I was a software engineer, then I went into sales engineering for 8 years, then I went back to engineering. The specific job role of a SE vary quite a bit by c

I was a software engineer, then I went into sales engineering for 8 years, then I went back to engineering. The specific job role of a SE vary quite a bit by company. Some SEs are always tied to a salesperson, and some are given free rein to "sell". Another dimension that varies quite a bit is how much time you have in the office in preparation vs. meeting with customers. (As an aside, I'm curious how Covid is impacting sales these days. I used to fly 6 plane segments a week as an SE.) The biggest skills are speaking, listening, and thinking on your feet. Reading people and understanding whether points are landing is super important. There's a performative aspect to sales which is quite different than a typical engineering job; it is somewhat akin to doing whiteboard interviews for a living. The nice thing about sales is everything is tactical, and there's little long term planning. The downside is everything is about closing stuff for the quarter, and every new quarter is a clean slate.