To Be or Not To Be…A Solutions Engineer
That is the question…?
The job hunt continues my friends! It has been two months of a lot of applications and a lot of non-responses/no’s; and yet my resolve stays strong.
I have made many a great connection and my network continues to grow. And, I’m proud of that. A lot of helpful, knowledgeable, downright cool people in this industry, and that gives me hope.
One of the subjects I’ve used these new connections to clear up has been about the difference between solutions engineering and software engineering. I have to say, the information varies widely, but I thought if I collected these various ruminations together in a post that someone might find it useful.
I stumbled upon a job posting recently looking for a solutions engineer. Being mostly new to the tech industry, I had never heard of such a position. Also, as a bootcamp grad looking for his first position in tech, it sounded like it might be a good fit. A few of the responsibilities this position entailed included:
- Respond to client requests on our fast paced team while continuing to educate our clients on the use of the platform.
- Reproduce issues and dive into the 400+ integrations that *company* works with
- Build out documentation and knowledge based articles for a variety of technology
- Drive product conversations based on needs and problems learned during client interactions
Sounds like a very fluid position. It was lacking something for me though…coding. I mean, I went to Flatiron to learn software engineering, and that’s kind of what I was hoping to be doing. But, as the job hunt continues, you realize there are skills that bootcamp grads come out lacking, mainly algorithms and data structures. And, as much as I hate to admit, bootcamps typically are not ≥ 4-year Computer Science degrees. I can build applications from the ground up, on both the frontend/backend, but, admittedly, solving algorithms quickly is definitely not my forte.
(Shameless plug: I’ve started climbing the ranks on Hackerrank and I’m feeling better and better about this everyday 🤓 NOWHERE NEAR THE TOP, but working my way there slowly but surely 🏔)
Back to solutions engineering. There was one line in the posting about what kind of candidate they were looking for that did give me hope:
- A tinkerer with some programming experience and a basic knowledge of Linux
But, is this what I want to be doing? How do I know if this is right for me?
TO MY NETWORK OF NEW FRIENDS!
What I really wanted to know when I reach out to my ‘Super Friends’ (a.k.a. LinkedIn Network) was whether or not there would be coding involved in a Solutions Engineer position? And, if there wasn’t, would there be opportunity to grow into a software engineering position?
I first talked to Elliot, whom I’ve quoted before, and he said “Solutions Engineer can mean so many different things.” And he’s right. Over the many positions I have looked at that claim the title of “Solutions Engineer” it truly does vary company to company. Some seem to involve no coding whatsoever and are truly client facing or glorified IT positions, while others are quite the opposite.
Talking to a new contact of mine, a Flatiron grad we’ll call ‘Joe’, just accepted a position with a company as a solutions engineer. We spoke after his first two weeks of work in this new position, and he wasn’t completely sure about the upward trajectory of the position within the company. Now, he definitely seemed to be dealing with clients mostly, but it did feature a bit of day to day coding as well. He also thought the pros, specifically the benefits, far outweighed the cons when it came to his decision. He seemed excited and relieved to have a position at all. And, you know, I get it.
That really is what it comes down to when deciding to pursue solutions engineering over software engineering — how bad do you need a job? We are in the middle of global pandemic, and though jobs are somewhat on the rise, they are far from returning to pre-pandemic numbers. Times is hard!
Finally, I attended a NYC Bootcampers Anonymous Meetup AMA and posed this very question to 3 senior devs at various companies. Most of the answers came inline with what I’ve stated above, but one of the panelists actually got excited about the idea of solutions engineering positions. It seems at his company that although it is client based there is a lot of opportunity for travel and commission! Now, that I can get behind.
I’m not sure if I have the answers to the questions I’m proposing, but I think my advice would be, ask the hiring team? 🤷🏻♂️ It seems these positions vary widely. Asking a recruiter for their input is where I would start when it comes to considering a solutions engineering position. And, I’m definitely not opposed to the position at all! Again, depends on the company. So, ask yourself, why do you code?
For me, I love the creative outlet that coding, surprisingly, has offered me. I guess, being an NYC based actor for the last 10 years has created a monster who thrives on the ability to create. And, that’s why I code. Yes, I want a job. Frankly, I need a job. But, I’m not ready to give up on finding a position that feeds the creative ego and lines my pockets with pennies just yet. Maybe I’ll find the solutions engineering position that gets my creative juices flowing, I mean, you are CREATING solutions, are you not?
Until then, the job hunt continues 🙃
