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There were also large layoffs in Google’s ad sales org today, but I haven’t seen any news articles about it.

• jrockway 3y ago
  Sales seems like a truly miserable role. You have to sell whatever the company makes, which often times isn't what the customer wants. You mostly get paid by commission, so if someone just goes out and buys your product without talking to you, you don't get paid. Finally, it's treated by business as some sort of resource they can autoscale up and down as necessary. Need more money? Get more salespeople. Out of money? Fire all the salespeople. I just find it so weird.
  • danpalmer 3y ago
    I also see it as a position I wouldn't want in a million years, but whenever I talk to salespeople I can absolutely see why they do it. There seems to be a mindset, or a particular kind of motivation, that fits with the act of selling and with the idea of commission based earnings. I'm also not sure that many salespeople see their role as "sell whatever the company makes". There's a common trope of engineers scrambling to build what the sales team have sold, but even aside from that, I think many salespeople see their job as building and growing accounts in their clients, and finding the products or features available to grow into. Perhaps just a perspective difference, but that can be all that matters.
  • mcmoor 3y ago
    It's also the role that have the most direct employee compensation per generated company profit that you can get without betting any money as investment. It certainly appeals to someone who thinks they can bootstrap themselves instantly to the top.
• sulam 3y ago
  And DSPA. Some news articles about that one.