Since starting my career as a Sales Engineer, I have had gone through three first days in starting the role fresh. With each first day, I have learned many lessons on what I could do for the next one. My very first day as a sales engineer was a a bit of a disaster. I walked into the Qlik satellite office and I was told that my laptop wasn’t ready and to come back tomorrow. I immediately thought “great I can go home and wait there until it’s ready” which I did and spend the rest of the day hanging out in my living room. At that moment it was a great feeling to just head back home, but what I didn’t realize is that I was losing precious time in setting myself up for success in this new role. Once you are ramped up in a presales role, free time becomes a rare commodity so maximizing your free time from day one is critical. Therefore, every time I join a new company, I ask if I can start my first day at the corporate headquarters.