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10 Years as a Solutions Engineer: Lessons from the Field

•6 min read•By Wayne Bridges
careersolutions engineeringlessons learned

In 2014, I joined AirWatch (later acquired by VMware, then spun out as Omnissa) as a Solutions Engineer. Ten years later, I'm still here—and I've learned a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in technical sales.

What is Solutions Engineering?

Solutions Engineers (SEs) sit between sales and product. We:

  • Demonstrate products in technically complex environments
  • Design solutions that solve customer problems
  • Prove value through proofs of concept and pilots
  • Build trust with technical buyers
  • Close deals alongside account executives

It's part consultant, part engineer, part salesperson. The best SEs are all three.

The Numbers

Over 10 years at Omnissa:

  • 7x SE of the Quarter (Q3 2018, Q1 2019, Q3 2020, Q4 2021, Q2 2022)
  • SE Team of the Year (FY 2021)
  • 100+ customers supported (K-12, higher ed, government, tribal)
  • $XX million in closed deals (maintaining customer trust)
  • 1 specialty: Apple device management and education sector

What I Learned

1. Listen More Than You Talk

Early in my career, I'd walk into demos ready to show everything. Features, integrations, roadmap—the whole nine yards.

Customers didn't care.

What they wanted: Solutions to their specific problems. Not a product tour.

The shift: I started asking more questions:

  • "What's not working today?"
  • "What does success look like?"
  • "Who else needs to be involved?"
  • "What's your timeline?"

Then I'd show them exactly what they needed to see. Nothing more.

Result: Shorter demos, higher close rates, happier customers.

2. Become a Trusted Advisor

In technical sales, you can be:

  1. A vendor - Someone who sells stuff
  2. An advisor - Someone who solves problems

Vendors get price-shopped. Advisors get trusted.

How to be an advisor:

  • Admit when your product isn't the best fit
  • Share competitive insights honestly
  • Recommend solutions outside your portfolio
  • Stay in touch after the deal closes

Example: A customer wanted to deploy 10,000 iPads. Our MDM was great, but they also needed content filtering, app vetting, and parent communication tools.

I didn't just sell MDM. I helped them design the entire solution—recommending partners for the pieces we didn't do.

Result: They bought from us and told everyone they knew. Referrals > cold calls.

3. Master One Thing Deeply

Early SEs try to learn everything. Veteran SEs specialize.

My specialty: Apple device management in education.

This meant:

  • Understanding Apple School Manager inside and out
  • Knowing every K-12 education regulation
  • Building relationships with Apple engineers
  • Speaking at education conferences
  • Writing technical documentation

Payoff: When customers needed Apple expertise, my name came up. I became known as "the Apple guy."

Lesson: Pick one thing. Own it. Be the person people call.

4. Technical Credibility Opens Doors

You can't fake technical knowledge with technical buyers.

They'll ask:

  • "How does your API handle rate limiting?"
  • "What happens during a network partition?"
  • "How do you manage certificate lifecycles?"

If you don't know, you lose credibility.

My approach:

  • Built lab environments to test edge cases
  • Read technical docs cover-to-cover
  • Learned customer tech stacks (Active Directory, SCIM, SAML, etc.)
  • Got hands-on with competitive products

Result: I could answer 95% of technical questions on the spot. For the other 5%, I'd pull in product engineering—but I'd understand the answer.

5. Education Customers Are Different

I spent most of my career in education (K-12 schools, universities, community colleges).

Education customers have unique needs:

  • Budget constraints - Public funding, tight timelines
  • Privacy regulations - FERPA, COPPA, student data protection
  • Seasonal patterns - Summer deployments, school year planning
  • Risk aversion - Can't afford downtime during school hours
  • Community impact - Technology decisions affect thousands of students

What worked:

  • Showing ROI in student outcomes, not just cost savings
  • Providing free pilots for teachers to test
  • Scheduling deployments around school calendars
  • Building relationships with IT directors at conferences

Lesson: Understand your customer's world. Don't just sell product—solve their specific problems.

6. Wins and Losses Both Teach

Wins I Remember:

  • Closing a 6,000-device deployment after a 2-year sales cycle
  • Turning a competitor's customer into a reference account
  • Winning SE of the Quarter while helping others succeed

Losses I Remember:

  • Losing a deal because I over-promised and under-delivered
  • Getting out-demoed by a competitor who knew the customer better
  • Missing quota in a bad quarter and learning to handle pressure

Lesson: Celebrate wins. Study losses. Both make you better.

7. The Best SEs Are Product Advocates

Your job isn't just to sell—it's to make the product better.

I spent hundreds of hours:

  • Filing feature requests based on customer feedback
  • Testing beta features and reporting bugs
  • Writing customer-facing documentation
  • Speaking at product advisory boards

Why: Better product = easier sales = happier customers.

Result: Product management valued my input. Customers saw me as a partner. Sales quotas got easier.

8. Culture Matters

I've stayed at Omnissa for 10 years through:

  • A company acquisition (VMware buying AirWatch)
  • A parent acquisition (Broadcom buying VMware)
  • A spinout (Omnissa being formed)

Why I stayed:

  • Great manager - Coaches, doesn't micromanage
  • Strong team - SEs who collaborate, not compete
  • Customer-first culture - Do right by the customer
  • Recognition - Performance gets rewarded

Lesson: Money matters, but culture matters more. Don't stay somewhere that grinds you down.

What's Next

After 10 years, I'm not leaving Omnissa—but I am expanding.

Why Free Beer Studio: I want to apply solutions engineering principles to small business web design. Same skillset, different scale.

What transfers:

  • Listening to customer needs
  • Designing solutions that fit
  • Building trust through transparency
  • Delivering results, not just deliverables

The challenge: Can I replicate enterprise SE success in a completely different market?

Stay tuned.

Advice for Aspiring SEs

If you're thinking about Solutions Engineering:

1. Get technical - You don't need to code, but you need to understand how things work

2. Be curious - The best SEs ask "why?" constantly

3. Learn to present - You'll demo products 5x a week. Get comfortable on stage.

4. Build relationships - With customers, with sales, with product. SE is a team sport.

5. Find your niche - Don't try to know everything. Be an expert in one thing.

6. Stay humble - You'll get things wrong. Own it, fix it, move on.

7. Focus on outcomes - Customers don't buy features. They buy solutions to problems.

Want to connect? I'm always happy to chat with fellow SEs or folks considering the role. Hit me up at wayne@freebeer.ai or find me on LinkedIn.

If you're in education tech or Apple device management, let's talk shop.