Yea, I'm perfectly fine sitting in on a meeting with the actual professional sales person and answer technical questions the client may have. I can also provide estimates for projects if they have the specs.
It's the cold-calling clients, schmoozing with them, keeping up the rolodex and all that I don't want to do to the point that I'm perfectly happy working for someone who does all that - even though I would make twice the money if I went into business for myself.
> perfectly fine sitting in on a meeting with the actual professional sales person and answer technical questions the client may have
Fair enough. How do you think the salesperson should initiate meeting requests with you?
From the salesperson's perspective, if he's got the client on the phone, and the client asks a question that the salesperson doesn't know how to answer, it's much better for him if he can say "one moment, let me loop in the engineer", tap you on the shoulder, and bring you into the call while it's on-going. Being able to do this sort of thing can help close sales loops much faster. Every follow-up call that needs to be scheduled reduces the chances of closing the sale; it's best not to need to schedule follow-up calls.
Now, the disruption is, to put it kindly, not ideal from an engineering perspective. Still, the impulse from the salesperson remains. If you get a private office, a "naive good" salesperson would still, in the middle of the sales call, get up and knock on your door, cell phone in hand, and ask if you can join the call. Private offices vs. open offices is irrelevant to the matter at hand. As the engineer, you still need to be the one to set boundaries and say listen, I need space to concentrate and not be disturbed, if the client has a question then you need to schedule a follow-up call. A workplace you like will respect your boundaries; a workplace you don't will expect you to be available to talk to the salesperson whenever it darn well pleases them because Revenue Is King.
It's the cold-calling clients, schmoozing with them, keeping up the rolodex and all that I don't want to do to the point that I'm perfectly happy working for someone who does all that - even though I would make twice the money if I went into business for myself.