What's it actually like switching careers from engineering to tech sales in KL after 30?

Question

I'm 32, been an M&E engineer for almost 8 years, salary stuck around RM6,500 and honestly I'm burnt out from site visits. A friend keeps telling me tech sales pays way more with commission. But I'm scared to throw away 8 years and start from zero. For those who actually made a mid-career jump like this in Malaysia, was it worth it or did you regret it?

Nurse Priya · Accepted Answer

I did exactly this in 2021, left a QA engineer role at RM7k to join a SaaS company in Bangsar South as an account executive. First year my base dropped to RM5,500 but with commission I hit RM9k some months and RM4k on bad months, so cash flow was scary at first. The honest truth is your engineering background is a huge asset in tech sales because you can actually talk to technical buyers without bluffing, and clients trust you more. By year two I was doing RM11-13k total comp consistently and my quality of life improved because no more crawling under ceiling ductwork at 8pm. If you can survive 12-18 months of income volatility, the ceiling is genuinely higher than engineering here.

Nurse Kak Long Hamidah · Answer

One practical tip from my own jump: don't quit before you have some runway. I kept about 6 months of expenses in my Tabung before I resigned because tech sales here often has a 3-month ramp where you earn almost only base while learning the product and pipeline. I also negotiated a higher base for the first 6 months as a guarantee, which some KL companies will do if you push. That cushion is what stopped me from panic-quitting when my first quarter was slow.

PTPTN Warrior Nadia · Answer

Honestly the biggest thing nobody tells you is the emotional adjustment. As an engineer you're respected for being right and precise, in sales you get ghosted, rejected, and told no maybe 30 times a day and you have to smile through it. I made the switch and the money did come after about 10 months, but the first few months I felt like a failure every single day. If you have thick skin and can detach your ego from a client saying no, you'll thrive. If rejection eats you up inside, the extra RM3k won't be worth the mental toll.

Mamak Boss Muthu · Answer

I made the switch and went back to engineering after two years, so let me give the other side. The money was real, I hit RM12k some months, but I hated living quarter to quarter never knowing my income, and the constant travel and entertaining clients over supper wrecked my health and my marriage nearly. For some people the stability and clear scope of engineering is actually worth more than the upside of sales. Know yourself first before you chase the higher number.

Corporate Slave Jia Hui · Answer

Be very careful lah, not every tech sales job is the golden ticople people paint it to be. My cousin jumped into selling some no-name ERP system, the leads were rubbish, the manager kept changing the commission structure, and he made less than his old engineering pay for the whole year before quitting. The company matters more than the role, so check if they have real product-market fit and ask the interviewer directly what percentage of the team actually hits quota. If less than half the team hits target, run.

Cikgu Math Kavitha · Answer

I say go for it but pick B2B enterprise sales, not consumer or SME churn-and-burn. My friend does enterprise cloud sales and his deals take 6-9 months to close but each one pays commission that's like two months of an engineer's salary. Your engineering credibility opens doors with CTOs and technical evaluators that a pure sales guy can never match. The long sales cycle needs patience but the payoff per deal is on another level compared to selling to small towkays who bargain every ringgit.

What's it actually like switching careers from engineering to tech sales in KL after 30?

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