Deeply Technical By Nature

Deeply technical by nature, possessing an engineering mindset, and (dare I say it) stereotypically a little introverted, Systems Engineers (SE) must have the hardest job in IT today.

Courtesy of the talent shortage, the push for more solution selling plus a myriad of other drivers the SE role has evolved greatly in recent times. More and more organisations are plucking their SE’s out from behind the keyboard, partnering them up with an Account Manager, and placing them in customer facing sales scenarios. As always, with a little training the good SE’s will adapt. The question is, have they had the training to make the transition required of them? Last week lead facilitator, Cameron Webb Sat in on a 3-day sales training program for a company looking to make that investment in training their SE’s. The programme was classic sales training. One day of tools and frameworks, two days of role playing and pitching.

The ask of Cameron Webb was what soft skills training could we bring to the table to customise the program for an SE audience. The answer, a lot. Every industry has a business-critical role that has evolved massively of late. The question is, has the training investment in that role been reflective of its evolution?

Author – Cameron Webb (Lead Facilitator)