Ask HN: How to Change from SWE/SRE to Sales?

I'm a SWE/SRE who has worked at a lot of big tech firms on backend systems. I got into software for the money and have mostly compartmentalized that side of my life since relationships with people are what really makes me happy.

Given my personality I've been wondering if I may be happier doing something that's more people oriented but still makes use of the knowledge and experience that I've accumulated over the past decade.

Could I leverage my strong background in software engineering to pivot into sales? Should I look into something else that's related and relatively social like developer relations?

A word of advice from anyone who has made a change like this would be a huge help. Thank you!

4 points | by theprincess 563 days ago

3 comments

  • apohn 563 days ago
    I used to work in PreSales. I worked with lots of people who were ex SWEs/SRE/insertTechTitleHere who transitioned into PreSales/Solution Architects (SAs). At least a few of them did this by first doing an internal transition into a PreSales role so they could get customer facing experience.

    With regards to Developer Relations versus PreSales, you should ask yourself what you want to focus on. Do you want to work with customers on actual use cases (usually POCs) and show them how your company's product will address their use case? Then it's PreSales/SA. Do you want to evangelize a product more broadly? Then it's Developer Relations.

    Regarding PreSales, I would really recommend you evaluate if you want to stay technical or not. Some products require PreSales and SAs to be quite technical. Other products really need a sales person who understands when to say "Oh yes, we expose our database through JDBC or a RESTful call" and maybe walk through how that is done - but nothing really all that much beyond talking. So it's important to make sure you pick a role that fits what you want.

    Given that you have a strong technical background, I'd recommend you find a role that can utilize your understanding of technical matters. It's a good differentiator. Lots of PreSales/SA folks aren't that technical outside of talking the talk.

  • chrisisbuilding 562 days ago
    To answer your question, yes, you could 100% leverage your SWE background in sales. I was in a similar position, and have since moved across engineering, product management, and program management. To make the move a bit less painful for others I started curating job opportunities[1], including sales roles, for people just like you (us). It's still a bit of a work in progress, but I'd love your feedback. [1]https://www.developerbranch.com
    [-]
    • theprincess 561 days ago
      Oh what a neat tool! Bookmarked. I'll take a look at that later thank you!
  • fiat_fandango 563 days ago
    I'd personally recommend switching to product eng or product over sales.

    More leverage in general but specifically based in keeping SWE skills which carry a ton of value.

    Just my 2c