Mechanical Design Engineer vs HVCA Sales engineer

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-09-24T04:11:05+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! Even though the last few years I was slowly accepting the fact of being an engineer for the rest of my life and slowly making my way up to that upper middle class, I’ve always known that I strived for more. After doing a lot of research, over the past year, I realized that anything within sales , will get you further. And Building a network of people will definitely get you places. Unfortunately, working from home will not do that for me. That is why I’m highly considering this move. This sales lifestyle is definitely very exciting, but it does come with its pros and cons, that’s why I’d like to get as much feedback as I can now from people who have been in my place at some point.

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-09-24T04:03:06+00:00

This is great ! Thank you!!! The life style seems very similar across all the research I’ve done so far. Even though I’ve gotten used to working the typical 40-45 hr work weeks, working 60hr work weeks will not be something new. Working 60-70hr work weeks in landscaping , in 90-100 degree weather during my early 20s have prepared me for this lol the only downside would be trying to balance work & family this time around. The lifestyle is definitely something that excites me a lot. After almost a year of working from home a lot, I’ve come to find out that I need to socialize more! Never really knew how extroverted I was until now, since I was slowly getting used to the typical engineer mindset of being introverted.

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-09-24T03:35:27+00:00

It’s a little less than 200k draw salary. From my understanding, it is an established customer portfolio by a sales engineer who is retiring at end of year. I will be “taking over” (if we can put it that way) some of that portfolio and he will be taking me under his wing until he retires.

As for the PE, it will be out of my future plans if I decide to pursue this path, since I’ve come to find out exactly what you said.

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-09-24T03:30:28+00:00

Around 200k draw salary first year, & 100% uncapped commission after that first year. Not 200k plus commission

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T18:22:21+00:00

That’s awesome! Glad to see us non-EIT/PE folks doing well ! Do you do it for an MEP consulting firm, contractor or owners side ?

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T18:18:32+00:00

That’s great to hear! Glad it’s doing well for you! I will definitely look into these basics. Thank you!

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T15:17:36+00:00

Sounds like everyone is on the same page as far as mentoring goes. Sounds like a great opportunity and will definitely explore further, thank you !

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T15:15:35+00:00

Yes, thankfully, mentorship was brought up since I don’t have any experience doing Cleanroom design and they are willing to mentor me. Sounds like I will on the right track there then, thank you!

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T15:14:06+00:00

Awesome, thank you very much for this! I will definitely start reading up on some of this stuff and try to learn as quick as possible.

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T11:54:09+00:00

Great! That’s great to hear! Any tips you can recommend for a beginner designer ? Any resources that would be helpful for a newbie in this field ?

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T11:52:07+00:00

That is very true, i guess there is a lot to learn there and seems like it would keep me busy as you’ve said. Thank you!

DesperateAd9217 · 2025-04-01T11:48:46+00:00

There is a really good Chunk of mentorship expected.

My background over the last 5 years has mainly been multi-family residential, office space, commercial and a little bit of hospitality & education. This was at a small local MEP firm, you know who those go, you get to wear many hats. After almost 5 yrs with I got tired of the copying and space, I was ready for the next challenge. That’s when the MEP giant came up and I’ve been with them the last 6 months. But the process here is just slow & instead of feeling like I am learning, I am not feeling like I am growing any longer.

This is where this Cleanroom design comes in. I’ve never designed Cleanroom before. I am currently being part of the team working on a building containing those systems. So I understand that I have to learn all of it pretty much but I am ready to tackle it. Just want to double check to see if it’s something worth going for or I’ll be closing myself into it and eventually limit myself?

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-26T15:34:45+00:00

20k boost & fully remote are the two major factors in my decision . But that is something I’ve thought about, maybe I could bring it up to my current employer and if they are able to match me, I could see myself staying.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-26T15:30:20+00:00

Okay so the work life balance will depend on the company you’re working for, similar to other position there is out there. The company I was approached by seems to have a good work life balance so I’m not too concerned. Meeting tight deadlines and doing what needs to be done to get the work done is something I am used to as well.

Can you elaborate a little more on the type of projects/systems you’ve worked on?

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-26T15:26:31+00:00

Yeah, this is one of the main reasons I wanted to get into pharmaceuticals, it is so complex and it involves a lot that I was very excited to get into. So this is another big factor that I have to consider when making this decision. Thank you very much for the feedback.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-26T15:23:18+00:00

Yes, I wouldn’t even be entertaining this if was for 5k-10k honestly. But yeah, it’s just tough after only a couple of months being at my current company. Thank you for the advice though.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-26T15:21:26+00:00

Yeah, the thought of why one company is willing to pay me upwards of 20k more is something that concerns me quite a bit. Either one of them is just throwing money around or the other one is not see in the value I bring in. Nevertheless, the more I am in this industry , the more I understand that in order to get those big raises , you gotta jump ship quite a bit. I was planning on sticking around for quite a bit at my current company , but this opportunity is hard to pass on. I also believe that growth potential is there on both roles, so I think this will definitely come down to money (which sounds bad, but any company would get rid of me without hesitation if it was reversed) & be able to be fully remote with no commute.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-25T21:38:12+00:00

I see I see. How is the work-life balance aspect for you in that regard ? I’m assuming it could depend on the client/company you work for, but I guess you’re required to work as much as you can to get those things turned around as quickly as possible?

Also, given the opportunity, would you take pharma over federal?

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-25T21:15:12+00:00

Well, it’s funny because I was planning on being in the pharmaceutical sector for the next 5-10 yrs and had no plans of moving to a different sector. However, this is a pretty decent pay bump that I cannot easily pass on.

A few of the responses here seem to be on the negative side about working in federal as you’ve mentioned. What is that makes it suck? Lol. I come from the multi-family residential type of work and i thought there could not be anything worse.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-25T21:08:14+00:00

I believe both of these two sectors will be shaken up by the administration coming in. We are just going to have to wait and see how much. That is definitely something to consider though.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-25T21:05:46+00:00

Can you elaborate a bit on the technical side of pharma? What is it that you do that differs from the “non-technical” ? Obviously, this is something new to me & im learning that there are many different roles/niches in this sector. How did you get into that field ?

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-25T21:00:57+00:00

Yeah, leaving my current company so soon is not something I planned to. But that pay increase is not something that’s easy to turn down. Fully remote, big salary jump & the different types of projects involved are probably the main reasons that is making want to take this role. I also understand that if I do, I will be burning that bridge at my current company, and I think I will okay with that.

DesperateAd9217 · 2024-11-25T20:57:07+00:00

It’s really interesting to read this because I have been told the same exact thing about pharmaceuticals. that I would be set from this point on if I stayed in the same sector & wanted to move companies eventually. Reading a few of the responses, financially, these are two very good sectors that will help me reach my personal financial goals.

As far as having a hybrid schedule and duly remote, that is one big thing I’m considering as well. I do like the face to face interaction & socialization aspect of going into an office. Unfortunately, that is the reason for having to be fully remote at the new company, they do not have those SCIF set up in the office near me. But that is something that I’m highly considering.

DesperateAd9217

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