Software Engineering: It's Sales All the Way Down

“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.

Engineering can’t be sales!!

• 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?

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