Figures are base salary. OTE (base + commission at quota) runs about $85K at tech companies (RepVue median OTE $85K; top performers ~$128K); an Outreach enterprise SDR posting lists $83-88K. Range high is Payscale's 90th-percentile base. Senior figure is the next step, Account Executive (RepVue AE median base $95K).
Experience to get here
Entry level0-1 years (true entry-level role)
Typical title0-2 years
No degree requirement in most tech SDR postings (Greenhouse and Outreach postings list none). Certifications are rarely asked for; cold-calling/emailing experience, resilience and activity metrics are what hiring managers screen for.
Typical prior roles
Recent graduateRetail / hospitality / customer serviceInside sales or BDR internRecruiter / staffingCustomer support
Must have
Cold calling and cold emailing (postings cite 45+ dials a day and personalized outreach)
Qualifying inbound leads and booking meetings for AEs
Hitting weekly/monthly activity and meeting quotas
CRM and sales-engagement tools: Salesforce, Salesloft/Outreach, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Organization, coachability and persistence
Milestones people hit first
Hit meeting/pipeline quota for consecutive months (the main promotion criterion to AE)
Built a personalized outbound sequence that beat team reply rates
Sourced an opportunity that closed, and can tell the story
Took on enterprise accounts or a dedicated AE pairing
Shows CRM/sequence fluency for HubSpot-based SMB sales teams; Salesforce shops will not care.
Training & learning
HubSpot Academy Inbound Sales + Sales Hub SoftwareFREEHubSpot Academy · learning path · free · ~5 hoursFree vocabulary for qualification and CRM hygiene that lets a career changer talk like an SDR in interviews.
Salesforce Trailhead (Sales Cloud basics)FREESalesforce · learning path · free · 5-10 hoursSalesforce is the CRM named in nearly every SDR posting; logging activity cleanly is part of the job.
Sandler Sales FoundationsSandler · course · pricing on request · variesThe intro program of a methodology many sales orgs train SDRs on; usually employer-funded, so do not buy it yourself.
BLS mapping: 41-3091 Sales Representatives of Services; BLS does not break out SDRs, and its median ($69,990) sits between SDR base and OTE. BLS OOH has no page for 41-3091, so the May 2025 figures come from Wagedex's republication of OEWS data. Neither posting cited named a certification or a degree; both emphasize quota/activity. Sandler shows no individual pricing.
Figures are US, from the sources listed, and change often; verify before deciding.