| Topic Name: |
Sales Engineeing vs. Consulting |
| Message Name: |
Pre-sales, post-sales, consulting |
| Date Posted: |
01/29/2001 |
| Message: |
I received a few job offers recently. None of them are very exciting, but I think I'm going to be forced to choose from them if nothing wonderful comes in soon (and I don't think they will - see "Consulting Glass Ceiling" for details).
Most of them are in two fields - pre/post-sales engineering and consulting (in a project management capacity). The pre-sales offers are with mainly unknown companies, with a couple of larger companies, like Interwoven and Vitria. The consulting jobs are ALL with unknown companies (has anyone on this board ever heard of Dynax/Purple Crayons, DMIND or K2 Digital?). I have no chance with more reputable firms (see "Consulting Glass Ceiling"), so unless my interview with IBM GS this week goes REALLY well, I'm probably stuck with those choices.
My question, to the esteemed members of this board, are as follows:
1) I understand what sales engineers do, both in pre and post sales support, but what is their career path? Where do they go from there?
2) Can I apply sales engineering experiences to the case I'm steadily building towards becoming a consultant for a name brand firm? Or are they a class unto themselves?
3) Which is preferable, between SE and boutique e-consulting?
4) Are salaries/bonuses/raises comparable? I know a lot of it depends on the company, but I was wondering if there were general practices and guidelines followed by most companies.
5) What is the general industry perception of SEs? Are they well respected, laughed at, ignored?
The ultimate goal is to land a leadership job with a household name and build a career from there, but as I'm 22, they all laugh and hang up on me. So I'm kind of stuck for now, unless doing entry level business analysis is preferably and more respected than both...in which case, I'll reconsider.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
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