I don't think there's a huge contradiction here. You and I routinely discuss how we think everyone should learn a little programming because it strongly enforces ideas (such as abstraction) that are extremely useful in almost every other task.

While I have no experience in sales (and, let's be honest, hopefully never will), it's easy to imagine that spending time explicitly focusing on a skill that is generally useful (such as the ability to make a convincing argument) can be more valuable than trying to hone your sales skills in another context where they aren't exercised as heavily.

PS. Strangely, this post shows up in archives but not on the front page.

You just found a bug.  This isn't supposed to be published until 10:30 this morning but I guess the archives aren't paying attention to that.  Weak.

Anyway, I agree with you that spending time doing nothing but sales could be beneficial, but I don't think it's quite like programming.  People that haven't studied programming know absolutely nothing about it.  They are faced with technology issues every day and yet they don't have the slightest concept of how the things they're using work.

With sales, everyone at least kind of understands what's going on.  Most people don't actually think of the things they're doing as sales, but if they did, they'd get something out of it.

I see it as the difference between running and swimming.  You don't need to learn how to run.  Sure, you need to practice it to get good, but everyone knows how to run.  You can't swim unless you actually take the time to learn how.

But you're right.  I probably came down too hard on sales.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can get good at making convincing arguments without having a sales background.

I think working in sales gives you a level of commitment to reflection and analysis and a platform for experimentation (where fewer variables change from event to event) that you'll never come close to in everyday life.

The biggest difference is your ability to form and test hypotheses. When you try selling one thing to a hundred (or even a dozen) different people, you learn a lot more about technique than when you discuss different things haphazardly throughout your life. Once you have a decent sample size that's relatively representative, you can start to learn from the reactions you get, adjust your pitch, and refine it to make it better. Repeat that for several different products and types of customers and you'll a build set of skills. Once you're comfortable with many different types of pitches, products, and customers, I think you'll be demonstrably better at many of the random sales-like interactions you encounter in life.

I think there are many elements of thinking on your feet (sales, speeches, interviewing) that only improve with experience, and practicing occasionally with a low level of commitment is not likely to help.

If you convinced me that you were really serious about reflecting on and learning from every sales-like interaction you had, I'm sure you would improve some. But I think it'd be insanely inefficient compared to working in sales for 3 months.

Ok, I can buy that you'd learn sales techniques more efficiently by actually working in sales.  But that brings up another problem.

If I spend several of my formative professional years in sales, that's several years where I'm not in a field more related to my interests.  It's several lost years of becoming a better product developer, designer, marketer and programmer.

While I hadn't thought of it in these terms until you made me reconsider my position, I guess I'm trying to say that by working on sales related skills in the context of my current life (rather that joining the sales department), I'm more likely to naturally prioritize my career development in a way that is proportional to my interests and aspirations.

In the end, this is all academic.  I just have a tough time believing I'd be better off in the long run if I'd spent the past 2 years in sales rather than development.  It doesn't matter much for me because I'd hate my life if I became a salesperson and it wouldn't be worth it even if it hugely improved my career.  Easy decision in my case.

Thanks for the comments.  You're making me think this through more than I did originally (in a good way).