Sales... sweatshop but easy money
Pros
For an inside sales position, it really doesn't require much brainpower or talent to make great money here. What decides your success at SW will be the office politics and if you are favored enough to get the "good leads." While there are many cons of this company, WHICH I REALLY URGE YOU TO CONSIDER before taking a position here, this is a pretty great way to get your foot in the door for someone with no software sales experience. Free lunch on Tuesday & Friday, stocked snack bar, coffee, RedBull galore, etc. Amazing products for a great price, it really can sell itself so you're never really having to "hunt" for the sale.
Cons
The biggest and most common complaint you'll see and I've experienced is that the majority of management is incompetent. There are a few good leaders here, but they normally don't last too long because they can easily find a better culture in this industry. It truly seems to start from the top, however I think I've actually only met our President once, which is an example of how out-of-touch he is with the actual sales floor and what it's like to actually sell our products. Included in this lack of even decent management: - Terrible morale on the sales floor (many reps always threatened with being put on a "Performance Improvement Plan" before they get fired... when in actuality there is no plan to help them improve). - Constant realignments of the sales org and dramatic changes that make it hard for even the historically best performers to hit quota (only 6% hit last quarter)... - That is... if you get a quota. We didn't get ours until halfway through the quarter of Q4 2017. I guess it's not the worst, when they were so unrealistic that 92% of the sales team did not hit. Yikes! - No training or development plans. HR rolled out a "Roadmap 4 Results" program that is supposed to be used to qualify us for merit based raises, professional development plans, etc. but I have yet to see or hear of anything come from this. - Micromanagement that makes our customers hate our sales process. Curious what they think? Do a simple Google search of "SolarWinds sales reddit" - HR. Wow. Just so many HR infractions that at this point I'm surprised the Labor Board hasn't gotten involved. - If you are looking at actually growing in a sales profession, this is not the place for you. You will be constantly pressured to use tired and archaic sales tactics circa 1996, while no one is ever encouraged to even pick up a book or read an article on the latest software sales trends.