Personally, I'm at the point where I'm considering where I want to take my career next and marketing has certainly been an option I'm contemplating. Like @jaf22 mentioned, it's easier for an engineer to go to marketing rather than vice versa due to the technical knowledge and experience engineers already have. I don't consider myself an extrovert which is why I'd probably take the marketing route since I wouldn't have as much customer contact and need to maintain relationships within and outside work. That isn't to say you don't need to maintain relationships in the industry, I think it just comes down to personality and what percentage of your day to day work you prefer to spend talking to others vs completing your tasks. But who knows maybe I might surprise myself and try out sales down the line and end up loving it!

I would not choose marketing or sales because I much prefer to be actively engaged in the engineering aspect of products. Being completely honest, marketing and sales do not interest me, and they seem to be quite repetitive. As @jaf22 has alluded to, the requirements for an engineering position are more rigorous, so the tasks would be more challenging. I personally am someone who is constantly pushing myself even if a task seems unreachable. I love a good challenge and that only makes me work harder.  Pursuing a career in marketing or sales would seem like a breeze after spending years in industry. I feel that my years of hard work would be for nothing if I don’t use the engineering knowledge I have gained.

Personally, for me I am just starting out and would prefer to gain more time as an engineer before switching positions later in my career path. I believe that someone who has had a few years as an engineer developing a product, and then later switches to selling that said product, will be be able to so in a unique manner. Conversely, a typical person in sales would not be able to take the same perspective as someone who has spent years developing the product which they are selling. Therefore, I believe that becoming a sales engineer after some years of experience in the field, is a viable career path.

I can understand why someone from engineering might decide to go into marketing or sales. After spending time developing a product, an engineer might find the idea of promoting the product they helped develop to the people who would actually use it and benefit from it to be exciting. However, personally, as I am new to the industry, I find the idea of helping to create and develop new products to be more exciting. As I have not yet gained significant experience in engineering positions, I would prefer to gain that experience before considering a switch in my career path.

I would have chosen marketing over sales as a Biomedical Engineer. The marketing manager has to deal with all the departments present in the company like R&D, Operations, Quality Assurance, Management, Sales, etc. Since engineering people do have sound technical knowledge, they are the best fit to launch a good quality product in the market. Moreover, other skills required like sales strategies, customer services can be developed easily through some research, feedbacks from sales reps, and with the help of colleagues at the workplace. So I think moving to marketing department for an engineer is easier than sales and s/he can do justice with the position. 

I would not chose either marketing or sales since I am still enjoying the science and engineering field a lot. However, if I had to chose one, I would chose marketing because I would know how advertise and sell the brand with all its important features (especially technical and engineering related features). Since I have an engineering background, I can be more confident to brand the products based on these features. However, I think that's a great way to attain customer's attention. Hence, I think it would be quite beneficial to have a BME degree before joining a marketing team.

I would very much prefer to stay within the engineering field because marketing and sales iii not something that has really interested me. After going through years of engineering where we have developed more problem solving skills and how to design within parameters, it seems strange to step into a role where you're trying to sell something. Marketing yourself at a career fair is uncomfortable enough, I cannot imagine marking a product. However, if I had to choose, I would ultimately go with the upstream route as you are still involved in planning products and possible meeting other engineers so you are actively involved in design inputs. 

I could definitely see myself being a sales rep and dealing with the customer directly since that's what I'm used to and enjoy from working in the restaurant business my whole life. However, I wouldn't want to steer away from engineering completely because I worked so hard to get here and I still enjoy the design and development aspects and as you mentioned it requires a more rigorous degree to become an engineer. I have marketing experience dealing with my family restaurant making ad campaigns with magazines and promotions and posts on Instagram and it's all fun but I enjoy using my technical skills as well and being part of a product's project as opposed to just promoting a product. However, again I would like to deal with the customer directly and be the spokesperson, so honestly, it's a difficult choice for me personally at the moment and I think I would need more experience in the field to make a final decision. 

Personally, I would prefer to stay within the Research and Development and engineering department mainly because I love to create solutions to problem and I believe going to the marketing and sales division, I would not enjoy that sector of a product development. I believe being an extrovert and being able to effectively communicate with people makes a marketing and a sales person effective. I however would better thrive with a small group of team members where we are tasked to fix a problem or find a solution and would rather have someone else worry about the ways to market the product or be able to convince as many customers to buy the product. If I were to move forward I would be looking at going towards a project management direction in which I still am in the product development and engineering side of a product but be able to work with other teams along with my team to find the solution. 

I prefer marketing over sales if I want to change my career route from engineering to these two areas. Being a sale is more complex than I thought. Sales need to visit the customer to promote products. They need to record all customers' information and preference. Sometimes, they even need to meet with people who don't have the engineering background to promote their product. I choose marketing doesn't mean I expect the situation above won't happen in marketing. I prefer marketing because I can communicate with almost every department in the company. Good conduct and information organization between all departments benefit the whole company. And being a marketing person with an engineering background would know more about which project would be more popular and available.

In the transition from engineering to sales, in my experience, I've seen people complete engineering degrees and then use that engineering degree in a sales position in a company. Most people have gained experience through positions such as retail at a younger age, so they use that experience combined with their engineering degree in order to transition into sales. In most cases, a person with an engineering degree is able to transition to a sales role due to the knowledge they have about the product as well as the technical information they have. Using that information to convey it to the customer makes it easier to use their expertise. Many times, people with a sales background even go through the route of seeking advice from engineers and chemists on the products due to the knowledge they may have that the salesperson doesn't have and would improve their skills at selling the product. I personally wouldn't go the sales or marketing route because of my passion for the technical aspects of doing quality research compared to just cold calling customers and generating sales. I would later develop my technical skills so that I could work for a company using these skills and become a manager, so I could become an expert on the subject. I wouldn't go the sales route because of the variability within the field; in other words, sales needed to be made in order to determine my worth to the company or the constant push to sell more products.

Transitioning from engineering into sales or marketing would be an interesting potential future opportunity, but personally, I would currently prefer working in engineering. Sales and marketing have a lot of positives such as more direct interactions with prospective patients and medical professionals as well as increasing awareness of the device. I would opt for engineering as an early-career professional due to my passion for more hands-on work. Additionally, engineering will allow for me to grow technically which would help if I decided in the future to go into sales or marketing. A deep technical understanding would allow for an individual in marketing or in sales to know how to cater the device to the needs of the patient. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose marketing as it would allow for me to still be involved in the product development process. Additionally, marketing has many similarities to project management, which is another area that I am interested in. 

I think it might be a phase for me, to be honest. I know a lot of people say it is more lucrative, however without sales experience. It might be hard to crack into the role. I think it would be wise to develop your skillset and explain why it might be beneficial in a sales role. Doing so, you are able to maintain both competitiveness in your current field but create a whole another field as an option. Additionally, the job requirements for every sales position is different, as a result. You should also look into which segment you are trying to hop into. 

Engineering majors follow the opposite trend of communications majors. While communications majors are most hireable right after they finish college, engineering majors are most valuable after years of experience. However, that experience is not always directly transferable after years of practice, but the applicability remains. Therefore, the best place for their practice becomes in marketing and sales. The busy work remains with the new grads, while the big-picture work follows the experienced. Given the choice between sales and marketing after an engineering role, I would lean towards marketing, specifically upstream marketing. The reason being, upstream marketing focuses on strategy, product development, and market research. An engineer's analytical skills, understanding of product design, and problem-solving abilities would be invaluable in this role. They can bridge the gap between technical specifications and market needs, ensuring that products are not only innovative but also tailored to customer requirements. On the other hand, sales would involve direct interactions with customers and might require a different set of interpersonal skills. While sales can be rewarding, marketing, especially upstream, would allow for a more seamless transition, leveraging the technical knowledge acquired during the engineering phase.