262: You Have To Understand The Tools At Your Fingertips with Ramzi Marjaba

<p>Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Ramzi Marjaba, Senior Sales Engineer for Keysight Technologies, where he helps customers to diagnose problems and then build a vision of the required solution.</p> <p>He is also the creator of the website WeTheSalesEngineers and its corresponding podcast, which seeks to help other sales engineers develop and improve their careers.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:</strong></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>(2:35) TOP CAREER TIP</strong></p> <p>Although the world is headed to a more tech-driven destination, we must always endeavor to work on the human side of business, developing skills such as communication, persuasion and demonstration.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(6:20) WORST CAREER MOMENT</strong></p> <p>A technical error can lead to disaster, as was almost the case with a simple mouse-click for Ramzi. It’s important to know the tools that you’re using, and understand what the potential consequences can be.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(8:19) CAREER HIGHLIGHT</strong></p> <p>The bane of every sales engineer is to perform a demonstration with little information going in. Ramzi chose to forego the misinformation he’d been given on one occasion, and focused instead of the small data he did have. It led to success and a subsequent sale.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(13:15) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T</strong></p> <p>IT is an ever-evolving industry, being led and shaped by technological advances. If we strive to maintain our own development in this area, then we will be taken along in that growth, and find our skills energized naturally.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(14:25) THE REVEAL</strong></p> <p><strong>What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?</strong> – Sales engineers are rewarded for being more pro-active in terms of sales, plus the projects are far more varied.</p> <p><strong>What’s the best career advice you received?</strong> – Make sure you never reveal too much to your customers about advances in the pipeline. It can stifle contempora