo was super generic and nothing I said (except 1 item) was really considered).
Frankly, by the time we were done I was zoned out and doing other things.
If the CEO had considered to demo in the first call I would've almost pushed to buy it right away but at the end we decided we'll just do a light weight solution in house with a few devs
Not that this works all the time. But the point is to listen to your customer instead of just taking a single approach and sticking to it
This is why I laugh every time I hear that salespeople are obsolete.
While some drone is pushing forward to collect their brownie points for identification of next steps, the people with agency are finding a solution to my problems.
If it's just to find a better job, then I wouldn't worry too much about the prestige factor. You will get a better job through quality of work and the ability to prove it. The prestige factors plays more into jobs in academics. Don't get me wrong, a degree from a top notch school can make a difference in finding work, but not as much as your ability to code and display your ability.
If the CEO had considered to demo in the first call I would've almost pushed to buy it right away but at the end we decided we'll just do a light weight solution in house with a few devs
Not that this works all the time. But the point is to listen to your customer instead of just taking a single approach and sticking to it