Presuming that this role is partnering with a sales person or going apart yourself on sales calls and working sales tenders/RFPs and the main role is to close s

Presuming that this role is partnering with a sales person or going apart yourself on sales calls and working sales tenders/RFPs and the main role is to close sales (directly or indirectly), then: > 1) Would love it if someone can share similar moves - how did you go about it, how has it worked out and tips if any ? I did this more than 10 years ago after about 6-7 years of hands-on programming work. It's a great move. I'm very introverted and don't enjoy talking to people, but the job was a good fit because I somehow can articulate with customers (I just don't like socializing with them, so a pure sales role was out for me). It's a great opportunity to hone soft skills, and felt like a good point for me to understand the business side of software (e.g. every one talks value proposition, but you don't really need to understand it until you try to sell it). > 2) How does the levelling work ? If I need to change roles would I have to take a downgrade or a paycut ? About Staff Engineer level now. I supposed it's based a lot on organization, but I don't think there is a real path to an equivalent to Staff Engineer in technical sales. As an aside: you made Staff Engineer after 10 years? What's next? :) > 3) Any specific skillsets or certifications I should pick up ? I am pretty sure if given an interview I can take it from there, but seems hard to get into a field without experience at a senior-ish level. * persuasion skills * demo skills * presentation * domain knowledge * whatever skill it takes to respond to RFPs * negotiation * quick to whip up demos * Learn to say "no, but" or "not yet, but" Nothing really specific to technical sales actually