Found this interesting compilation here:
A great Sales Engineer (SE) has three characteristics
First, a “whatever it takes” attitude! This may sound like a platitude, but it's the biggest single indicator of an individual’s success in the role. As long as it is legal, honest, moral, and customer-focused, our SEs should be willing to do it!
Second, the technical chops to absorb new concepts quickly. With such a large platform, our SEs are constantly learning and exploring new technologies. In a successful SE, the deep down, heart-of-hearts response to this kind of thing is always, “Cool, I GET to do this!”
Finally, a core specialty that can then be used as a frame of reference going forward in the role. There are many potential backgrounds that are relevant to our work. We have successful SEs from all corners of the tech world, including (but not limited to) devops, storage, networking, app dev, big data, and machine learning.
The article then states a line that is close to my personal belief:
The biggest priority is helping clients find the best solution possible—even if that sometimes means losing business in the short-term
If you genuinely help your customers by proposing options that are in their best interest, they will start trusting you and will see you as a partner who keeps their best interest as a top priority. In the long term such relationships are most rewarding.
