What does a Solutions Engineer do? - By A solution Engineer
Not a long time ago, I haven't had enough information about the Technical Solutions Engineer (TSE) role, Only thing I have was a job description from the Google applications portal.
Almost one year from there, I'm about to concrete my first year at Google Cloud as a TSE and now involved in this Solutions world I'd like to share my experience, since there are a lot of new opportunities for great talent as Solutions Engineers.
Coming from a Software Engineering background, landing as a SE was an uncertain venture, but after one year of dealing with the tasks I can tell that there are great opportunities at these roles. The Solutions Engineer has to wear many hats, it's not a static role, so one way of defining the TSE/SE role is by describing its responsibilities.
Tech Support Agent / Subject Matter Expert
Solutions Engineers are the people to go to when something is firing up, if the customer (internal or external) as some issues with a technical dependency it's our task to jump on and solve the customer's pain.
For doing it, TSE has to have a wide and solid knowledge base, so training, work on certifications and dive deep into the products we are on charge it's a proactive action we can take so when problems come we are better prepared.
Consultants
But even tough work as a Support Agent is a big part of our day-to-day work, people in Solutions Engineering can also contribute to more architectural aspects by helping the clients to leverage the most of the products and services.
By identifying areas of improvement, updating systems with new tools available, being in constant communication with client, so they can share their needs as the time passes.
Software Development (A.K.A.) Tooling
But if the TSE/SE agent has the enthusiasm for coding and developing Software, TSEs/SEs have the option to collaborate with automating procedures, troubleshooting and SWE tools they can share with peers and customers.
Many Hats, Not So Much time.
These are, for my criteria, the most relevant roles a TSE/SE has, but the reality is that there are other options depending on each company and product. Along with the prior mentioned hats, I have had the opportunity to: provide training to vendors and assist as a point of contact for external customers and SWEs ( Software Engineers), help in public forums to solve technical issues, contribute to open source tools by finding bugs and testing.
And that's what I like about this role, its versatility and in my case the change to work in a world scale team, talking with people from different parts of the globe (from Australia to Europe and AMER). The opportunity to improve my communications skills tool set.
So if you, dear reader, are interested in this kind of jobs, I definitely encourage you to give it a try at least one year.
