Stage 1 · Lesson 2 of 7
What a solutions engineer does
A designs how a customer will adopt a product. Before the sale they learn the customer's systems, answer technical questions and sketch the solution. After it they plan the , the integrations and the first use cases, and hand over to delivery or teams.
Companies also call this a solutions architect, customer engineer or solutions consultant. The output is a design and a plan both sides trust, backed by proofs of concept and working examples rather than long builds. Solutions engineers usually code regularly but in smaller pieces than an .
Common trapdesigning the ideal architecture from your product's point of view, when the right design is the one this customer's team can actually run and afford.
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Resources for this stage
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- GuideFreeThe Pragmatic Engineer
Gergely Orosz
Free issues cover how forward deployed and customer-facing engineering roles work at real companies
Also worth your time
The free part explains the role's origins and how it differs from solutions engineering