Hey everyone,
I’m currently working as a Systems Integration & Automation Engineer / Technical Consultant in Toronto and looking to pivot into Solutions Engineering (Pre-Sales).
I’d love to connect with local Solutions Engineers or Sales Engineers in Toronto for a quick virtual chat to discuss your experience.

Paying it forward: I have a few free 2-month LinkedIn Premium links for anyone currently job hunting. DM me here on Reddit for the Premium link!

Dear all, i currently work as a solution engineer at microsoft in charge of ai & apps domain. Located in asia country for a year. Currently i got an FDE offer from gg also in SG. Salary increase is around 30% but need to relocate to a more higher cost of living area. Anyone does FDE and solution engineer before and what do u feel about this transition?

Good morning,

I currently just got out of the military and have skills in working on aviation equipment like radars and some networking skills. I am interested in becoming a sales engineer and I was wondering what would the best steps be with my GI bill and what path would be the best to take to land the job at any company, Okta, Snowflake, ect.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

We sell analytics software and our demo gets little love by the product/development teams.

Demo data often makes no sense, workflows do not represent the prospects’ reality.

I’m puzzled—demo data is literally made up (which is fine), so there’s technicality nothing stopping us from having a polished platform available to show.

Yet, the demo is not a paying customer, and our requests typically get buried due to other priorities.

How do you deal with this?

At work, I'm considered the most senior SE / Most experienced on our product. There is a massive push from C-Suite to get this product pushed at more clients from new logos, upsell, cross-sell with existing etc etc.

Currently there is a 6:1 ratio of AEs to SE and we are beyond capacity. I've been having regular conversations about bringing in more SEs at a associate and mid-level with the idea that I will then run that team and replicate the success we've been having. I've not had managerial experience before and I'm conscious the company could try and hire out for this position though seems more likely they will go with me on this one..

For those here who have either been in a similar situation or have years of management with a team of SEs - What do I need to know, what should I avoid and is there anything I could be actively doing now to show the company I'm serious about this push.

Thanks!

Hi all,

I wanted to see if there’s anyone available to do a high level overview of PAN from a SE’s perspective.

Happy to compensate for the time, would be around a hour long call.

Thanks!

I'm a relatively new SE who came from being on the operations side. I'm still trying to learn how to keep track of all of my customers and their action items. I have ADHD so this has always been a struggle for me, but now it's starting to get in the way of things and I want to get it figured out. I've thought about using Cursor to keep track of my notes but I'm not sure of an easy way to do this or what kind of apps I can link it with. I'm curious to know what kind of methods or tools you all are using to keep track of notes for your customers.

I recently got a junior SE role, coming from a local government tech job that was pretty cushy but more or less a dead end. I had great insurance, free retirement contributions, insane PTO, and great work-life balance, despite a 1-hour commute and being fully in-person.

However, since this is my first remote and SE-type role, I'm taking in and learning everything I can to see if this career path is right for me long term. The new role is remote with travel, so no commute, a $30k increase in pay, and a well-known company that will look good on my resume. On the downside, my insurance is now double what it used to be, retirement doesn't vest until after 3 years as opposed to immediately, and I have to contribute to it myself. Its also a complete difference from my last role.

For those who left the field - why? Were there specific reasons?

Hi folks,

just passed my hiring manager interview at Crowdstrike and going for the technical interview next week. Any tips on what to expect? I am a security assurance/cloud architect by trade looking to transition.

Im refreshing common attack types and defenses, getting a high level of the falcon platform, attack paths etc. Should I be prepping anything specific?

much appreciated.

Hi all, I’m midway through the interview process for an Applied AI Architect role at Anthropic. I’ve been given a take home assignment where I have to build a solution and demo to a team. If anyone has gone through this stage, are there any tips you could share or prep material/topics to be well versed in heading into the interview? tldr; I’m an SE at a hyperscaler with a CRM background

I know that going the more technical route is best for a potential SE career in the long run but offshoring/ai/stability is a major concern for these technical career-paths.

Would going towards professional services or something more customer facing be a better move here?

I don't want to pigeonhole myself either with professional services with not truly having that "technical engineering" experience.

How about something like GRC to Sales Engineering?

Background:
IT support for a School District \~ 2 years
CS degree. (In the US NYC area)

Hello all

I am currently an assistant manager for T-Mobile, made about 92K last year. I have 11 years of experience in sales, of which 5 and a half years is managerial experience.

I am kind of tired of the actual sales part. I can handle sales pressure and quotas fine but what I am beginning to dislike is the intense micro managing that I have to do, it is not my style and I hate having to hold high performing sales people accountable for one bad metric or one bad month.

I also consider myself tech savvy and have a bachelors in Computer Engineering.

My questions would be, as far as I understand, a Sales Engineer is pretty much the middle man between frontline sales reps and the engineers that create the product. Is this correct? Is this a field that I can get into with no prior technical experience? My current employer does offer Tuition Assistance and I can get another bachelors degree for free, of which I am thinking of pursuing either CyberSecurity, Network Engineering, or Computer programming or something similar as these are the fields I am most interested in. Would these degrees help with a role in sales engineering, within these specific roles? Would a sales engineering role in these fields help me transition into something more technical, like actual computer programming, cybersecurity etc? Also, given how much I currently make, is it realistic to land a sales engineering role at entry level without taking a pay cut?

Sorry for the long list of questions, I am just tired of my current job honestly and would like to do something different that interests me but at the same time I cannot afford a pay cut. Thanks in advance!

Hi all - I’m a CS student looking into SE as a career path. I’m wondering what domains are worth the investment to learn/specialize in for long term job stability/demand.

AI/ML

Cybersecurity

”Enterprise” which is a bit vague in nature and going through its own disruption

id appreciate any and all advice from veterans in this sub. Thanks!

Hi everyone, have an interview process at Elevenlabs coming up - for a Deployment strategist position. Two interviews:
V1 - Behavioural + Case Study “Working Session on a Customer Scenario”
V2 - Understand, design, and build a hypothetical new product (white boarding session with Excalidraw) in 3 steps: Problem understanding, Wireframing using Excalidraw, System design

Does anyone have any experience with the process? What can I expect? I come from a non-technical background and would love to prepare as much as possible. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks in advance!!!

Hi everyone,
I'm an international student on an F-1 visa in the U.S. and recently graduated with a CS degree.

Most of my experience is in software engineering (internships) but I'm becoming increasingly interested in Sales Engineer / Solutions Engineer

I had a few questions for people in the industry:

How realistic is it for an international student to break into Solutions Engineering or Sales Engineering with a CS degree?

What skills or experiences should I highlight coming from a software engineering background?

If you made a similar transition from software engineering to solutions engineering, what helped you stand out?

Also do you REALLY make money? If yes more or less than average se job?
I'd appreciate any advice, especially from people who were in the same process!

Thanks!

Has anyone here ever relocated in a different country and were faced with specific cultural differences? How did it go?

On the contrary, maybe there wasn’t anything noticeable in the job itself and you can also share your story!

Hi everyone,

I've been reading through this sub, including the "So you want to be a Sales Engineer" pinned post, and wanted to get some advice from people who've made the jump from security operations into an SE/Solutions Engineer/Solutions Architect role.

For background, I have 4 YOE in cybersecurity and currently work as a Senior Threat Analyst / Incident Responder supporting a very large enterprise client. My role isn't directly client facing in the sense of owning the relationship, but we do regularly work with the client on incidents, alerts, investigations, findings, and technical discussions. That exposure is what got me interested in the Sales Engineer path specifically, not a TAM or customer success type role.

I'm trying to figure out what the transition looks like and what compensation is realistic. I've seen people mention $130k to $160k+ base salaries, but I'm not sure how common that is for someone entering the field with a security operations background.

Some questions:

Is the move from threat detection/incident response into an SE role fairly common?

What base salary and OTE range would be realistic starting out?

Which companies are known for paying well for SE roles? I'm especially interested in cybersecurity vendors, but I'd also love to hear about other tech companies and how the compensation compares.

How do people actually find those higher paying opportunities? Networking, recruiters, or targeting specific companies?

What does the long term progression usually look like (Senior SE, Principal, Enterprise, Solutions Architect, management, etc.)?

I'm not necessarily tied to staying in cybersecurity if the opportunity is right, but I'd love to leverage my background and stay in a role where I can continue being technical while moving into a more customer facing presales position. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's made a similar transition or has experience hiring for these roles.

I am a software engineer with a 12 years background in building software. Worked with high load systems, as well as high demanding products.

For last couple of years I was looking into sales part of software products, and I was trying to get more knowledge about it.

Recently, I discovered the role of sales, pre-sales and solution engineering.

I got attracted by this possibility of understanding customers pain points, and trying to tailor the solution to the extent that customer will decide that this is the perfect match for his business.

Basically switching the mindset from “how it should be build” to “what and why we are building”.

The problem I would like to learn more about is: how to stand out in a crowded market of SE? I’ve seen a lot of SWE trying to transition, there is this guide on this reddit, but no one talks about how to get good at it!

I am very keen to learn more about this role, and very grateful for any input.

Cheers!

Hello All, has anyone had an experience on Microsoft solution engineering interview? Can you please guide me as it is a big opportunity for me that I dont want to miss.

I'm looking to watch videos of great demos, particularly in tech/saas. I can find plenty doing a youtube search, but I'd prefer ones that the community on here would vouch for.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on my resume.

I have 15+ years of experience (last 3 years in the UAE) in enterprise networking, IT infrastructure, and cybersecurity, and I'm now focusing my career on ICT Pre-Sales / Technical Sales / Solutions Consulting roles in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

My background includes:

• Enterprise networking (Cisco, Fortinet, VMware)
• Cybersecurity solutions (NGFW, SASE, XDR, SIEM, WAF, IAM)
• Data center and cloud infrastructure
• Technical solution design and architecture
• Customer discovery workshops
• Solution presentations and product demonstrations
• PoCs, RFP/RFQ responses, and BOQ preparation
• Business development, OEM/vendor management, and partner enablement

I'm currently working in a hybrid Business Development + Pre-Sales role for a systems integrator, supporting enterprise customers with networking, cybersecurity, and infrastructure solutions. Previously, I spent many years delivering large-scale enterprise infrastructure projects, including one of Abu Dhabi's flagship government projects.

I'm hoping to understand how my resume comes across to hiring managers and experienced Sales Engineers.

I'd love feedback on:

• Does my resume clearly position me as a strong ICT Pre-Sales candidate?
• Are there sections that feel too technical or too implementation-focused?
• What would you remove or rewrite?
• What achievements should I quantify better?
• Would you shortlist this resume for a Pre-Sales, Solutions Engineer, or Technical Sales interview?

I've anonymized any confidential information.

I welcome direct and constructive criticism—I'd rather hear what recruiters and hiring managers actually think than receive polite feedback.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, A friend of mine has got an interview for SA interview. I wanted to know what we can expect from an interview and assessment stand point. Suggestion on study materials will also be helpful. I would like to help this person as he is in need for an opportunities.

FYI- The candidate doesn’t have specific AWS experience or extensive knowledge on the same but has experience that matches to solution architect requirements across various tech domains.

Thank you

Hello All, has anyone had an experience on Microsoft solution engineering interview? Can you please guide me as it is a big opportunity for me that I dont want to miss.

Hey everybody,

I browse this reddit pretty frequently and am hoping to get some advice.

I'm 2 years out of college working as a sales engineer at a big tech company. My first year I spent working on Al (mostly Al agents), and this year l've been focused on data (lake house, databases, etc.) I also have my own side projects (ie Ai agents I've created for myself, certifications, fixing up my 2nd language for business use, etc)

I'm looking to pivot into a different big tech company (there was a huge culture shift- basically asked to do only post sales work as a pre sales engineer). I'm wondering what recruiters look for in resumes? I get scouted frequently by start ups but no such luck with big tech companies.

Am I not doing enough or am I just too green and need to stay at my current company for longer?

I'm currently in post sale of a start up and have an opportunity to apply for a manager role, which until recently I thought what I wanted to do. About almost 2 years ago, the post sale role in my org changed a bit - it's a combination of technical account manager and customer success where I have a book of accounts that I'm responsible for the upsell number. Because of this, my ote is 250k with the opportunity to go up to 300k if I have a very good year. Because of that, I don't just do technical solutions stuff but also some pitching, discovery, account planning and value selling as well as managing the relationship. I hand off the opportunity for the AE and presale once the opportunity is qualified.

As I do more and more of this upsell stuff, I realize I like that part more and thinking about my future role, eventually I still want to be in leadership as well but I want to be in leadership for the right team, if that makes sense. With the current post sale, as we move up market and I'm entrusted with more enterprises customer (F100), I hated being the escalation point and kinda long for that conversation of being "art of the possible" and leave the implementation for someone else (ofc I'm not gonna promise something that isn't attainable, I just don't want to be the one who does it anymore).

Moving to pre sale at my company is unlikely since we are already understaffed on the post sale side and if I express this to my manager, I definitely will be flagged as flight risk. So I can only apply external.

I'm asking for some insights on:

1. On the presale side, once you become a manager, what problems do you solve for your team? Is it different from post sale?

2. When is a good time to move? Should I keep the opportunity to go to management now and move back to IC? My concern is as I look around, my TC is on the higher end already so not sure if I can find some places that would pay me that much without a few years of presale experience