How to decide your career?
It took me 9 years to get the right career. This post is to ensure it doesn't take you that long !
I’ve had an adventurous corporate career to say the least. I came to USA bright eyed and someone who wanted to be a trader. Clearly, I had seen too many trading related movies. The reality hit as soon as I started looking for a job. There were hardly any jobs for trading especially for H1B students. So, I pivoted and moved to consulting. After 2 years in consulting which involved constant travel and “dynamic projects”, I was done. Always saw tech as an aspirational sector and so , decided to get my next job in Data Engineering at a health tech start-up. But that lasted 1.5 years. After slogging at the start-up for 1.5 years for 10-12 hours, I was done. And that’s when the solutions engineer role at PayPal came calling. Having been interested in the field, I welcomed the opportunity. And I thought it was a great field for me. And a perfect fit. But again, the allure of Product Management proved too much. And when an internal opportunity came up, I had to take it. And it was something , I definitely didn’t like. So, moved back to Solutions Engineering and it is something I really like now. So, how can you avoid all the chaos and make the best choice. I have divided fields into 4 key parts , rating them , so you can decide. And they are listed below :
Technical Difficulty
Soft Skills
What does the role do exactly ?
Tech Stack
This role is not meant to provide a roadmap. That will be covered separately. The aim for this is to make a decision.
Software
Technical Difficulty: 9/10
Soft Skills: 5/10
How to make a choice if this is your career
Choose this if you enjoy building things from scratch, problem-solving through code, and love writing code.
Ability to write codes and problem solve for long periods.
Ability to constantly deal with uncertainty of new problems and still providing accurate timelines.
Tech Stack:
Languages: Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, Go
Frameworks: React, Django, Spring, Node.js
Tools: Git, Docker, CI/CD, Kubernetes
Consulting
Technical Difficulty: 6/10
Soft Skills: 9/10
How to make a choice if this is your career :
Love soft skills and talking to people
Working on different projects
Traveling
Handling difficult clients and working under tight deadlines
Tech Stack
Depends if tech consulting or business.
Excel and powerpoint a must regardless.
If tech, can depend on your role.
Data Engineering
Technical Difficulty: 8.5/10
Soft Skills: 6/10
How to make a choice if this is your career
If you love backend work like data pipelining.
If you love working with data and data architecture and debugging and optimizing SQL queries.
Want to be the backbone of data infrastructure for data science and analytics team.
Tech Stack
Languages: Python, SQL, Scala
Tools: Apache Spark, Airflow, Kafka,
Cloud: AWS or Google Cloud or Azure. Pick One
Data Science
Technical Difficulty: 8/10
Soft Skills: 7/10
How to make a choice if this is your career :
If you love stats
If you enjoy ML and want to get into AI engineering role.
Love extracting insights from data.
Want to be that all rounder or jack of all trades: Coding, Stats and ML.
Tech Stack:
Languages: Python, R
Libraries: pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, XGBoost
Tools: Jupyter, SQL, Tableau, MLflow
Product
Technical Difficulty: 6.5/10
Soft Skills: 9/10
How to make a choice if this is your career :
Loves building stuff
Loves politics..:p
Making data informed decisions.
Working across teams and still getting product launched. Most important.
Ability to have product sense and choose right features.
Tech Stack
Tools: Jira, Confluence, Figma (for wireframes), Notion, Excel
Data: SQL, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude
Technical Know-How: APIs, basic understanding of how web/mobile apps are built, Agile/Scrum
Frameworks: PRD (Product Requirements Document), OKRs, MVP, A/B testing
Solutions Architect
Technical Difficulty: 7.5/10
Soft Skills: 8.5/10
How to make a choice if this is your career :
Can balance tech and still have client facing skills.
Loves architecting and design
Creating solution design docs
Working with client to understand pain points and pitch solutions accordingly.
Tech Stack:
Can depend on which sector.
For data : AWS or other cloud platforms.
For payments : knowing payment tech like PayPal, Stripe.
Solutions Engineering
Technical Difficulty: 7/10
Soft Skills: 9/10
How to make a choice if this is your career
Pick this if you like talking to people and explaining how technical products solve business problems.
Perfect for those who enjoy demos, proof-of-concepts, and client interaction.
Tech Stack
Varies by company; familiarity with APIs, scripting (Python/JavaScript), cloud (AWS/Azure)
Tools: Postman, REST APIs, CRM (e.g., Salesforce), product-specific SDKs
Sales Engineering
Technical Difficulty: 6.5/10
Soft Skills: 9.5/10
How to make a choice if this is your career
Choose this if you're persuasive, outgoing, and can explain tech in business language.
You love engaging with clients and helping them buy the right solution.
You love selling
Tech Stack
Depends on product; often need basic scripting (e.g., Python, JavaScript)
Tools: CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), product demo tools, APIs
Soft tools: Negotiation frameworks, pitch decks