ScorpionZD

Enterprise SDR

SDR - Love my lifestyle - Will AE drastically change it?

Enterprise SDR. Fully remote. Hit my # almost every quarter, except for when ramping.

I work about 6 hours per day, have a good balance of how to spend my time to get results. Many deals I've sourced have closed. I am in good standing with everyone I work with.

It's been 1.5 years now, I've been talking to AEs, and other SDRs about potentially becoming an AE. Base will basically be me at quota right now, way more stock...however I'm a bit worried that my lifestyle will change.

I love being remote, I work in different cities, have travelled to other countries without having to take time off, it's been great. A part of me wants to be a digital nomad.

I am weighing the pros and cons of AE... yes more workload and more pay, however It'll be a lot more stress and engagement.

Grind vs. Keep Coasting. I love how much free time I have, and the flexibility. But more money + challenge would also be beneficial

Thoughts? Any of you faced a similar dilemma?

✌️ Growing Pains

14

14 comments

Sort by:

BmajoR

Arsonist

11

Account Executive

You might be one of the unicorns that enjoys and thrives doing SDR work. If so, the natural progression in my mind for you would be a managerial ladder in the bizdev world.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

This is a first for me.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

2

Enterprise AE

lol same

SalesMama

Executive

0

Senior Account Executive

I would disagree— manager = internal meetings and additional requirements with less pay increase upside vs. becoming an AE, from my POV

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

If you’re posting about maybe taking on another role, you might want to just consider moving to a more challenging role and having a single job that pays exceptionally well, and putting all your focus into that job.

I’m an EAE. Some days I work 4-6 hours. Other weeks, it’s 10-12 hours/day and I’m still not caught up. But I control my output and am rewarded for effort in the form of closed deals and quota attainment. And that in turn affords me the lifestyle I want.

Make of that what you will. Everybody finds their own level.

DataCorrupter

Politicker

4

Account Executive

I'm in the same place as Sunbunny, some days 4-6 hours, others 10-12.

During the downtimes, I tend to take advantage of it a little more than I'd care to admit publicly.

If you want to maintain the ability to travel, etc, just work at a fully remote company where no one watches your Slack availability like a hawk.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

No, I have only seen pros during my journey to becoming an AE - growth, money, experience. SDR was vice-versa for me - way more grind (for good of course)

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

Consider this as you weigh it out: As an AE, your scope can transform into one where you can truly solve business problems. Clearly you've proven that you can extract time from someone's calendar. But that's the payoff. That's the win.
If you're running the pitch, it's a much grander gratification. Yes, it's the money first. If you don't want more money and want to keep your current schedule you can be a lifer. But at some point, you're going to want to feel like what you do serves some purpose. You can help businesses if they let you.
Then, when that has run its course, which it may never, you can manage people. You can teach people how to help businesses. It's a noble profession.

asdjeff

2

Sales Director

If you are on the fence you should not be an AE. It is a more demanding job, at least in my experience. If you become an AE making money should be your primary motivation, not lifestyle. No shame in liking what you do and staying a SDR (i assume that means Sales Development Rep, or Biz dev) and/or moving up that chain.

Sadboysales

Opinionated

2

Account Executive

I was in your shoes 3 years ago, i was obliterating my quota working 3 hours a week, would hit my quarterly quota two weeks in, life was great. And this is completely remote.
This happened for 4 quarters straight, and I didn't feel challenged, largely because i wasn't. Was promoted to AE with a massive quota and no training, we had really poor leadership/management that didn't set me up for life as an AE. Had to learn a lot(still learning) and unlearn bad habits because of it. Now at other companies, i'm in a better situation.
I travel a lot as an AE, it's definitely easy to continue that aspect of life, i've been in 10 countries since the start of the year.
My advice would be don't just assume since you're a good SDR that you will be a good AE, it's a different skillset. There's also SE, SDR management, partnerships, ops and other roles you can look into if you're unsure on AE.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

0

Sales Rep

What do the AEs say are the big changes. what is there average work schedule look like?

lieselfuel

Member

0

Regional Vice President

AE life is harder but also you are the owner of your business- so if you’re efficient you can still balance your workload so long as you’re meeting your customer needs.
There are also hybrid AE roles out there: be part of a support team for an enterprise AE, be an Account Manager versus an AE, maybe move into a business development role up market. Plenty of options out there. Just have to decide what’s best for you!

Handfullofsass

Opinionated

0

SDR

I’m going through the same thing right now. Does your company allow AEs to be remote as well?

SalesMama

Executive

0

Senior Account Executive

I have the flexibility you’ve described above as an Enterprise AE and love it. I also think you could only be an SDR for so long before it becomes very very hard to take on a full cycle role. I don’t see any reason not to make the leap to AE, given the right opportunity/patch/role

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

© 2024 Bravado Inc. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy Legal and Privacy Center Sales Jobs

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.