[caprock]

Significant chunks of the software engineer community self select into minimizing time spent with customers or even any non-engineers. It's understandable but unfortunate too.

I would suggest looking for people that were initially hands on but converted to sales engineer or professional services roles. Some switch because they don't like the programming. Some will quietly be very good engineers that have seen a lot of scenarios.

You'll have to pay a premium for travel if you want to get experienced people that have families at home.

[rubyrenegade]

Thanks for the feedback! We're refocusing our efforts to find strong engineers who have the right instincts and soft skills to deal with customers. Travel will still be a part of the role and we're happy to pay for that! I thought this was a hot role, so I'm coming grips to the reality that it is going to be very hard to fill!