Pros
Decent OTE, flexible work environment, fairly low quotas. Name recognition in the market makes the prospecting/selling manageable. Overall a pretty good gig if you’re looking for something that is a low time commitment while still paying a decent salary.
Cons
After almost a year in the AE role, I’m starting to see why there is SO much turnover. Managers are promoted purely off their sales performance and nothing to do with their managerial experience/skills. I see some great ones and some micromanaging ones that aren’t very smart and probably shouldn’t be managers. The quotas are pretty low so that all you have to do is renew your existing customers and add one or two more a year. However, if you have even one cancellation it can ruin your entire year. All that matters at Gartner is making Winners Circle; so if you want to advance your career but have a tough territory- you’re out of luck. Also they traditionally will pay slightly above what your prior W2s show, so there are people with the same job and lower quotas that are making significantly more - which can be frustrating. (This is now illegal in NYC anyway) Lastly, if you’re a true sales go-getter, this may not be a role for you. Very limited prospecting opportunity (a handful of names accounts per rep), and no real technology that you’re selling - just research and analysts services.