Pros
There are so many things I can share, but I will try to hit my highest points and what really led me to this role. I was approached by a recruiter/head hunter for this role. My background is in software engineering, so I had only been dealing with electronic components in the abstract and as a hobby. This was an opportunity to try something new and the industry growth prospects plus compensation package were appealing. Benefits are comprehensive. My current team operates on salary + bonus plan, no commission. This is preferable to me because comp is tied more directly to my personal performance and metrics. I’ve worked on commission before, and I’ve seen it push some people to questionable desperation and putting customer’s needs on the back burner for a pay day. I prefer not to fight my company and customers over returns and cancellations.
1. Good Support:
Sales engineering is supported with steady leads while we also can organically bring our own accounts. Bringing new accounts is highly encouraged and strongly incentivized with a bonus structure here. These do not “flip out” and do not churn since these are accounts WE brought to the table with our own personal outreach. We are not just order takers, we can take on a higher level of involvement. My remote engineering team is relatively new and based in Austin liaising through the Houston office. I like the process of cultivating an account, and I am constantly in contact with my base genuinely trying to understand buying patterns and issues they have. It is hard work, but rewarding.
2. Global Opportunity:
There is a strong push to cultivate an international sales presence and team which is important for customers around the world during this global chip shortage. You would be hard pressed to find a high growth company today that is not also multinational. It improves responsiveness and logistics considerably. Since there are sales engineering groups in different countries, our language capacity is incredible. I can only speak English with a little broken Spanglish. I had a customer at a large OEM who only spoke Chinese, and I was able to coordinate with a team member in a different office to help translate and close my deal. It happened again for a customer in Mexico who needed support from me in Spanish.
3. Solid Lab:
We have a very strong lab team. They are very strict, like almost too strict. Parts that sailed through overseas labs sometimes do not make it through the in-house QC here. In this industry, it is better safe than sorry.
Cons
QC can be restrictive, but fair. The work is tough and at times complex. Lots of late nights for sure.
