Welcome to episode 27 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode, we interview Ramzi Marjaba of the "We the Sales Engineers" podcast.
Original Recording Date: 2019-02-22
Topics – Ramzi Marjaba of the "We The Sales Engineers" podcast
Nick and John were on We The Sales Engineers Episode 41: New and Experienced Perspective of Sales EngineeringRamzi might be doing the podcast that John wish he had the courage to do6:54 Introductions
7:28 Why did Ramzi start the podcast?
To study the jobHe’s gotten to talk to some of the thought-leaders in the fieldJohn CareBrian Geery9:21 How has your understanding of the role evolved over the course of the podcast?
Peter CohanUpcoming recording of a demo as a YouTube video12:37 How does the SE role fit in with the sales organization?
14:29 Any way to shorten the learning cycle?
Avoid spray-and-prayShould’ve asked manager to shadow good SEsForgot the SE skills for the product skills16:09 What did Ramzi’s career journey look like?
17:05 Transitioning to the SE role; Did you feel yourself losing your technical hand? How about losing technical credibility?
Didn’t know the title acronymsRelationship credibility vs technical credibility20:36 Ever miss support role?
NoPaid on performanceLearning from variety of different customers23:44 Advice for people who are thinking about changing role due to being under-appreciated
Start looking before you’re extremely unhappy with your current oneFinding a new job takes time; Learn new job skills while on your current jobGet better at presenting by presenting to informal lunch groupsOr do demosPractice interviewingApply before you feel qualified27:16 How do you distinguish between companies you do and don’t want to work for?
Tech might not be interesting, though people being interesting might change your mindBad communication during interview process28:40 Is it fair to judge a company by how they treat you during the hiring process?
Yes, it’s fairSpeed of responses shows how interested they areRemember you have the power not to take the offer31:40 Ever seen the stall or delay during the process?
Could be a committee processCould be some other internal processPerhaps they didn’t see your value; OR you didn’t show your valueThey might just be slow; Follow up with the hiring managerYou’re just interviewing, not hired; Keep looking until you accept an offer34:54 What does your view of the SE career path look like?
SE coach, mentor, managerMost SEs stay SEs foreverSE Management is an optionProduct management seems like an option, but they also seem to be paid less than SEsMaybe it’s worth it if you see lots of advancement in the PM role36:43 Decomposing the things you like about the role and finding that role that does that
Most SE soft skills are done outside the companyRamzi starts turning the tables and asking John what he’s seenJohn’s experience matches that, except for straight sales skillsSEs who are good at the soft skills tend to get pushed into sales rolesThough SEs with technical and soft skills are way more valuable39:56 How has your appreciation of the pure sales role vs. the SE role evolved
Used to complain about themHad to cover sales for a territory once and hated itJohn – finding the right people to get the meeting with is a skillRepeated inspection by sales management at the end of the quarterJohn says he tells his sales team he won’t ask at the end of the quarter44:30 Ramzi asks John about how common career and retirement/financial planning is
Most people don’t plan careers, they only have emergency reactionsThere are some jobs which have a clear linear path, but most jobs aren’t like thatBreaking people out of that blinder is a major goal of the Nerd Journey podcastWe need to overcome the blockers like feeling disloyal, feeling unlucky, fear, and discomfortFinancial planning is more common48:00 Ramzi’s experience coming out of University
Didn’t know about the various job roles coming out of UniversityDidn’t know about paths once hiredExpecting people to stay in the same role for 20 years is … delusionalJohn thinks positive organizational culture values people to the point of keeping them in the company, rather than the role, emphasizing career pathRamzi hasn’t seen that50:28 Ramzi was in a role where the manager lost 6 people, and was surprised every time
If the manager had actually invested in the team, they might have been more invested in finding/training their replacements51:41 John talks about his positive experience
Career path as an entry discussion, Chad Sakac impact radius, and IC career and compensation pathRamzi asks if the company actually followed up after that entry discussionDiscussion of great 1 on 1s55:41 John’s observations on how Product Management seems more of a mature, set, career path
Ramzi hasn’t seen that at his orgsRamzi observes that not having a traditional background shouldn’t stop you from applyingWe discuss the fallacy of feeling the need to meet every part of a job description before applying59:27 Not so lightning round
Most important tool for career planningInvaluable book for careerMastering Technical SalesMindsetExtreme OwnershipRamzi has a book clubMost important time management tipCalendar follow-up timeMost important piece of career adviceOwn your career57:38 Wrapping up
Link to the episode that Nick and John were onOuttro
Correction on The Last Samurai
