A common question I get either from recruiters or hiring managers is “So what are you looking for?”  I’ve been on this journey long enough that my priorities have distilled down to 4 clearly defined goals – beyond just doing something related to Sales Engineering.  And if you are in your search right now you owe it to yourself to know what you want and be able to articulate it.  Even if you are employed it is something you should be able to do some reflection on and confirm the key items are covered.  There is the JOB (Journey Of the Broke) search that is just part of survival.  Then there is a stage you (hopefully) reach later in life where self-actualization and job satisfaction is important.

Photo by Matthew Henry

I remember when one of the best Account Executives I’d ever worked with was pushed out of the company we worked for.  I had heard that during the year prior to the acquisition she had closed over $3M in business.  This was working for a smaller European startup without the financial capital, connections and marketing of a large US company.  Unfortunately once folded in, the acquiring firm didn’t have the sales savvy to keep that potential going.  I don’t think the whole team did $3M in a single quarter – with 6 reps – after the integration.

Yes, their solution was amazing and ahead of its time.  But the larger firms like to spread FUD about how you need a company that has history and can support you long term if you buy their solution.  Despite those challenges she had been super successful.  Some in sales might try to say “but it was all green fields” and I’d argue that for a product that isn’t well known from a small company often takes more skill and experience to sell.  This is regardless of how “cool” the technology looks.  There are more layers to the OSI model than 7.  Don’t forget the Budgetary and Political layers!    But I’m getting off track . . .

When this person got pushed out it took 3 months for her to get hired.  The economy was going good, and she was located in an area where there should have been plenty of opportunities.  I did get to speak with her just after she did land.  She rattled off the list of things that she’d gotten as part of the new role and how she had held out for those.

Besides now being a VP, she had 4 other bullet items that were important.  I was so impressed, I knew it was the truth.  Part of her being successful in sales was having a clearly defined goal and never losing sight of it.  At that point I remember thinking if I were in the same position (unemployed) that I should be able to define my goals that articulately.  In hindsight I did leave Fastly without those goals properly thought out, and it confirmed just how important they are.

As for my current journey I started looking for work the Wednesday before Christmas of last year.  I did have a feeling mid November that things weren’t right at my last job.  Even tried to open the conversation about the topic with my manager and was assured that things were good and they wanted me back even 5 hours a week if I could muster once off disability.  I let them know I was ready to return part time early in December.  From there it was 3 weeks before they were able to tell me my job no longer existed.  The lack of communication or trust here was an item that reinforced my second requirement, but I’m getting ahead of myself again.

Requirement #1

The first requirement for me is that it has to be a product that I believe in and get the value to my core.   Dynatrace’s solution was very impressive.  It was expensive compared to its competitors, but the value was really there.  A well supported good AE (that didn’t need to compete solely on price) could really do well with it.  It was very enjoyable to demo and PoC.  We often were able to “change the playing field” and demonstrate value through features the competitors didn’t have.

With Fastly the value was even more present and the technology just as impressive.  Their performance was fantastic, and they offered features and stability that no one else could.  And of course those features lead to true business value.  I couldn’t work a conference shift without at least two people walking by and saying something like “Fastly, we love you!” or “Fastly, your stuff rocks!”  Now this was an enterprise infrastructure play.  Artur (the founder and CEO) used to frequently point out “how many other Enterprise Infrastructure firms have customers that actually love them like this?”  So far Fastly is the only one I’ve seen that has this sort of following and earned infatuation with by its customers.

Requirement #2

The other requirement for me is to have a team and leadership that I trust and can learn from.  Someone that for the most part stays out of the way, but is there when I need them (or don’t realize I do) to make things go right.  Thomas Telligman at Compuware set a very high bar day one.  He understood what it took to be a solid SE.  Later along my journey there Joe Hoffman (who came from Dynatrace) also showed what great leadership is.  And at Fastly I was blessed to work for people like Stephen Basile, Chris Kruse, Mark Richards and Peter Wohlers.  All instilled an esprit de corps that was powerful and that I never imagined experiencing.

There were some great leaders at Cerent and Cisco, but it is different when you are in Sales.  There are more politics, more complexity, interdependencies and so much more at stake.  And you really appreciate who is looking after you when you switch from working in the factory to working the front lines so to speak.  Achieving your goals affects the stock price, acquisition price or perhaps keep you from being purchased by a private equity firm that is going to lay off great talent.

Requirement #3

Besides a product and a team that I believe in, the third requirement is that I really want to work predominantly remote.  At 6am PT I’d rather be on a sales call with New York opportunity than to be sitting on the bus down to SF.  I’ve spent almost 7 years being successful working remote.  SFO, Oakland and Sacramento airports are all about the same distance from my home.  Combine that with a nice office and big bandwidth pipe and I can get a lot done.

I remember at a recent job noticing that one of the best SEs spent most of his time taking over a conference room so he could get work done.  And the SME that had the desk in front of me always wore headphones and frequently had a laser focus look where you could tell he was in the “flow” and to only bother him it it was important.

On a tangent he was a perfect example of using Slack with discipline.  He’d shut it down when he was deep into a problem or some code.  Anything that wasn’t more urgent could wait.  And when he got to a point to take a break and a step away he could answer all the questions and messages.  Should it really be urgent you could call him on his phone (perhaps set on silent if his project was critical) or even tap him on the shoulder.  But you knew to only do so if it was critical.

And actually I would commute into SF (not Palo Alto) a few days a week for the right opportunity.  But it has to be pretty spectacular.

Final Requirement

The final requirement for me is that it has to make sense as far as my career path and future.  I wanted the next role to make sense from a thought out path.  It would be something I’d have taken knowing it was the next step in growing my skills and capabilities.  This can be solved in one of two ways.  Either a role that showed growth or with greater expectations of me, or a technology that is growing in demand like AI, ML or Big Data.  This was one I’ve started to be ready to let go of, with how long it has been in this search.

And why has it been so long?  I’ve written about the mistakes I’ve made.  And there have been four that got very close to the offer stage before being reprioritized to another region or put on hold indefinitely.  One of them actually was a great experience – the one with PagerDuty.  They know how to run the hiring process, and they treat their whole community with respect.  The journey has lead to some excellent connections, has exposed me to some great technologies, and has crystallized my goals.

I’ve rambled, and perhaps ranted, more than normal in this discussion.  If you’ve made it this far, start to think about the things that are very important to you when it comes to work.  Make sure you can not only articulate them, but prioritize them.  Odds are if you are using LinkedIn, you understand just how important giving thought and solid consideration to your career steps are.  And I’ve worked for startups that ran out of money, firms that needed to increase profits quickly (layoffs) and have been on disability for 4 months followed by a long search.  It can happen to any of us.

Be prepared.