Motorola Solutions Career Growth & Development

What new skill or role did you want to learn? Why was this important to you?
I was incredibly excited to join Motorola Solutions in October 2023 as a sales engineer. In this role, I have the opportunity to work with customers on the front lines to help solve complex technology challenges in real time and contribute to creating a safer world, something I am passionate about every day.

Reflecting on my time as a new employee, it was important to me to become an expert in our safety and security ecosystem of technologies as quickly as possible, positioning myself as a key technical resource for my team and the customers I support. Additionally, I’ve always had a desire to take on more leadership in my career, so finding ways to contribute to organizational success was also important to me.

How did your employer help support this time of learning and professional development?
In my first week, I hit the ground running with new hire training, learning about the real-world applications of our technologies. I was also provided specialized training in the core areas I supported, like our license plate recognition solutions. We had dedicated work hours to experiment in a sandbox environment, allowing me to practically apply my knowledge and skills with the technology. For example, I was able to personally test our innovative LPR technology to open a gate when a known vehicle entered my driveway. Upon completing onboarding, we demonstrated a specific product to our peers, fostering constructive feedback while helping solidify everything we learned. This experience positioned me very well to subsequently present to our customers.

Inspired by the support I received during this process, I wanted to train other new hires in sales engineering, taking on a leadership role among my peers. My team provided resources to create a new, dedicated sales engineering mentorship program, where I piloted various training sessions and collaborated with management and team leads who provided me feedback on how to refine this initiative through performance reviews.

What was the outcome of this experience? How did it impact your future growth in your profession?
These experiences have significantly impacted my future growth, establishing me as both a technical and leadership resource within the organization. I’ve had the opportunity for higher-level roles and to expand my experience as a mentor.

For my team, I’m a subject matter expert in LPR technology and the Motorola Solutions ecosystem, enabling me to lead projects, troubleshoot complex problems and train my colleagues. Within the first six months, I had already interacted with many customers (too many to count!), finding it incredibly fulfilling to help solve their challenges.

Upon introducing the dedicated sales engineering mentorship program, we further reduced ramp-up time and improved retention by supporting engineers after the onboarding program through a peer-based support system, serving as an ongoing, structured and supportive learning environment. Personally, I feel more confident in my skills, driving innovation and team development, helping shape my career path in leading new and bigger technology initiatives throughout the business.