Certs for pre-sales engineers?

I was wondering if anybody had some advice on certs for pre-sales engineers with SaaS backgrounds working in content management. I'm in a job hunt and a few recruiters have mentioned it might be good to get some sort of MCSA type certification dealing with Windows Server 2008, or any type of certs related to cloud/virtualization etc.... anybody have any thoughts on this?

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Comments

paul78

I have no idea.

But when I work with vendors and the sales person shows up with a sales engineer, the sales engineer usually has a cert in whatever the sales person was selling - whether it was Cisco, Microsoft, HP, etc.

When I meet with vendors of security products or services, the pre-sales engineer had a CISSP.

Agent6376

In my experience I find that effective pre-sales engineers need to understand whatever product they are assisting sales guys with pretty well. On one hand you could say that you don't necessarily require "in the trenches" type experience, but you're expected to have a detailed understanding of at minimum the theoretical concepts of the product you're pushing, and chances are you would perform a variety of lab scenarios to demonstrate the product as well.

TLDR: Follow the same certification tracks as those who would implement the products in the field. The point of a sales ENGINEER is that you're just that - an engineer.

ChooseLife

Agent6376 wrote: »

Follow the same certification tracks as those who would implement the products in the field. The point of a sales ENGINEER is that you're just that - an engineer.

What he said

scorpio2971

Thanks for the responses. Today I spoke with a recruiter who mentioned ITIL just to "beef" up the resume, saying that it would indicate greater aptitude, and that many mangers simply look for 2 things - attitude, and aptitude because the technology for different companies can be taught. I'll have to think about this further - so far I do hear a lot of people mentioning MCSA to me as well. I feel like it makes no sense to pursue a certification until you're in the company and showing you want to progress in a certain direction, then go get that particular cert. IN this case, I'm a bit surprised that some are saying getting some sort of general cert (A+, Network+) or exposure to Windows Server 2008 someway somehow. My classmate at DePaul University swears that just by taking Microsoft Virtual Academy courses for free online, it gave him a leg up in interviews and calls.

UnixGuy

Usually try to get vendor-based training. Whatever product you are designing/selling, try to take some online course or hands-on training for that. An MBA is a great plus for pre-sales because of the business exposure you get..

ptilsen

The new MS "cloud" certs would probably be right up your alley. Otherwise, yes, I think ITIL would make sense.

That said, yes, I agree with Agent6376. Ultimately if you are going to make informed recommendations as a Sales engineer you need to be about as well versed in the product as those who will implement it -- in some case, you need to be an SME in the product whilst those implementing it probably do not.

A great example would be HP servers. You don't have to know much about HP's current line of hardware to implement an HP server. To recommend the correct set of product numbers for an HP server solution, you pretty much have to be an expect in determining optimal compatibility. Sure, I can spec out a server and all the parts for a design, but why do that when I can just give the specs and features I want to an expert sales engineer and have them spec it out? (Actually, sometimes they get it wrong or don't recommend the cheapest available, but not often)

N2IT

Scorpio I have always been interested in IT sales. Being 100% extroverted has always pushed me to go into a field to leverage my natural outgoing personality.

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