Re:Ask HN: Why do engineers hate salespeople?
by agcat on Wednesday October 15, 2025 @01:35PM
(#45595942)
Yeah the downside is huge. I hope there was a way to reward engineering teams too for sales commission.. have you come across any company that doso?
Re:Ask HN: Why do engineers hate salespeople?
by jqpabc123 on Wednesday October 15, 2025 @02:03PM
(#45596317)
No, I have never seen engineering get sales commissions.
I have seen sales people get *recurring* commissions --- where they get a piece of every future sale to a particular client. Even if they have no involvement in the purchase. In extreme cases, they make good money doing nothing.
Engineers never get paid for doing nothing --- because they are not members of the ruling class.
The only time I have seen this is with startups --- where they are cash strapped so engineers building the new product are given *equity* instead of wages.
Equity can be created simply by issuing stock --- which for a startup with negative cash flow is basically worthless at the time.
This is highly risky for the employee. If the product/company is wildly successful, early employees can get rich. But most startups fail --- so more often, they're left with nothing to show for their work.