What always pissed me of most about 'sales vs. engineering is':
Engineering: Works hard (45 hrs/wk), knowledgeable and experienced at their craft, specialized skill-set, net compensation... $150,000.
Sales: Works hard (55 hrs/wk), knowledgeable and experienced at their craft, specialized skill-set, net compensation... $600,000.
That always felt like bullshit to me. Two hardworking, skilled people, but just because the sales people are closer to the money, they get paid a shitton more.
In fact, (and I say this knowing that I'm biased, but it's still keenly, emotionally felt), it often felt like thee engineer is far more skilled, rare, and value-producing than the salesperson. They just, again, aren't the ones directly bringing in the money.
Money doesn't lie. If that $600k is what you want, then stop developing and start selling. The fact that you either can't or don't want to will answer the question.
I also lack both skills and desire to sell. The job sounds like a nightmare to me. So I don't begrudge those that are good at it and earn those commissions. I envy the comp, but it'd be silly to be jealous when I wouldn't actually switch places with them. $150k is great money in its own right.
And that's not normal comp for salespeople. It's the sort of thing top performers can make (or more). Not a top performer? Even because of factors totally outside your control? Too bad. Good luck finding a new job.
Yeah, it's a meat grinder. I've been on countless calls where Sally–who smashed records last quarter—is being called on the carpet for small miss this quarter. Miss 2 in a row? Nice knowing you, good luck in your future pursuits.
Another thing I forgot to mention, your best sales people can and will take their customers with them if they go across the street and work for your competition. I've also seen that happen with disgruntled high-performers. We basically lost an entire region a few years back when the star sales rep there decided to go independent and steer her enormous client base to a rival provider.
Everything is extreme in sales. The best earn more, the worst barely make rent.
> your best sales people can and will take their customers with them
And this has been validated by multiple court cases: the sales person owns their "rolodex" (that shows how long this has been the case).
Want to know why every company has a CRM? The CRM companies will tell you about all the integrations etc but the real reason is that they can keep their hands on all the contact info when the sales person leaves.
I suspect for a lot of engineers, the fact that it isn't about how hard you worked or how great a product you created, but what revenue income/it generated is tough. And don't meet those metrics and too bad is tough.
100% agree on that. I forgot in my original comment that I also agree it feels like bullshit. What I wrote above is what I have to constantly remind myself.
The variance in sales compensation is huge. The variance in engineering comp is compressed. At my previous firm, the sales base salary was $60k and the highest earner earned 12x that. The lowest earner earned $60k.
And was probably fired in a year or two for not making their numbers. Whereas assuming a reasonably financially stable company, the lower end of band engineer is probably trundling along.
A sales person making $600k probably has a base salary of $50-100 the rest is all commission. Sales can be a grueling slog that requires wit, emotional intelligence and significant research into your target. It's both strategic and tactical in a way that can only be practiced through repeated failure. To be bringing in a revenue that justifies a $600k salary is a rare person indeed. We all tend to oversimplify other people's work or problems. This is a good example.
Well, we don't reward engineers who find a way to increase sales or decrease overhead by half a million either. Maybe both teams could copy some habits from the other and delete a few.
As an engineer, your $150k is pretty much guaranteed. In sales, though, it's entirely possible to spend several years wheedling the large client that would get you the $600k payday... and the day before the board is supposed to sign off on the deal, their CEO changes and the new guy puts everything on ice. This happens a lot, and it's brutal.
Of course not. Parent comment is certainly cherrypicking based on whatever anecdotal experience they heard or experienced.
Even if the Sales team happens to hit a home run in a particular quarter, you can bet that Finance will raise targets for the next cycle, and it'll be twice as hard to hit it again. So on a functional company you won't be hitting all goals every time, and the annual income for sellers evens out.
Worth mentioning that, depending on the pay arrangement (individual vs. team-based goals), one specific individual may make a lot more than the average, but the team as a whole won't be making the same.
Ultimately the main difference is between being on a Sales plan (with lower base + higher variable/risk), vs. a more traditional plan with base + stocks + performance bonus.
Also, the average "$150K engineer" is more like a "$300K engineer", at least in the US [1].
E.g.
You spend a week optimizing the database. How much is that worth? Does it allow the front end designers to abuse the db more to push more in features?
It's clear that without you the features couldn't be written, because the frontend folk haven't understood query optimization to save their lives. Meanwhile the sales team skipped the infrastructure planning meeting to go on their golf outing.
But sales have direct dollar amounts. It's easy to quantify. That money wouldn't exist without the sales person. On the other hand, those features wouldn't exist without your backend knowledge.
Engineering: Works hard (45 hrs/wk), knowledgeable and experienced at their craft, specialized skill-set, net compensation... $150,000.
Sales: Works hard (55 hrs/wk), knowledgeable and experienced at their craft, specialized skill-set, net compensation... $600,000.
That always felt like bullshit to me. Two hardworking, skilled people, but just because the sales people are closer to the money, they get paid a shitton more.
In fact, (and I say this knowing that I'm biased, but it's still keenly, emotionally felt), it often felt like thee engineer is far more skilled, rare, and value-producing than the salesperson. They just, again, aren't the ones directly bringing in the money.