[cookiecaper]

The coder may be a cost saver in some cases, but not necessarily all; if that sales guy is selling software that the coder wrote, then the coder is just as much of a profit generator (actually more) as the sales guy who just sold the product that someone else made. The manufacturer and salesperson are both important. Generally speaking, the value of these positions is about even; specific situations may slightly favor one position over the other.

[waterlesscloud]

I worked a while as an "engineer who accompanies the sales guy to potential clients". Not really a sales engineer, as I didn't do actual salesman-y stuff and didn't manage accounts or anything. More as the guy who answered tech questions, gathered requirements, communicated back to the engineering team to get feature request time estimates, that kind of thing. More a 'liaison to the salesguy' than anything, though I would sit in on sales meetings.

It was fun, really. Lots of travel, lots of meeting people, lots of finding out what they really wanted us to be offering.

Anyway, I learned a lot about the art of sales, and while I was admittedly jealous of the money our salesguys made (some in 7-figure-land), I also learned it takes a specific kind of person to do it well.

And I could easily see why so many of them were such heavy drinkers. Combination of having to be very social and having the pressure of the revenue riding personally on your shoulders. I think as engineers you don't feel that pressure so directly. Certain execs in a startup, sure, but they're also part sales, in a way.