How would you describe yourself? Do the words driven, goal-oriented, personable and innovative resonate? If you’re looking for a job in the tech industry but programming or engineering doesn’t align with your skill set, sales could be an excellent, lucrative option for you.
When exploring careers in the tech industry (or really any industry), sales isn’t typically the first option that comes to mind, yet this career path offers not only exciting and impactful opportunities, but exponential opportunity for growth and income.
In fact, 20% of Fortune 500 CEOs began their career in sales.
Whether your main priority is job security, long-term professional advancement, competitive compensation or a fast-paced and continuously evolving career path, there are several ways that a career in this field can lead to rapid professional success and lifelong personal fulfillment.
If you’re not already considering a career in tech sales, here’s why you should be:
1. Demand. There’s no shortage of opportunity.
When it comes to technology sales positions, demand is high. This career path is projected to increase annually at a rate of 11.7%, with the big data analytics market expected to grow to $203 billion by 2020.
2. Impact. Your job improves lives.
If you enjoy helping people and delivering solutions to problems, this career provides ongoing opportunity to improve the lives and careers of others through enhanced technology. This human ability to connect is one aspect that automation in the workforce can’t replace. Research from the Harvard Business Review found that direct interactions with providers influence B2B purchasing decisions more than anything else.
Despite the increasing popularity of social media and digital advertising, this graph proves that people still value direct, interpersonal connection above any other form of marketing.
3. Growth. Tech sales is an excellent entry-level opportunity.
The barrier to break in to this line of work relies less on a specific formal education and work experience requirements than the majority of career paths with the same trajectory. Success in this field doesn’t require strict criteria, but can be found by many people from diverse backgrounds with the right attributes.
4. Competitive pay.
This field has the potential to be highly lucrative. With a median entry-level base pay of $80,000 on top of the opportunity to earn much more through commission sales, a comfortable starting salary with substantial room for growth is only the cherry on top of the many perks of this career path.
