Software Engineering: It's Sales All the Way Down

UPDATED ON JAN 30, 2024 : 158 words, 1 minute read β€” SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

“Turtles all the way down”

As an engineer, I always thought sales was this distant land of people with slicked-back hair, and that I’d never have to concern myself with it - but I’ve misled myself. It’s sales all the way down.

Stack of turtles with sales written on them, with a confused developer turtle at the bottom wondering why they’re labeled “sales”

Engineering can’t be sales!! πŸ”—︎

  • Getting funding for a startup is selling your idea and yourself to VCs, or Kickstarters, or whoever will give you the money to work on it.
  • Hiring is selling the idea + the quality of your company to convince people to join.
  • Marketing is sales.
  • Engineering is just delayed sales, since everything you do should be driving business value - engineering creates the features which are the sales pitch.
  • Promotions within a company are selling yourself.
  • Getting people internally to work on your idea is, you guessed it, selling your idea.

Ok… now what? πŸ”—︎

Now lambaste me and tell me all the ways I’m wrong so I can sleep peacefully at night.


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