| I worked as a sales engineer for a London based company selling trading technology to investment banks in my mid 20s. It was the single best work experience I had as an employee. (I've been doing my own thing starting at 30 which is generally more fun). My job was to conduct mini integrations of our technology with the customer and to built out feature demos. The format was always similar: The bank would assign somewhere from 6 to 15 people to work on a proof of concept with me. Usually within something they'd refer to as an "innovation lab" - basically a space where the rest of the bank would leave you alone with their processes and concerns. I'd spent 3-6 weeks with the banks team in a mix of discussion, education, sales and training - including lots of presentations to upper management and decision makers. My job was to get the team's buy-in to the technology, to showcase a concrete, working vision that looked a lot like the finished product (as long as you didn't look to deep under the cover), to help flash out the structure of what would be a very complex solution+product+professional services sale, to build up internal champions and to understand the dynamic among the decision makers. The actual closing of the deal was then done by a dedicated sales person that looked better in a suit and could drink more than me. Here's what I loved about the job: - I got to travel to lot's of interesting locations. Big Banks tend to be in big cities, so I went to Sydney, Singapore, New York, Johannesburg and to lots of places across Europe. - I got a lot of independence. I usually traveled alone or in teams of up to three. When I needed help or resources I called home, but mostly I just ran my own show and made my own decisions. - I got to very quickly create things without having to fix bugs, write tests or document anything. Basically, I got to do just the fun parts of programming. - There was a huge non-technical component. Relationship building, strategy, company dynamics. - I got to work across a wide range of technologies, programming languages and systems. As with anything, there where however also downsides: - The travelling got a bit too much. I basically lived in hotels most of the year. My social contacts back home slowly deteriorated and there was no hope of having a family in this job. - I like a good night out. But having to entertain drinky clients five out of seven nights in a week gets to you even at twenty. - I initially was terrified. The technologies where so many and so different that I felt I constantly looked like a clueless fool. The board rooms full of old bank managers with important titles intimidated me. And it took me time to get the finance background. Bottom line: If you're young, don't have many obligations and enjoy a bit of travelling and social interactions, it's a great choice. Hope this helped, let me know if I can add details. |