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The differences between inside sales engineers and solutions engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an inside sales engineer and a solutions engineer. Additionally, a solutions engineer has an average salary of $95,482, which is higher than the $50,487 average annual salary of an inside sales engineer.
The top three skills for an inside sales engineer include customer service, product knowledge and CRM. The most important skills for a solutions engineer are cloud, pre sales, and java.
| Inside Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $50,487 | $95,482 |
| Hourly rate | $24.27 | $45.90 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 156,700 | 123,287 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
An inside sales engineer is an individual who uses specialized technical knowledge to negotiate between sales units and clients to increase the profits and revenue of a company. Inside sales, engineers must seek clients who will benefit from their products or services and aim to maximize client potential in the different allocated regions. Inside sales engineers must also provide technical help and carry out training, if necessary, once a sale has been made.
A solutions engineer is an individual who assists customers in identifying their computer software needs and generates customized business software solutions for them. Solutions engineers collaborate with other department engineers to create practical demonstrations of proposed solutions and showcase them to the other members of the team. They are required to test the installed software and fix programming bugs that create errors with the system. Solutions engineers also maintain customer relations by providing post-installation follow-ups.
Inside sales engineers and solutions engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Inside Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average salary | $50,487 | $95,482 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $76,000 | Between $68,000 And $134,000 |
| Highest paying City | Alexandria, VA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | Fluid Components International | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Start-up |
There are a few differences between an inside sales engineer and a solutions engineer in terms of educational background:
| Inside Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between inside sales engineers' and solutions engineers' demographics:
| Inside Sales Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.3% Female, 34.7% | Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 5.7% White, 77.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 10.8% White, 74.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |