Master the Art of The Demo

You typically start as an Associate SE (0-2 yrs), progressing to SE, then Senior/Staff levels. At 7+ years, you chose between a Management track (VP Pre-Sales) or a high-level Technical track (Principal/Distinguished SE).

It depends on the product. For dev-tools (Datadog, AWS), you need deep coding skills. For SaaS (Salesforce, Zendesk), you need to understand APIs, system integration, and basic scripting. The ability to 'read' code is universal.

Yes. Post-2020, over 65% of SE roles are either Fully Remote or Hybrid. However, Senior roles often involve some travel to customer sites or HQ for high-stakes business reviews.

The most common split is 80/20 (80% base salary, 20% variable commission). Some companies use 70/30 or 75/25, but 80/20 remains the industry standard for most SaaS SE roles.

Prioritize Cloud (AWS/Azure), Security (CISSP basics), and specialized platforms like Snowflake or Salesforce. Additionally, 'Demo2Win' or 'Great Demo!' methodologies are highly valued by hiring managers.

Start by documenting the 'business impact' of the technical issues you solve. Volunteer for customer-facing calls, master the product's value proposition, and build bridges with the local sales team to shadow their discovery calls.