How to tell if you work for a Marketing and Sales oriented firm.
You work for a Marketing and Sales focused firm if:
- The firm is chaotic
- Your CEO is moody, as opposed to always in a bad mood
- The firm is opportunistic – i.e. when sales uncovers a prospect that needs something that the firm does not provide, there’s a real good chance that the sales team will “go for it”.
- Products ship on time (although they might not actually work as designed for a little while)
- You earn six figures and work in marketing.
How to tell if you work for an Engineering biased firm.
You work for an engineering biased firm if:
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The firm is not chaotic.
- You never are really quite sure whether the product is going to ship on time.
- Your CEO has an engineering degree and has never been in sales.
- The ratio of engineers to marketing / sales staff is 2:1
In small companies, the difference between being an Engineering focused company and a Sales and Marketing focused company are like the difference between being right-handed and being left-handed. In a larger company, the differences occur at the business unit level. It’s worth noting that the engineering focused company tends to be a better acquisition target than the sales and marketing one.
If you work for a Sales & Marketing Focused firm, enjoy the ride. You will get to try new things and have big programs. Unfortunately, your career may not last long due to your moody, possibly over-involved CEO. If you work for an Engineering focused firm, start dating one of the Sr. Engineers, or get a low cost hobby – you’re being underpaid and underappreciated so you’ve got to do something with your time.
