surepal

AE (Account Executive)

Burnt out on software, data center hardware roles?

I started my career selling heavy process automation equipment into factories. It wasn't glamorous, my company paid me peanuts and I felt a little out of place selling to more blue collar clientele. Actually didn't hate the hardware part of the sales since it was very consultive and you were pretty successful if you just showed up.

5 years ago I made the move into software, mostly supply chain execution/process improvement software like ERP/WMS so it's not "SaaS" but still software. I've been objectively successful, presidents club every full year I worked, made pretty good money and am liked at my companies.

Maybe I've been unlucky at my companies but I am burnt out with the IT/Ops/Product/Procurement/Implementation/Procurement dance between my company and the customer. Our product is very technical and very customizable so I always need something from someone and am over being the questions middle man and always waiting on someone else.

Part of me in romanticizing getting back into a named account hardware role but I'm thinking that data center and cloud hardware could be the best of both worlds, ride the software growth momentum but get back into the less complex environment.

Is anyone in the HDD/servers/hardware space? Am I crazy for dipping out of enterprise software?

🦾 Hardware Tech

☁️ Software Tech

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8 comments

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Pachacuti

Politicker

3

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

The grass is never greener...

You will just exchange one set of problems for another. That said, sometimes you gotta do it anyway.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

I can tell you for a fact you will still have to be the middle man, waiting on others to complete their internal processes before you get a deal finished. The bigger the company, the more red tape.

Can you take a few weeks off to reset?

surepal

1

AE (Account Executive)

Yeah, that’s probably the reality. I’m more struggling with an understaffed presales and implementation team. <br><br>If it’s not an understaffed implementation team then it’s supply chain issues and chasing down tracking numbers.

I can’t, I took a few months off last year to try and branch off on my own “side project” that gained so much momentum I had to choose between the two. That crashed spectacularly and I need to work. That’s probably contributing to this also.

braintank

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

All I know is ENT SaaS, but won't you still have to deal with IT/Ops/Product/Procurement/Implementation/Procurement in cloud hardware?

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

1

Professional Day Ruiner

be a reseller in the hardware space. Look at the red river's, copper river's, trace3, wwt's of the world. When it comes ro hardware, the reseller space is where you make crazy $$$. That way you can sell entire buildouts as opposed to a single piece of their data center.

surepal

1

AE (Account Executive)

That’s awesome insight! Appreciate it

Reviked

Contributor

1

Federal Account Manager

Do you really want to deal with the supply chain issues in the hardware space. Currently I sell hardware (servers, storage, desktops, laptops) and am looking to move to software. The margins are so thin on hardware that it’s no fun. Plus anything can delay your shipment so you don’t get paid

surepal

0

AE (Account Executive)

Grass is always greener right? It’s likely my last two companies are not running the tightest ship but my experience with hardware is that it’s a little more old school. I’m also just over 6 months into my new role and it’s like pulling teeth to get anything done internally. These problems are probably everywhere I just needed to vent.

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