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Comment by throwaway127890 | Hacker News Reader

I am definitely considering this -- when I say 'job' I often think I'd be better suited for a smaller company because I'm a pretty big generalist. I can sell technical stuff, I can write code, I can manage people, but I am by no means an expert on any of these things.

I guess you'd recommend early stage startups as the opportunity to explore?

P.S.

Thanks for the response + help. :)

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Given that description, you might want to consider consulting or technical sales/architecture as well. I did it for years in the services arm of a big tech company. The bureaucracy is going to be a lot higher, but a broad skill set with “softer “ skills is valued and rewarded that domain, at least once you are in the door.

Oooh, this is interesting. I started my career as a consultant before doing startups. It's one area I've debated quite a bit mainly because it doesn't focus on product or sales (unless you're a partner, and even then, "sales" != "client development"). This is helping me think of criteria, so thank you.

Re: technical sales, this is actually a really good idea as it fits my social + technical interests. Curious if you've done this? Curious about your experience.

Not as a profession, but I worked with our sale/pre-sales side people a fair amount. I can say, generally, they liked the pace, challenge, compensation, and that they constantly got to do new things. Quota was complained about, as was paperwork, tooling, and internal politics/bureaucratic in fighting. Travel was common.

The titles at my company (Microsoft) are generally some sort of “architect” or “specialist” for straight up technical pre sales / sales or “account manager” for a more straight business and relationship side of the house.

lol, im a bit similar. I can code pretty well, but i like being able to jump around and do different things, talk to stake holders etc.

I think you might be able to easily get a job at an early stage startup, and have a pretty deep impact with how things are done.

Happy to help

if you are US based, and know the MERN stack, email me(profile). A startup i work with is searching for a CTO, its an early stage. in case you are interested

Thank you for the kind offer! I really appreciate that, though I am not a MERN stack expert + wouldn't want to waste the startup's time. I will reach out if this changes.

Can you explain more about this startup?

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