Related Posts
CAIA vs CFA?
How is career and technical growth in Cognizant?
Im currently working at a Data Center, I’m Currently L3 and I’m wanting to see other options within Google. The problem is, as much as I reach out to Hiring managers and other Googlers in other ladders for information on what they do to get a better idea of other roles, I get no response. What’s a good way of networking to other googlers in other ladders. I feel Data Centers are so looked down upon and so out of touch with the rest of Google
More Posts
Anyone have a recommended tax person in Chicago?
Additional Posts in Sales Engineers
What percentage of your total comp is in RSUs?
I have two years of automotive/aerospace manufacturing experience and am looking for new opportunities. I recently applied to a Solution Engineer - Commercial Manufacturing, Automotive, Energy (MAE) role at Salesforce, and it sounds like a great fit. Is anyone willing to offer me a referral or advice on how to move forward in the hiring process? Salesforce
New to Fishbowl?
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.





Also, are you applying to actual SE jobs? It’s rare, but I have interviewed applicants for an SE role, only to discover they thought it was an opening for a Software Engineer.
I don’t blame the applicants; they were simply spraying-and-praying their resumes at every SE role. I blame the ex-lumberjack recruiter we hired because he was one of the VP’s nephews.
Shit, we had a CyberSOC analyst opening, and he fwded me a resume of a warehouse security guard. I drank early that day.
There are opportunities out there that don't require coding knowledge. Keep looking and consider other job titles that are basically the same like solutions architect (though that title has many other meanings and job descriptions as well).
Bowl Leader
I'm far from a coder, and it does make the market limiting unless you level up a few spots in specific areas.
If you can exhibit many of the key skills for being a SE, such as pain identification, listening, aligning product capabilities with the pains positioning your tool as the solution, and curiosity, you're in a very good position to be a SE.
I’m an SE at Salesforce and it doesnt require coding whatsoever for any of our core products
What’s your background in? Do you have relevant work experience to the role?
Unfortunately it seems like people have been jumping to become sales engineer but most programs are training basics and there are a lot more requirements to learn. I hope you can find a position in this area. Most have to get more certifications or go to a different sales position.
Depends on the product. If the product is for a technical audience then coding helps. If it's for business users then no
It’s the jobs and companies you’re applying for. All SE-like jobs require you to be able to perform demos and guide your clients through their adoption phases.
You don’t normally need to code, but if you’re selling solutions that require code to even demo that, you have to be able to do it while an audience is watching you. Or worse, teach them to code on breakouts.
It’s why it can be easier to pivot to SE’ing from the consulting, integration and dev side of things.
It totally depends on the company and what they need you to do. But if it says they expect it in the job description, then you should expect it to be part of the interview.
Thanks for all the responses. As usual, you peoples are awesome. So, I guess to clarify, I've been a pre-sales engineer for a few years. Back when I started, it seemed like every job was either for engineers or you needed to understand APIs, but that was about it.
However, now, every job API's are an expectation with scripting in Python, SQL, and data transfer skills, as well as webhooks and cross-software integrations. I'm not kidding when I say I recently lost out on a really good job, final round, because the other guy was a former developer, this was for a logistics company with a lot of hardware (exactly what I currently do). Then I get to a final round at another company that gives me a take home, and it's machine learning in a live environment with database structuring questions 🫣. The only time I find an SE job that's not that way it then requires me to move to like Atlanta and be on-site 😬. Lastly, I'm able to find maybe 3 actual SE jobs a week if I'm lucky that are even hiring (job climate I guess).
Oh, salesforce would be awesome, but they haven't been hiring for a while from what I heard?
Salesforce is one of the hardest places IME to get an interview. I’ve had people offer referrals, crafted resumes, and even applied roles within hours of posting - and still auto reject
I don’t do any coding, I used to powershell when I was internal but not anymore. Really depends on the vertical you operate in, I’m in telecom and networking so coding doesn’t have much of a place here.
Bowl Leader
What experience is required or helpful for a SE role in telecom?
Not a coder or technical at all I have a liberal arts background.
I’m a core SE at salesforce and I don’t code, but I have deep knowledge of config in the platform and enterprise architecture design and concepts