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Q4 is quickly approaching, and hiring will only become more stringent (companies tend to hire less during the holidays). This is a common trend across industries and roles, but a head shot to the PreSales community — as 2023 has been one of the coldest hiring sprees in recent memory.
Software engineers looking to make a transition into Solutions Engineering, Sales Engineering, or similar flavors have unique challenges in this climate:
- How do we stand out from a crowded market without sales experience?
- Why doesn’t the market notice our highly desirable technical skills like we expect?
- Why is the market the way it is now?
If you’re still reading and feel triggered, I too share these feelings and have experienced the ups and downs applying to positions in the market since June 2023. I’ll share my experiences submitting my resumé to over 200 SE-related roles, tools I leveraged for application productivity, my resumé adjustments, and more.
Dusting off that resumé
Before we get to that, it should be noted that the market is primed for a turnaround. According to PSC insiders, if you’re considering the move, now is a great time to strategize your transition into the new year for Q1 2024. Companies typically favor more experienced SEs, but there’s an angle to capitalize on for more technical folks that understand the nuances when speaking with clients.
SWE: So I’m looking to make the switch to an SE role. I want actionable steps to make this move and push the ball forward.
Andy: Sure! Step one: don’t change your resumé.
Okay, hear me out. You might be an experienced software engineer with years of experience. That’s valuable to employers, as the case could be made that it is far more difficult to teach a sales-driven person technical skills than it is to teach sales skills to a technical person. What I would suggest you add to your resumé is an executive summary.
The PSC community has been generous with their advice, and the best I received early in my search was to let recruiters and hiring managers know that you’re submitting a software engineering resumé and you’re looking to transition to an SE role. You can employ ChatGPT from Github to create this short blurb if you need some help.
Another useful feature is that there are built-in chat prompts that are community driven which you might find helpful in other parts of your life like positioning ChatGPT as an interviewer for a SE position or even prompting it to act as a life coach. The world is yours!
Resumé not getting results?
SWE: Okay, so I’m submitting resumés with executive summaries and getting rejections. What should I do now?
Andy: Change your resumé.
The approach of submitting my resumé with an executive summary helped secure initial interviews with two different companies. My engineering background (Ruby on Rails, high growth SaaS, eight years at same company) is what got me the interviews. That’s pretty much it, though, after a hundred job submissions.
My conversion rate for receiving an initial interview was around 2%.
Now is the time to get creative. I’m sure your resumé has numbers that reflect the features you’ve built for companies. That’s great, but there’s a huge supply of qualified workers and so many hiring managers to filter all your resumés! They’re probably overworked. Make sure the hiring managers see keywords in your resumé that reflect their job postings — and that alone will position your resumé for a better chance to be accepted.
As you search for roles, take note of the job qualifications and tailor those bullet points to your resumé. You might be surprised how much your current role can relate to job qualifications for PreSales roles. Current software engineers might be able to use the following:
- Collaboration with cross-functional teams to integrate third party software
- Serving and consulting key stakeholders, including C-level executives and Solutions teams, in product discovery
- Evangelized technology through conferences, product interviews, and meetups
Other valuable keywords from my research are: advised, upsold, RESTful APIs, RFI/RFP, product demo, value-based selling, rapport. This would be the toughest challenge in the job hunt, as you want to maintain integrity while also finding a way to stand out from the crowd. It’s a delicate balance and I’m happy to look over your resumé if you want a second opinion. Reach out to me and I’ll do my best to provide valuable feedback.
Using all available channels
SWE: My resumé is now filled with keywords from job postings I feel qualified for. I’m submitting to Solutions Engineering positions on LinkedIn. Anywhere else I should submit for Solutions or Sales Engineering roles?
Andy: Yes, plenty of job boards and I’ll list them below.
There are multiple role titles that fall under the PreSales umbrella:
- Solutions Consultant
- Solutions Engineer
- Solutions Architect
- Sales Engineer
- PreSales Engineer
- Post-Sales Engineer
You can find openings for these roles on job boards like the following:
Key Takeaways
- Attempt to apply for SE roles with your current resumé. Your software engineering skills are valuable and while they might not show in this climate, they are certainly worth promoting. The right company could find your experience extremely valuable.
- Leverage ChatGPT to personalize your executive summaries and streamline that process.
- Use unconventional job boards in addition to LinkedIn to expand and diversify your job search. More job submissions means more chances for opportunities.
About Andy Huynh
I'm a software engineer currently looking for Solutions Engineering roles since June 2023. This post shares my experiences as well as actionable steps that software engineers can take to position themselves better for SE roles in the last few months of this year and beyond.
Q4 is quickly approaching, and hiring will only become more stringent (companies tend to hire less during the holidays). This is a common trend across industries and roles, but a head shot to the PreSales community — as 2023 has been one of the coldest hiring sprees in recent memory.
Software engineers looking to make a transition into Solutions Engineering, Sales Engineering, or similar flavors have unique challenges in this climate:
- How do we stand out from a crowded market without sales experience?
- Why doesn’t the market notice our highly desirable technical skills like we expect?
- Why is the market the way it is now?
If you’re still reading and feel triggered, I too share these feelings and have experienced the ups and downs applying to positions in the market since June 2023. I’ll share my experiences submitting my resumé to over 200 SE-related roles, tools I leveraged for application productivity, my resumé adjustments, and more.
Dusting off that resumé
Before we get to that, it should be noted that the market is primed for a turnaround. According to PSC insiders, if you’re considering the move, now is a great time to strategize your transition into the new year for Q1 2024. Companies typically favor more experienced SEs, but there’s an angle to capitalize on for more technical folks that understand the nuances when speaking with clients.
SWE: So I’m looking to make the switch to an SE role. I want actionable steps to make this move and push the ball forward.
Andy: Sure! Step one: don’t change your resumé.
Okay, hear me out. You might be an experienced software engineer with years of experience. That’s valuable to employers, as the case could be made that it is far more difficult to teach a sales-driven person technical skills than it is to teach sales skills to a technical person. What I would suggest you add to your resumé is an executive summary.
The PSC community has been generous with their advice, and the best I received early in my search was to let recruiters and hiring managers know that you’re submitting a software engineering resumé and you’re looking to transition to an SE role. You can employ ChatGPT from Github to create this short blurb if you need some help.
Another useful feature is that there are built-in chat prompts that are community driven which you might find helpful in other parts of your life like positioning ChatGPT as an interviewer for a SE position or even prompting it to act as a life coach. The world is yours!
Resumé not getting results?
SWE: Okay, so I’m submitting resumés with executive summaries and getting rejections. What should I do now?
Andy: Change your resumé.
The approach of submitting my resumé with an executive summary helped secure initial interviews with two different companies. My engineering background (Ruby on Rails, high growth SaaS, eight years at same company) is what got me the interviews. That’s pretty much it, though, after a hundred job submissions.
My conversion rate for receiving an initial interview was around 2%.
Now is the time to get creative. I’m sure your resumé has numbers that reflect the features you’ve built for companies. That’s great, but there’s a huge supply of qualified workers and so many hiring managers to filter all your resumés! They’re probably overworked. Make sure the hiring managers see keywords in your resumé that reflect their job postings — and that alone will position your resumé for a better chance to be accepted.
As you search for roles, take note of the job qualifications and tailor those bullet points to your resumé. You might be surprised how much your current role can relate to job qualifications for PreSales roles. Current software engineers might be able to use the following:
- Collaboration with cross-functional teams to integrate third party software
- Serving and consulting key stakeholders, including C-level executives and Solutions teams, in product discovery
- Evangelized technology through conferences, product interviews, and meetups
Other valuable keywords from my research are: advised, upsold, RESTful APIs, RFI/RFP, product demo, value-based selling, rapport. This would be the toughest challenge in the job hunt, as you want to maintain integrity while also finding a way to stand out from the crowd. It’s a delicate balance and I’m happy to look over your resumé if you want a second opinion. Reach out to me and I’ll do my best to provide valuable feedback.
Using all available channels
SWE: My resumé is now filled with keywords from job postings I feel qualified for. I’m submitting to Solutions Engineering positions on LinkedIn. Anywhere else I should submit for Solutions or Sales Engineering roles?
Andy: Yes, plenty of job boards and I’ll list them below.
There are multiple role titles that fall under the PreSales umbrella:
- Solutions Consultant
- Solutions Engineer
- Solutions Architect
- Sales Engineer
- PreSales Engineer
- Post-Sales Engineer
You can find openings for these roles on job boards like the following:
Key Takeaways
- Attempt to apply for SE roles with your current resumé. Your software engineering skills are valuable and while they might not show in this climate, they are certainly worth promoting. The right company could find your experience extremely valuable.
- Leverage ChatGPT to personalize your executive summaries and streamline that process.
- Use unconventional job boards in addition to LinkedIn to expand and diversify your job search. More job submissions means more chances for opportunities.
About Andy Huynh
I'm a software engineer currently looking for Solutions Engineering roles since June 2023. This post shares my experiences as well as actionable steps that software engineers can take to position themselves better for SE roles in the last few months of this year and beyond.
Q4 is quickly approaching, and hiring will only become more stringent (companies tend to hire less during the holidays). This is a common trend across industries and roles, but a head shot to the PreSales community — as 2023 has been one of the coldest hiring sprees in recent memory.
Software engineers looking to make a transition into Solutions Engineering, Sales Engineering, or similar flavors have unique challenges in this climate:
- How do we stand out from a crowded market without sales experience?
- Why doesn’t the market notice our highly desirable technical skills like we expect?
- Why is the market the way it is now?
If you’re still reading and feel triggered, I too share these feelings and have experienced the ups and downs applying to positions in the market since June 2023. I’ll share my experiences submitting my resumé to over 200 SE-related roles, tools I leveraged for application productivity, my resumé adjustments, and more.
Dusting off that resumé
Before we get to that, it should be noted that the market is primed for a turnaround. According to PSC insiders, if you’re considering the move, now is a great time to strategize your transition into the new year for Q1 2024. Companies typically favor more experienced SEs, but there’s an angle to capitalize on for more technical folks that understand the nuances when speaking with clients.
SWE: So I’m looking to make the switch to an SE role. I want actionable steps to make this move and push the ball forward.
Andy: Sure! Step one: don’t change your resumé.
Okay, hear me out. You might be an experienced software engineer with years of experience. That’s valuable to employers, as the case could be made that it is far more difficult to teach a sales-driven person technical skills than it is to teach sales skills to a technical person. What I would suggest you add to your resumé is an executive summary.
The PSC community has been generous with their advice, and the best I received early in my search was to let recruiters and hiring managers know that you’re submitting a software engineering resumé and you’re looking to transition to an SE role. You can employ ChatGPT from Github to create this short blurb if you need some help.
Another useful feature is that there are built-in chat prompts that are community driven which you might find helpful in other parts of your life like positioning ChatGPT as an interviewer for a SE position or even prompting it to act as a life coach. The world is yours!
Resumé not getting results?
SWE: Okay, so I’m submitting resumés with executive summaries and getting rejections. What should I do now?
Andy: Change your resumé.
The approach of submitting my resumé with an executive summary helped secure initial interviews with two different companies. My engineering background (Ruby on Rails, high growth SaaS, eight years at same company) is what got me the interviews. That’s pretty much it, though, after a hundred job submissions.
My conversion rate for receiving an initial interview was around 2%.
Now is the time to get creative. I’m sure your resumé has numbers that reflect the features you’ve built for companies. That’s great, but there’s a huge supply of qualified workers and so many hiring managers to filter all your resumés! They’re probably overworked. Make sure the hiring managers see keywords in your resumé that reflect their job postings — and that alone will position your resumé for a better chance to be accepted.
As you search for roles, take note of the job qualifications and tailor those bullet points to your resumé. You might be surprised how much your current role can relate to job qualifications for PreSales roles. Current software engineers might be able to use the following:
- Collaboration with cross-functional teams to integrate third party software
- Serving and consulting key stakeholders, including C-level executives and Solutions teams, in product discovery
- Evangelized technology through conferences, product interviews, and meetups
Other valuable keywords from my research are: advised, upsold, RESTful APIs, RFI/RFP, product demo, value-based selling, rapport. This would be the toughest challenge in the job hunt, as you want to maintain integrity while also finding a way to stand out from the crowd. It’s a delicate balance and I’m happy to look over your resumé if you want a second opinion. Reach out to me and I’ll do my best to provide valuable feedback.
Using all available channels
SWE: My resumé is now filled with keywords from job postings I feel qualified for. I’m submitting to Solutions Engineering positions on LinkedIn. Anywhere else I should submit for Solutions or Sales Engineering roles?
Andy: Yes, plenty of job boards and I’ll list them below.
There are multiple role titles that fall under the PreSales umbrella:
- Solutions Consultant
- Solutions Engineer
- Solutions Architect
- Sales Engineer
- PreSales Engineer
- Post-Sales Engineer
You can find openings for these roles on job boards like the following:
Key Takeaways
- Attempt to apply for SE roles with your current resumé. Your software engineering skills are valuable and while they might not show in this climate, they are certainly worth promoting. The right company could find your experience extremely valuable.
- Leverage ChatGPT to personalize your executive summaries and streamline that process.
- Use unconventional job boards in addition to LinkedIn to expand and diversify your job search. More job submissions means more chances for opportunities.
About Andy Huynh
I'm a software engineer currently looking for Solutions Engineering roles since June 2023. This post shares my experiences as well as actionable steps that software engineers can take to position themselves better for SE roles in the last few months of this year and beyond.
