Is my employer expecting too much?

[OVerLoRDI]

This is my first job out of college and I've been at it for almost 2.5 years. I'm a "Sales Engineer" for a IT VAR. My job as I have understood it is as follows: Work with the outside/inside sales team to meet with customers, qualify opportunities, understand the customer criteria, recommend a solution, and close the deal. I support approximately 30 sales reps throughout the Bay area.

I've been very successful at this position, earning the respect of many of my peers along with a promotion and substantial raises. My promotion also saw my official responsibilities grow, as I was given a direct report who I have successfully trained and she is now exceeding her sales targets substantially.

The last 6 months or so I've been more stressed out than I've ever been, and decided to sit down and make a list of all the responsibilities that I have, official or otherwise. I limited the list to items I do regularly, not something I've done once as a result of a mitigating circumstance. Besides, the official responsibilities above, this is what I came up with, in no particular order:

Project management of outsourced implementations
Implementation of solutions sold with company implementation services
Customer support (warranty claims, exchanges, delivery issues)
Post-Sale Troubleshooting (technical support, escalations, etc)
Customer training
Sales Training (of not just my employee)
Order processing (All parts, except cutting the actual PO)
Identifying new products and forming new vendor partnership
New vendor registration process (Government/compliance)
Commission tracking (lots of errors)
Validation of customers environment prior to deal closing and/or install
Troubleshooting IT issues (I just fixed my own email indexing issues....)
POC/custom Demo setup and management

This is the only job I've known, and by all metrics I'm doing very well. However the responsibilities I have seem to be snowballing and I am getting overwhelmed. I get in nasty situations where I'm juggling all the unofficial stuff while trying to do my actual customer facing sales job and stuff starts falling through the cracks. I'm getting stressed out, not sleeping well, and having to work more and more hours. I honestly feel as if any unbounded issue that someone doesn't immediately know how to solve, gets sent my way.

I don't want to be some whiny entitled 20-something, which is why I'm asking for some unbiased perspective. So any of you that work consultant like jobs, I appreciate your feedback, as I have zero perspective as this is my first and only professional job.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sadly this is the way things are these days. Companies are hiring less staff and asking the existing "who are lucky to even have a job" to do way more and there are 100 other people lined up if you quit.

In a proper work environment all those tasks would be split off to different people but such environments are rare these days as companies want to maximize profits by hiring the least amount of staff as possible and just push their staff harder knowing that they are easily replaceable.

 

[Pulsar]

A "sales-engineer".

Great.

I thought the engineering title had hit rock bottom when we got to "Sanitation Engineer". I mean fuck, why not call yourself a "Selling MD", or "Master Seller, Esquire". I fucking hate it when people take something like the title engineer that some folks work extremely hard to obtain and then stamp it on a non-engineering degree. There are degrees in which you can take a test to become a Professional Engineer. Last I checked, sales wasn't one of them.

Ok. Rant over.

Make sure you do your primary job well. Take on what you can, and LET the other stuff fall through the cracks. Tell your boss it's going to in advance. An old saying us engineers use is "My plate is this big. Anything over here (points outside the plate) is going to fall off."

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Most - MOST - of that falls under the heading of "you are in sales and so you are the customers' bee-otch."

How big is the company you work for? (Number of employees and annual revenue; you don't need to name names.)

In a smaller org, people have to wear a lot of hats. In a larger company, not so much - at the very least, I'd expect the "project management of outsourced implementations" and "POC/custom Demo setup and management" to be different humans.

If you can get away with it, you generally want to have POC and customer-facing people as free as possible so they can be available for customer inquiries and, in their free time, finding more customers. What you don't want is to have your customer facing guy in a bad mood because his Project Manager hat was up until 2AM trying to explain HIPAA to a subcontractor in Bangalore.

No way sales guys should be troubleshooting their own IT issues.

Given that you're moving up in the org, and you have people (person) reporting to you, the ideal would be (if you can swing it) opening up another HR req to get another person reporting to you, to whom you can offload some of this stuff. (Smaller accounts, commission tracking, customer training - particularly onsite stuff - tracking down delivery issues with the courier so you can report back to the customer and take credit for resolving the problem. And so on.) This is assuming your existing peon/slave already has her plate full with existing clients and being sexually harassed by the IT staff.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah nothing wrong with letting them know you simply don't have the time. As much as it may be tempting to do OT don't offer it if you think it will become the norm, as you'll burn yourself out. For a specific project, sure, but not for ongoing stuff.

"I'll try to fit that in but I'm still working on X Y and Z but if you think this is higher priority I can move to that" is ok too.

That's the other thing, prioritization, it may be annoying but sometimes you have to jump between tasks to at least get some progress in all the important ones. That way no matter which task they ask you about you can actually say that you put some work into it.

 

[Leros]

You have a direct report? Are you delegating enough of your responsibilities?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You have a direct report? Are you delegating enough of your responsibilities?

Classic n00b manager mistake, seriously.

 

[zCypher]

What leros said. I'm not in management myself but it is very easy to spot who does well and who doesn't. People who don't delegate properly crash and burn, period. You can't do everything by the book and do everything that everyone asks of you, perfectly, every time, to such a standard that ensures your continued success. You need to manage your time efficiently and focus on the important big stuff, while knowing when and how to delegate the stuff that can be delegated.

The wearing a different hat part is definitely true. Even in a support type role I've found that I often had no choice but to take responsibility for shit way outside of my scope and see it through. I've become quite adept at getting the right people to do the right things for me, and it has only worked out positively for me. You kind of have to work smarter rather than harder. You have a finite amount of time per day, a finite amount of energy, but a seemingly infinite number of tasks. You need to identify the right way to do what will work out best for you. Not all these tasks are of equal importance.

This was probably a useless response.. But hey, maybe not.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

How big is the company you work for? (Number of employees and annual revenue; you don't need to name names.)

Given that you're moving up in the org, and you have people (person) reporting to you, the ideal would be (if you can swing it) opening up another HR req to get another person reporting to you, to whom you can offload some of this stuff.

300 employees, but I'm the only "Sales Engineer" or technical resource for the sales team in my region. Company did just shy of 80M last year. My team did about 4M of that, with me contributing 1.5M.

Sadly, head count is not approved as profitability for the department (the technical sales team) is down significantly, my numbers are great, the members of the team in other regions are performing significantly worse.

"I'll try to fit that in but I'm still working on X Y and Z but if you think this is higher priority I can move to that" is ok too.

That's the other thing, prioritization, it may be annoying but sometimes you have to jump between tasks to at least get some progress in all the important ones. That way no matter which task they ask you about you can actually say that you put some work into it.

I do a lot of that already. I prioritize deals based on two metrics. 1) how qualified is it and 2) how large is it. If the opportunities is well qualified but tiny, I let it fall through the cracks. If it is large, but unqualified, I invest time to qualify it. If it is both 1 and 2, well I've got a few of those and those are my primary focus for Q4.

You have a direct report? Are you delegating enough of your responsibilities?

She sadly is in a completely different region. I don't get overlay on anything she closes, so I actually have a negative incentive to delegate any revenue generating responsibilities. As far as offloading all these random responsibilities, she is either unqualified or busy enough doing her job or dealing with a different set of unofficial responsibilities that it us unrealistic to ask her to take on some of the above. Also, because she is in a different region, she has zero context of the customer, their environment, or the reps and/or managers involved.

A little extra info:

The company I work for is in the copier industry. So calling it an IT VAR is generous as they are attempting to add that business model on top of what amounts to a toner company. They launched a Managed IT business a few years ago, but it has been a disaster. I've been called up numerous times by that side of the team and asked to go onsite to troubleshoot something. I'd be surprised if we didn't get sued very shortly (no joke, one of our engineers nuked the customer's backups to free up space, migrated the files, screwed up the migration and the company lost everything except for a backup from 6+ months ago)

My manager, who comes from some big names in the IT world is also offering introductions at other companies to me. That is an interesting message, considering my performance, I doubt he'd want me to leave, so the only logical thing is that he is making sure I get taken care of if our department gets nuked.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Classic n00b manager mistake, seriously.

It's definitely possible, I should probably spend some time figure out if I can delegate more to her. But like I stated in the above post, any deals I pass to her, I lose my compensation on. So I've been having her focus on developing her own region, not gathering the scraps of mine, and she has been doing very well in her own region.

Essentially I'd be asking her to tackle a mess of customer support and implementation issues out of her region without a lot of context. That doesn't really seem fair or effective.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

A "sales-engineer".

Great.

I thought the engineering title had hit rock bottom when we got to "Sanitation Engineer". I mean fuck, why not call yourself a "Selling MD", or "Master Seller, Esquire". I fucking hate it when people take something like the title engineer that some folks work extremely hard to obtain and then stamp it on a non-engineering degree. There are degrees in which you can take a test to become a Professional Engineer. Last I checked, sales wasn't one of them.

If it makes you feel any better, my title is not actually "Sales Engineer" that is just the best description I can provide as my actual title is even vaguer than that.

 

[XavierMace]

thought the engineering title had hit rock bottom when we got to "Sanitation Engineer". I mean fuck, why not call yourself a "Selling MD", or "Master Seller, Esquire". I fucking hate it when people take something like the title engineer that some folks work extremely hard to obtain and then stamp it on a non-engineering degree. There are degrees in which you can take a test to become a Professional Engineer. Last I checked, sales wasn't one of them.

I wasn't aware of some global standard on what an engineer is. I mean I've had two different jobs with an engineering title and I've never even been to college. Neither has my uncle who's been an engineer for over 20 years now.

 

[OverVolt]

I'm a troll engineer.

 

[Leros]

As far as offloading all these random responsibilities, she is either unqualified or busy enough doing her job or dealing with a different set of unofficial responsibilities that it us unrealistic to ask her to take on some of the above.

You need to push people a bit to get them to grow. Part of your job is train and grow your people to be as effective as possible Thinking that nobody else can handle what you're doing is a classic trap. Give people a chance and they'll often surprise you.

I was leading a team of 5-7 engineers (depends how you count). My strategy was to delegate everything I possibly could which almost gave me enough time to do the things that nobody else could do.

 

[OverVolt]

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, yes, suck it up, economy blah blah.

 

[frostedflakes]

A "sales-engineer".

Great.

I thought the engineering title had hit rock bottom when we got to "Sanitation Engineer". I mean fuck, why not call yourself a "Selling MD", or "Master Seller, Esquire". I fucking hate it when people take something like the title engineer that some folks work extremely hard to obtain and then stamp it on a non-engineering degree. There are degrees in which you can take a test to become a Professional Engineer. Last I checked, sales wasn't one of them.

Ok. Rant over.

Make sure you do your primary job well. Take on what you can, and LET the other stuff fall through the cracks. Tell your boss it's going to in advance. An old saying us engineers use is "My plate is this big. Anything over here (points outside the plate) is going to fall off."

A sales engineer typically has a technical or engineering background and have a pretty in-depth understanding of the product they're selling. Pretty sure these positions usually require a bachelors degree in engineering or a related field as well. Not necessarily saying this is the case with OP's position, but I think you're assuming a lot if you think they just tacked the title "engineer" onto some conventional sales job just to make it sound more impressive.

Anyway OP, have you tried just voicing your concerns to your supervisor? As hard as it sounds like you work, I doubt you'd come off sounding whiny or entitled. It sounds like you might also take on a lot of responsibilities and collateral duties on your own initiative as well, so your supervisor may be piling more on you without necessary realizing what you've taken on yourself and are doing behind the scenes so to speak that already has your plate pretty full.

 

[z1ggy]

A sales engineer typically has a technical or engineering background and have a pretty in-depth understanding of the product they're selling. Pretty sure these positions usually require a bachelors degree in engineering or a related field as well. Not necessarily saying this is the case with OP's position, but I think you're assuming a lot if you think they just tacked the title "engineer" onto some conventional sales job just to make it sound more impressive.

Anyway OP, have you tried just voicing your concerns to your supervisor? As hard as it sounds like you work, I doubt you'd come off sounding whiny or entitled. It sounds like you might also take on a lot of responsibilities and collateral duties on your own initiative as well, so your supervisor may be piling more on you without necessary realizing what you've taken on yourself and are doing behind the scenes so to speak that already has your plate pretty full.

My buddy is a sales engineer for a company who sells microscopes, other science equipment, etc etc. His degree was in engineering and management. He took the lower level basic courses for all areas of engineering, plus the lower level math and science courses. While I was taking a 400 level electrical engineering course, he was taking a business or economics class, but we might have been in the same 300 level course the year before.

I've found working in the professional environment can be pretty tricky as a young person. If you don't speak up, you get run over by all the older and more senior people. When you do speak up, then you come off as entitled/a know-it-all, and a lot of people don't even respect your opinion. It can be difficult to navigate the work place still being politically correct, but not having your life suck, too.

 

[Scarpozzi]

You need to start with the primary questions here.

1. Do you like what you do?
2. Are you happy with your salary?
3. Are there better companies/opportunities in your field and region?

Sometimes it's better to hold tight in the job you have....sometimes it's better to move on. I am in a tough industry myself. I have the best hours, paid leave, and benefits...but bad pay. I stick around in my job and let my wife make money for the family. I try to keep my stress low and I take each day semi-seriously because I'm really only here for cheap insurance and 7 weeks of paid leave a year.

I do work hard, but I just try not to let things get to me.

A carpenter I hired last year was working on my job site (unrelated to my career)... I told him how much I appreciated how hard he was working. He looked at me with a serious face and said, "Hey man....it's just a job." Ever since then, I kind of tell myself the same thing about every job I do. At the end of the day, I'm not my job. I try to leave as much of it as work as possible.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

My manager, who comes from some big names in the IT world is also offering introductions at other companies to me. That is an interesting message, considering my performance, I doubt he'd want me to leave, so the only logical thing is that he is making sure I get taken care of if our department gets nuked.

This is telling.

 

[polarmystery]

A "sales-engineer".

Great.

I thought the engineering title had hit rock bottom when we got to "Sanitation Engineer". I mean fuck, why not call yourself a "Selling MD", or "Master Seller, Esquire". I fucking hate it when people take something like the title engineer that some folks work extremely hard to obtain and then stamp it on a non-engineering degree. There are degrees in which you can take a test to become a Professional Engineer. Last I checked, sales wasn't one of them.

Ok. Rant over.

Make sure you do your primary job well. Take on what you can, and LET the other stuff fall through the cracks. Tell your boss it's going to in advance. An old saying us engineers use is "My plate is this big. Anything over here (points outside the plate) is going to fall off."

Google "Domestic Engineer" to really get your blood boiling.

 

[Kaido]

"Master Seller, Esquire"

I am totally stealing this :biggrin:

 

[Ferzerp]

A "sales-engineer".

Great.

I thought the engineering title had hit rock bottom when we got to "Sanitation Engineer". I mean fuck, why not call yourself a "Selling MD", or "Master Seller, Esquire". I fucking hate it when people take something like the title engineer that some folks work extremely hard to obtain and then stamp it on a non-engineering degree. There are degrees in which you can take a test to become a Professional Engineer. Last I checked, sales wasn't one of them.

Ok. Rant over.

Make sure you do your primary job well. Take on what you can, and LET the other stuff fall through the cracks. Tell your boss it's going to in advance. An old saying us engineers use is "My plate is this big. Anything over here (points outside the plate) is going to fall off."

You apparently don't know what a Sales Engineer does. They aren't a salesman or account manager. They are tasked with designing technical solutions in support of the sales people typically. Whether that be taking requirements and building a solution within a particular vendor's portfolio of offerings, or even just answering technical questions for a customer.

It's a perfectly valid title. It's far from a euphemism for something else.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

You need to start with the primary questions here.

1. Do you like what you do?
2. Are you happy with your salary?
3. Are there better companies/opportunities in your field and region?

1. Yes actually, working with customers to understand what they need and then putting a solution together is enjoyable.
2. Yes and no. My company is pretty cheap and I have the highest salary on my team. My variable is decent. My salary is not that special compared to what else is going on in the Bay area, but for my age (25) I'm doing very well
3. Definitely.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

1. Yes actually, working with customers to understand what they need and then putting a solution together is enjoyable.
2. Yes and no. My company is pretty cheap and I have the highest salary on my team. My variable is decent. My salary is not that special compared to what else is going on in the Bay area, but for my age (25) I'm doing very well
3. Definitely.

By this logic, find a new job, but keep your current job until you do.