Ask HN: Moving into Sales Engineering?

I've been doing software development for over 15 years now and I've got an opportunity to consider a referral for a job in sales engineering. It feels an awful lot like "the dark side" but I can't overlook the really excellent compensation there. I like the idea of working directly with customers, and I've considered changing focus to be an FAE before but never made the leap. Over my career, I have seen lots of engineers and scientists who work closer with customers get much more praise and positive attention from peers and management. If I sound bitter, I'm not -- this makes sense, the customers are who make our business successful. While I'm not bitter I am probably a little jealous. Whenever I have the opportunity to be more engaged with customers, I take it. I ever-so-rarely am able to help make my own opportunities, too. In my/our daily grind, whatever triumphs and perils the actual customers face is far from my/our primary focus. I usually find it very grounding to take myself out of the esoteric design debate and ask, "Which of these options (if any) will matter most to our customer? Which would deliver more value sooner?" I love developing software, I love technical work. But I'm getting older and I have a much better appreciation for all of the other elements of business now. Folks who have made a career shift like this: did you regret it?