...but most of my success has been in supporting end users and being a good team member."
mugs82 - I'm in the same boat. I've been administering Nortel Enterprise Voice suites for 15 years now.
Like you, most of my strengths lie in bringing non-savvy Nortel people - both in I.T. and Call Center business units - up to speed on the capabilities/features/usage of the technology.
For hobby, I'm drawn to the PC, surfing & other techie stuff, but I'm losing my desire to stay in this industry. It's losing it's luster (at least for me). Too much business, not enough techie fun. Plus I think I'm burning out.
But I can't quit if I wanted to; employers consider me too valuable and are paying me handsomely.
Sometimes I think about challenging myself with a leadership role, but when I try to move up in my own company, the business unit balks at the thought of losing my skillset. Plus, I make Spvs, Mgrs look good, so they are secure in their jobs (read = not going anywhere).
And when I look for Management positions, they all require experience in a formal leadership/supervisory role.
Seems like fate - I went the technical route from day one - never got a degree. Seems late for that now - with 3 kids.
So, I guess I missed the boat on management - no big deal. But man, I sure need to find a fire again. This falling asleep at my administrative, maytag-repairman job is getting old. I'm thinking I've got more to offer, but I'm starting to become afraid I'll never get a chance to offer it.
Just can't figure out where I'd be offering the most, and receiving the most stimulation from it...
But I digress...
I was in a sales engineering role briefly. It's fun, but the service provider had no clue as to what they were asking of me. They were expecting design quotes for major networked systems with layered applications in 30 minutes. And because they were a small shop, I was being asked to do field work as well, so I couldn't always stay on top of Nortel's latest bulletins/technology/marketing offers, etc.
If you're going down the road of sales engineering - make sure that you are not going to have to multi-task. A good sales engineer knows the product inside and out, both future and past. If you are also asked to help provide technical support/field support, in my experience, it makes for 16+ hr days. Beware of that, and best of luck!