amkahal
Hi Guys,
I'm Facing a critical phase in my life, and to explain more i will describe my professional life in short way, i graduated with a BS degree in CS in 2011 then working in software development for 3 months, i'm a good programmer and i love programming and the company that i was working for is good but due to personal reasons i left,afterward, i worked (and still) as an IT Coordinator in a University, but the salary is below average and the management is so bad, and they won't raise my salary (even they told me that i'm the number one employee because of my good work in the IT Department), i don't like my job.
i applied for a Sales Executive position in a well know company, the goods to be sold are technical devices such as printing and imaging devices.
how much i'm taking the good decision in my life ? i bet you are asking yourself when you read my post, why i don't apply for a programmer position since i claimed that i'm a good programmer, Ok, my big problem that i live in Bekaa and the software development industry is very poor here, and i want a job in Bekaa because i'm married and living in Beirut is not an option.
My Brain is full of code and computer things and that's why i'm a member at Lebgeeks, so Sales is strange a little bit for me.
what do you say about my story ? Can "switching to Sales" makes my good new Life ? i need to hear personal experiences.
Stygmata
to be a good salesman you require a certain mentality and talent .. the market is flooded with suppliers , but maybe bekaa still offers a chance ( better than beirut or mount lebanon )
Guitaret
Hello,
Switching from technical to sales is not something unheard of, in fact, lots of friends I know switched from programming to sales and now they are making better money, but some of those left their options open. One friend I know left a 10 years programming carrier and now he is working sales but he did move to Dubai. And this is what I mean in keeping your choices open. Your career choice is not your problem, your location is.
On another notion, I cannot overstate the importance of having a technical background and use that to excel in any other career. I am not talking just sales, I am talking everything, even legal and medical.
Lebanon now has a better market for programmers than for IT people, and since I am a software engineer I will consider programming as my comparing variable.
As per career choice, pretty much most of programmers I know in Lebanon suffer at some point from developers block, and so it seems (even to me) that doing this job forever is really hard even if it pays well and yes it does (comparing). And about switching career, let’s set aside the feeling of hesitation and incompetence of doing something new, and so it all comes to this from my point of view: Are you doing any sales? or Are you doing any programming? As for sales: are you working with the big boys? Do you see any future in it? Are you promised an opportunity of advancement?
I am from the school that teaches you to choose something and master it. I assume that since you have a family now, the stars are not your goal, but financial stability is. Sales main catch is the chaos of the outdoors, programming main catch is the prison of the indoors (but some see it as a safety blessing). So my advice is, and after having the minimum information to compare 2 different jobs, both are fine but choose the one that you possess the resources, facilities, serenity, convenience, and chance ... to advance in.
N.b. I am glad to hear from someone from Bekaa, I am originally from Zahle and I love it, but I can relate to what you are saying; when it comes to jobs opportunities it is simply another desert. Assuming you live in mid Bekaa, last time I heard Soft Solutions had an office in Zahle, have you tried there?
Stygmata
i am from haouch el omara as well ...and i would say go for it
amkahal
I'm Glad to hear from Bekaa'ers on Lebgeeks, Thank you @Guitaret for your opinion, i appreciate your help. as for Soft Solutions, i contact them via email but they didn't respond.
@Stygmata, thank you.
i will count to 3 before going into sales, because involves many risks. anyways, i'm ready to hear more from other members.
Sup3r
Why don't you work on a startup since per your claim you're a programmer, their's a lot to sell, create and market. I'm not going to spoonfed this post, although you should be creative if you really have your skills in programming. Their exists a lot of problems to solve, even more on the internet.
I still can't know, on what do you all programmers who prefer a 9-5 job in "Lebanon" work for? I mean Facebook?
amkahal
Sup3r wroteI still can't know, on what do you all programmers who prefer a 9-5 job in "Lebanon" work for? I mean Facebook?
i don't know what you meant by this, but i want to tell you that the Bekaa Area is full of talented people as of talented programmers, and this shit country doesn't offer fair vacancies between capital and other provinces, and in my case, i can't afford the expenses of living in beirut since i have a family, and the software development industry is nearly dead in Bekaa, So we are not facebookers, we are talented people who searching for a little of fairness.