The Engineering team focuses on product. They deal with rational, tangible challenges and they create offerings to address these challenges.

Sales, on the other hand, has their ear towards the customer. They don’t care about how fast something is or how many features it has. They want something that their customers want to buy.

Often, these two disciplines are in conflict. The engineers want to make the best possible product and the sales team just wants something that will sell.

So naturally, it’s assumed that a person is an engineer or a salesman, not both.

Personally, I don’t agree with the clear distinction between the two mindsets.

Sure, our priorities change based on the role we’re playing, but at the core, Engineering and Sales are about the same thing: solving problems.

Engineers identify problems in the world and develop solutions.

Salesmen identify problems for their customers and develop solutions.

The specifics are different, but the underlying principal is the same.

So when I think about Engineering and Sales, I don’t think about two opposite disciplines. I think about two sides of the same coin.

-Brandon