u/FuzzyChef7277

I’m trying to decide between two offers coming out of college as an electrical and computer engineering student: SWE role at FAANG vs. Sales Engineering role at a smaller company in a niche industry.

The software role is more technical and obviously has strong brand value, but I’m a bit concerned about the culture and the work itself. I don't particularly enjoy programming and things like intense performance expectations, constant fear of being laid off, and the overall work pressure in big tech scare me. I am also concerned that I will be thrown into the deep end when I don't know the tech stack and haven't really worked with it before.

The sales engineering role offers a much better work life balance (lots of vacation, remote, secure job), is more business-facing, and less purely technical which I would enjoy. However, it is significantly less salary ($80k less a year) and change my career path. For people who’ve been in either path, how did you think about long-term career options, compensation, and work-life balance when choosing between something like this?

I’m trying to decide between two offers coming out of college as an electrical and computer engineering student: SWE role at FAANG vs. Sales Engineering role at a smaller company in a niche industry.

The software role is more technical and obviously has strong brand value, but I’m a bit concerned about the culture and the work itself. I don't particularly enjoy programming and things like intense performance expectations, constant fear of being laid off, and the overall work pressure in big tech scare me. I am also concerned that I will be thrown into the deep end when I don't know the tech stack and haven't really worked with it before.

The sales engineering role offers a much better work life balance (lots of vacation, remote, secure job), is more business-facing, and less purely technical which I would enjoy. However, it is significantly less salary ($80k less a year) and change my career path. For people who’ve been in either path, how did you think about long-term career options, compensation, and work-life balance when choosing between something like this?

I’m trying to decide between two offers coming out of college as an electrical and computer engineering student: SWE role at FAANG vs. SE role at a smaller company in a niche industry.

The software role is more technical and obviously has strong brand value, but I’m a bit concerned about the culture and the work itself. I don't particularly enjoy programming and things like intense performance expectations, constant fear of being laid off, and the overall work pressure in big tech scare me.

The sales engineering role offers a much better work life balance (lots of vacation, remote, secure job), is more business-facing, and less purely technical which I would enjoy. However, it is significantly less salary ($80k less a year) and change my career path. For people who’ve been in either path, how did you think about long-term career options, compensation, and work-life balance when choosing between something like this?