Hit promote-to-AE within 18 months or change companies — staying an SDR past 24-30 months is a strong negative signal in the market; the AE ladder is where real comp begins (often 2-3x the SDR band).

Specialise into a complex-deal vertical (cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, fintech) where human judgement and relationship-building still matter — generic horizontal SaaS outbound is the part of sales AI agents are commoditising first.

Build a public personal brand on LinkedIn / X around one go-to-market topic and ship 50+ posts in the next 12 months — at 24 the network/visibility compound is enormous, and 'thought-leader-track SDR' is a real differentiator at promotion time.