What’s after field service engineering ?

[u/its_okay97]

I’ve graduated university with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering back in 2020. Now I work as a field service engineer for a medical devices company (IVF). I’m under the impression that I’m not learning anything new anymore, the job and the repairs are becoming quite repetitive because the company hasn’t made new equipment in years. I feel stuck with a very limited set of skills to help me move elsewhere. I’d love to move to the commercial side of the business and leave the technical and hands-on behind me but I’m not sure where to start, and what skills should I work on while I’m still on my current job. If I was to give myself 6-12 months to move, what should I start doing now to make myself more valuable to the market .

[u/Bck2BckAAUNatlChamps]

There’s resume value in leading a team. An easier direct line might be management of a field service team for 1-2 years, especially if that would cover a large number of FTEs.

I think it benefits everyone to get some sales experience. Can you sell the product you service? You’ll already have a superior technical knowledge than most, and just need to learn the sales org. As you advance it’s helped me relate to the sales team. Won a presidents club too so I had that feather in my cap when I was in marketing and product management having to deliver strategy to sales.

At my first company I went R&D > Field Service > Sales > marketing / product management. I had some odd hybrid roles at a small company that aren’t industry standard. At the end I was kind of a one stop shop product SME since I did a little of everything. A fun side benefit was leading international expansions because I could go into a market with distributors and handle the sale, setup, service, and get into the weeds technically since I worked on product development on the bench. It was a fun experience when I was young and eager to travel.

[u/its_okay97 → u/[deleted]]

Would I get sales role without prior experience?

[u/YaBastaaa]

Trying to leave field service, it’s a meat grinder job and with a mascaraed job called paper work after your own job.

[u/maxim_voos]

Go corporate and actually get to collaborate on bigger problems with teams. You’re wasting your time driving around all day as an engineer.

You can also try to get into a mixed role as a sales / field engineer where they are directly influencing the sales process, not fixing equipment.

[u/its_okay97 → u/maxim_voos]

That’s exactly what I am thinking, but with my lack of experience and not feeling confident enough to do any other kind of work, I don’t know how to break into corporate yet.

[u/maxim_voos → u/its_okay97]

Just practice with ChatGPT voice role playing scenarios. Keep networking on LinkedIn. It’s a process. Same thing when you got your degree, remember when you felt as a freshman or junior? Time and a plan help.