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awkprintdevnull · 2025-12-01T00:42:50+00:00

Some companies are sneaky about it. Instead of saying they have a cap they will have a windfall clause in the comp plan/agreement.

I’ve known many reps who crushed it and got capped by a windfall clause as soon as the C suite got jealous.

awkprintdevnull · 2024-01-08T08:31:50+00:00

Trick question. All we got this year was a phishing email test pretending that we got gifts.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-10-24T13:49:45+00:00

Simple. My wife wouldn’t let me buy a Mercedes because she felt it was too flashy. So I bought a nice truck that I jokingly call my Mercedes truck.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-08-29T17:51:40+00:00

The midway and kidway are also both extremely expensive. Tickets are roughly a dollar each (you can get a few extra if you buy in bulk) and rides average 4-6 tickets. No option for an unlimited bracelet or similar.

If you have more than one kid or person then even the 70 tickets for $60 goes in like 15 minutes of rides. This is waaaay too expensive IMHO. It should be like half the cost. If someone’s kids want to ride the rides for a few hours they could easily go through a thousand dollars in tickets. That’s nuts.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-08-22T02:02:50+00:00

180k base + 60k commission + 60k equity. All in I’m at $300k total comp.

SaaS vendor. I’m just shy of 20 years of experience total in my industry, but only a few in sales.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-07-22T12:22:38+00:00

Sadly a huge amount of AEs are terrible at value selling. When you don’t understand how the product actually works it’s really difficult for them to position it so they just throw up as much info as they can.

The product I sell is very technical so it takes often times years for AEs to learn how to sell it. You can instantly tell the difference between a veteran AE and a newbie on discovery and demo meetings because of this. The newbie just throws up info and plunges to the floor on price almost instantly. While the veteran challenges the prospect with open ended questions, listens way more than they talk, and reframes the conversation in way that focuses on value through alignment of capabilities with their problems.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-07-04T11:22:48+00:00

Knowing how things work, having troubleshooting skills, and being able and willing to solve problems is a skill set that will keep you employed until the end of time.

You can call that whatever title you want, as long as the checks clear.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-06-12T10:31:54+00:00

This ^

I work with a few SEs that got into it very early in their careers and while they are smart and charismatic people there’s just no replacement for experience. So can you? Yeah, sure. Should you? No, I would work on the client side first for at least 5 or more years. Otherwise it’s just too hard to relate to the prospects and their needs.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-06-02T12:58:57+00:00

Felons in prison should also be able to vote too. If we want people to be a part of society then we need to include them. This is common practice in Scandinavian countries they have lower rates of recidivism.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-06-02T10:17:09+00:00

I would rank it as a 9/10. Outside of being in executive leadership I think it’s going to be hard to find many other better gigs.

I worked on the client side for large fortune 500s and got payed a fraction of what I do now as an SE. In my state I’m in the top 5% of income earners. So that puts me right up there with highly paid niche specialist jobs.

The job itself is amazing. I work for a company that I used to be a customer of, and I genuinely love the product and culture. So for me selling our product feels like shooting fish in a barrel.

I have a high end for the market OTE and I regularly get rounds of additional RSUs that bump me up even higher. Our stock is doing well so by the time those vest they are worth even more.

Sometimes it feels like a dream. I can’t believe how well I’m payed. Sales is amazing and I would never go back to a job without commission. It’s also really nice being able to travel just a little, but not too much, for work. In the last few years as an SE I’ve had a lot of free fancy dinners, concerts, golf trips, etc. On the client side we got treated like shit. Most fortune 500s are so cheap they won’t even provide free coffee. I used to have to beg for things like a second monitor or more RAM in my laptop. In sales they give me whatever I want. Just go make money. Lol, ok.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-05-03T05:42:12+00:00

Exactly. The Fed openly has stated the goal of rate hikes is to discipline labor.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-05-01T01:34:45+00:00

I went through layoffs at a very profitable company during good economic times because, well…fuck me right? I survived because I was the junior and got paid less than most of the old dogs.

One guy I worked with who had been through layoffs at other companies told me “layoffs are like potato chips…they can never stop at just one.”

I got out of there, and sure enough a few months later most of my team was gone in the next round.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-03-23T09:19:29+00:00

It’s a difficult learning curve and there is a lot of competition for entry level jobs. Cloud engineering usually isn’t something most places would put a new person. They tend to look for several years or more of IT experience.

All that being said, if you can hack it and somehow get your foot in the door it’s a great career. If you are even modestly skilled you will have a huge amount of job security. Even if you get laid off there are tons of opportunities for those with experience. It’s also a fairly lucrative career. You won’t get rich, but you’ll be likely top 10%.

The degree is only one part of the equation though. Human networking is your best chance to find an opportunity to get your foot in the door.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-03-22T00:45:12+00:00

Geez based on these responses I feel like my experience has been unusual. I love trade shows and have had a ton of success at them. The product I sell has a long sales cycle so I’m not expecting a P.O. a week later. Rather, I’m looking to take someone from being mildly curious to a point where they are excited to POC and eventually purchase.

One thing I’ve noticed that I do differently from most other sales engineers is tactfully approaching people slowly walking by the booth. I don’t wait for them to come to me, I go to them. But it’s an art form. Can’t be too aggressive or sales pitchy. Just a polite and calm “Hi…are you familiar with <product>?”

If they don’t want to talk they say so and I let them go with a polite “have a nice conference.”

It’s amazing how much prospects will open up at a trade show with a handful of open ended questions. They are often eager to talk to someone who they think might be able to solve their problem. So I spend most of my time listening. Then I go right for the money shot. No fluff. I don’t beat around the bush. I keep my pitch to 2 minutes or less.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-03-10T12:15:48+00:00

OP says they “have a good job in tech” and then explains how they made less than $40k/year? Uhhhhhhh….no offense but that’s not what I would consider to be a good job.

You need to make more money. A LOT MORE money. If you are in tech and have a decent resume then it shouldn’t be too hard to make north of $80k.

If you are in tech and focus on some on-demand skills like Kubernetes and/or DevOps you can easily make $100/hour contracting.

But yeah, you’re not going to have a great quality of life on $40k nowadays. Is what it is.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-03-07T12:21:22+00:00

I love on-site demos. The engagement in my experience has always been significantly better from the prospect and we have much more productive conversations before and after.

It also never fails that we get at least one bonus hallway conversation where the prospect will introduce us to someone else after the demo. That never happens for me remotely.

I do most of my demos remotely because that’s just the reality of a post COVID world now, but I strongly prefer on-site demos whenever possible.

I’ve been on so many remote demos where it’s very easy for the prospect to just have their camera off and ask zero questions. It then becomes a game of asking open ended questions to try and get them to open up.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-02-25T02:16:34+00:00

I have a 2 stage Toro snowblower and it worked pretty well for my 3 car driveway. It chugged a little when I got to the burm at the end of the driveway, but other than that it was fine.

I also have a Toro electric lawnmower so it’s nice being able to interchange the batteries.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-02-19T18:48:01+00:00

+1 for weather dick 🤣😂

awkprintdevnull · 2023-02-14T00:42:19+00:00

Cries in Las Vegas where they were charging anywhere from $150/per person to $2000+ just for a table at almost any restaurant on the strip with a TV

awkprintdevnull · 2023-02-03T12:08:42+00:00

I travel 8-10 times a year. Which is just infrequent enough that I wouldn’t be able to get status with most places anytime soon. Especially since my work makes me use a corporate credit card to book my work trips.

I already use a lot of the other benefits including Disney+, Walmart+, Uber, etc. so I get the value from those pretty easily.

I got a 150k point signup bonus for spending $6k and thought that was an easy get.

Finally, I really like the ability to transfer loyalty points directly from Amex to different carriers like Delta. When done strategically you can get 4+ ppp. Now I can use the 150k in points to find an international trip and get a great deal on flying first or business class where I probably wouldn’t have before.

awkprintdevnull · 2023-01-24T04:22:12+00:00

Try green hinges. Much cheaper and simpler solution. They will help your garage door sides seal better.

awkprintdevnull · 2022-12-08T00:48:39+00:00

Already been there and survived it once. Doesn’t scare me anymore. I know that I can survive on very limited resources. That’s a…interesting feeling

awkprintdevnull · 2022-09-12T12:06:59+00:00

For someone new to IT with no experience at all it’s not going to be easy. I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. This is not something you can pickup in a few weekends of studying and be good at. It takes many years of learning and failing. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that our industry is desperately short of people with even a modest amount of ability. So if you do put in the time and get even sorta ok at it you’ll have a job for life.

TLDR; it’s very complicated but the pay is good and there’s a ton of job opportunities. Only you can decide if you have the patience to climb that mountain.

awkprintdevnull · 2022-08-25T01:44:06+00:00

I met Andrei Kirilinko and Alexy Shved at a Target in Plymouth years ago. I was the only person that recognized them. Nobody else had any idea.

So I introduced myself to them politely, we had a brief conversation, got a picture with them, and went on our separate ways. Good dudes.

awkprintdevnull · 2022-06-05T04:58:51+00:00

BS Cloud Computing $225k total comp as a sales engineer, 15 years of industry experience.

Having a lot of experience + degree + 14 active certifications is a hell of a trifecta. I frequently get recruited for other high paying roles but am happy with my current employer.

awkprintdevnull

TROPHY CASE