Asking the Questions that Matter: Sponsoring an Employee Network Group
Amy and her “grandpuppy,” Tucker.
Career development has been a passion of mine and an important part of my career since long before I joined Palo Alto Networks three years ago. So, it was a fortunate coincidence that I was asked, within two months of coming to work here, to step in as an executive sponsor for the company’s Early in Career Employee Network Group (ENG).
In fact, the opportunity landed on my lap — my colleague, who was the sponsor at the time, was unable to attend the group’s meet and greet and asked if I could take his place at the event. Soon afterward, he realized that his schedule didn’t really allow him to continue as a sponsor, and it made good sense for me to take on that role. After all, it was congruent with my position at the company, which at the time was Vice President of Corporate Sales — a role that, among other things, involved bringing on new talent through LEAP, the company’s early-in-career recruitment and training program.
The Early in Career ENG plays an important part in helping employees who are just starting out in their careers to make connections, seek advice, share concerns or frustrations, and develop their skills. It doesn’t necessarily mean its members have to be fresh out of college — some have been working for many years but are just starting out in cybersecurity. Issues that crop up for members include such things as establishing work-life balance, navigating finances, finding answers to work-related questions, strengthening time-management skills, identifying mentors, finding training opportunities, building professional and personal confidence, forming friendships, and finding their voice. Events range from book clubs to speaker sessions, educational presentations, training webinars, the occasional virtual happy hour, and much more.
The year 2020 has presented additional challenges, including isolation — many are recent grads and single, living alone — or feelings of disconnectedness from peers. Socials and meet-and-greet events are often a lifeline for those starting out in their careers, and with those opportunities taken off the table due to the pandemic, finding alternative ways to connect and network is essential in helping these employees stay engaged. For those fresh out of college or new to full-time employment, basic infrastructure, such as desks or designated work areas, is lacking, which adds to the difficulty of working from home. The support, advice, and connection this ENG provides are especially valuable to this group of employees, who appreciate being able to share their experiences with others who “get it.”
Being an executive sponsor doesn’t make me a leader, but rather a sounding board, advocate, cheerleader, and advisor. All the various ENG groups at Palo Alto Networks develop programs and events that are intended to be meaningful to constituent members and drive visibility across the organization. This involves considerable planning and budgeting, which I participate in. Because of my background, I can assist them in building their personal brands and bring vision to the group. I can also help spread the word about issues or concerns facing these employees or opportunities for others in the organization to participate in events or be more inclusive of early-in-career employees.
I also see raising questions as an important part of my role — questions related to what outcomes they’re seeking and how they can achieve them. I see it as the executive sponsor’s responsibility to raise questions they didn’t think to consider, to tease out their thinking and help them come up with solutions.
We all remember our first or second job, and we remember the people who were there to help lift us off. That’s why the Early in Career ENG — as well as the many ENGs we have here at Palo Alto Networks — is so important. It offers a sense of belonging as well as opportunities to both lead and follow, growing their confidence as they do. I avidly study social psychology, and one person known in this space, Brené Brown, once wrote, “We’re hardwired for connection.” Without connection in a company as large as ours, a person can easily get lost. An ENG creates a community where a person can feel safe and understood, and in turn, it helps them to feel more closely tied to the company. It not only benefits the individual but as a result, the company enjoys less turnover and happier, more productive, more engaged employees.
A company always has to be cautious that it doesn’t become exclusive in its efforts to be inclusive. That’s why an ENG is valuable for every employee, whatever affinity group we identify with. Participating in an ENG, even if you aren’t early in your career, offers a window into the issues facing those employees, as well as a deeper understanding of their ideas and perspectives, which can aid in innovation as well as recruitment and retention efforts. We’re never too experienced to learn from others which is why establishing and sponsoring ENG groups is a worthwhile investment.
Where Design Meets Technology
Since the beginning of my career in 2004, I’ve been concerned with how end-users interact with technology. My work addresses the intersection between web design and back-end technology, and my focus is on functionality, readability, and quality of user interface (UI) on Palo Alto Networks’ XDR threat detection and response application. As Senior Front-End Developer, I create the UI that enables customers to successfully visualize security incidents, allow those incidents to be analyzed, isolate infected machines, and more, all resulting in superior protection against cyber attacks. What I find most exciting about my work is that the features I develop impact and help secure the largest companies in the world and that every single line of code I write has a meaning and is visible by tens of thousands of people (at least!).
One of the most visible features I have developed is the application’s dashboard, which loads as the default page when customers open the application and is, therefore, the most-viewed page. It summarizes the security incidents collected by our system and allows users to navigate from there to specific incidents they would like to explore in more detail. And probably the feature I’m most proud of developing is the Remote Terminal, a useful and sophisticated feature that allows a security specialist to connect to an endpoint that might be infected by malware, run remote commands on it, view the task manager, pause and stop processes, and more, just as they would if they were working locally on that machine.
A Positive Culture
Since the moment when my hiring process began at Palo Alto Networks in 2018, I have felt that this is truly one of the best places to work — it is definitely the best place I’ve ever worked. Not only is it appealing to work for the largest cybersecurity company in the world, but my interactions with everyone at the company, from the professional and courteous recruitment specialist to my hiring manager, my department’s vice president, and everyone on my team, have been positive and welcoming.
Even after being here for over two years, I still feel this way. The company places high value on knowledge sharing, collaboration between teams, and trust between managers and employees. There’s no micromanaging. You won’t see Human Resources or managers tracking every work hour we put in; they don’t need to. Instead, there’s implicit trust and mutual accountability because everyone is dedicated to doing their best work here. This creates a unique work environment where people give their all and, even in stressful times, the feeling is positive and supportive.
In my short time with this company, I’ve learned a tremendous amount. I’ve learned how to cope with colleagues of different types and personalities. I’ve learned to prioritize tasks and work independently while also improving my multitasking ability. And I’ve learned that knowledge sharing and collaboration are the best ways to make the company succeed. I’ve taken these lessons to heart as I’ve grown in my ability to deliver the best possible features for customers.
As a woman, I can say that Palo Alto Networks has excellent employees of both genders, and I work daily with other great female developers, product managers, and quality engineers. Although I think some women may feel intimidated to work in technology, they shouldn’t. The atmosphere here is very empowering for women, and I’ve never felt like I was a minority.
I hope more women join this company because I’d like everyone to be able to experience the same positive environment and perks as I do.
Worth the Work
I was at the beginning of my sophomore year at Bismarck State College’s cybersecurity/computer networks program in fall 2019 when I learned about the Secure the Future competition. My professor would often bring event and competition opportunities to his students, and this competition, sponsored by Palo Alto Networks, came with a chance to win a cash prize and an interview for an internship or employment with the company.
As the competition paperwork explained, Secure the Future was designed “to challenge student candidates to make decisions regarding the protection of operational assets through the analysis, comparison, and selection of advanced security tools, methodologies, and implementation options.”
I had to move quickly — we had about two hours to decide whether we were interested. I’m the kind of person who likes to say yes to things, and I figured, why not? If nothing else, I would learn a lot from the experience. I went to my professor’s office and told him I was interested, and he gave me access to the pretest that screened applicants for the baseline skills needed to qualify for the competition. I passed the pretest, thanks to what I’d already learned about networking in my program, and I qualified to move on to Phase 2 of the four-phase competition.
Phase 2 was the competition research and learning phase. I needed to select an industry — I chose the financial industry, having worked for several years in banking — and conduct independent research while also completing a four-module course of assignments and assessments having to do with cybersecurity threats and challenges in that industry. Following that, Phase 3 involved compiling our research and producing a report and five-minute video summary of the research. And in Phase 4 (if you were one of the 10 lucky finalists to make it that far) included a trip to Palo Alto Networks’ headquarters in Santa Clara, California, to present our research live to panelists and participate in a five-minute Q&A session with the company’s board of directors.
As you’d expect, the work involved got progressively more challenging as the weeks went on. Because I was conducting research into information that was new and didn’t exist in many places, it would often take hours of my time to uncover it. In fact, the competition involved a pretty significant investment of my time; I spent about 15 hours a week on average, over the course of roughly six months, working on the competition. I did this all while completing my school work and holding a job where I put in over 30 hours a week. In fact, many students simply couldn’t complete the competition because the demands placed on us were quite heavy. But as I watched the numbers of competitors tick downward week after week, I started feeling hopeful that making it to the top 10 was actually within my reach.
In January 2020, I was notified that I’d been selected as a Phase 4 finalist! I had never been to California before, and that was exciting. But right as I thought the extensive work and research had come to an end, I had to produce a lengthy report of my research as well as a five-minute video summary.
Although I wasn’t one of the three winners chosen to receive a cash prize, as a finalist, I was fortunate to be granted interviews with several members of the Palo Alto Networks team. I flew home, and a few weeks later, I received a formal offer for an internship!
Ultimately, this experience proved invaluable for me — I’m so glad I chose to do it, even as challenging and even exhausting as the competition itself was at times. I wound up with the internship of my dreams, with a company I hope to continue my career with in the future. I’m really thankful for the competition, which not only helped me get my foot in the door with this company, but which also, among other things, taught me the values of perseverance and time management. If you’re interested in the Secure the Future competition and you are willing to put in the commitment and time, I would highly recommend it — it could lead you to something great!
A Huge LEAP on My Career Path
I’ve always been interested in technology and engineering, and my professional background includes nearly 10 years’ experience in aerospace engineering. But I became interested in cybersecurity and decided to earn my master’s degree in cybersecurity from Drexel University, in hopes of working as a systems engineer. Despite this training, however, I had a hard time finding work in the field.
Most of the job postings for systems engineers that I encountered were asking for several years’ worth of experience. I had significant professional experience, but not in this particular field. And how was I to begin obtaining those years of SE experience if I couldn’t even get my foot in the door? There had to be a way — and I found it in the SE Academy, part of Palo Alto Networks’ LEAP Program.
I attended a conference for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and that’s where I encountered Palo Alto Networks for the first time. I met a small group of representatives from the company, and I was impressed with their obvious passion for it. I applied to work here — three times, in fact — and each time I got a little further in the process. But all those positions were for people with more advanced technical backgrounds than I had.
However, during one interview, one manager mentioned that the company was starting up this SE Academy, and he asked if that was something I would be interested in. “Absolutely,” I told him. Within just a few months, I got the opportunity to interview for the Academy, and I received an offer shortly thereafter. So far, it has been just the experience I was looking for!
Inside the Academy
The LEAP Program is designed for new graduates, offering tailored professional development in various specialties through its Academies — in systems engineering, sales, research & development, and product management — to help those early in their careers to accelerate their growth. The SE Academy is a two-year program that provides foundations in security basics, networking, whiteboarding, and more, with professional certifications being part of the process.
This is no internship. Though the SE Academy provides us with learning opportunities, we are full-time, professional systems engineers who are given the latitude to learn in hands-on fashion — by doing the work.
Those accepted into the program get to select one of three tracks: corporate systems engineering (CorpSE), DevOps, and proof of concept (POC). The Academy is fairly new, with the first cohort in our Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) territory having only begun in late 2019. I am one of a small cohort of just three who comprise the first American cohort, which began in February 2020. Since then, the second cohort of five has begun the program as well.
In my CorpSE track, I’m working with the corporate sales team to assist companies of all sizes with their cybersecurity needs. I’m getting plenty of at-bats to understand customer environments and how our products fit those environments. Working alongside a sales rep, I investigate the customers’ needs and work as a trusted advisor who understands the technical aspects of our products but can explain them in user-friendly terms. It’s not so much about pushing for a sale; it’s about making sure you are addressing pain points and offering help where they need it most.
Working with customers is something I love about this job, but I also love that no two days are the same. Every customer and every situation is different, so I’m excited to come to work each day. And while I do love working with customers and being social, I also get to indulge my inner “tech nerd” on occasion as well, so it’s the best of both worlds.
And while I am working as a full-fledged SE, I’m still learning, and all of my colleagues are incredibly supportive of that. It’s okay to make mistakes — they welcome it because they know that’s the best way to learn.
Yet no one treats me as if I’m an intern or as if I am not a “real” employee. No one is trying to weed me out. They want me to succeed. Everyone makes themselves accessible to LEAP participants, no matter how high up they are on the totem pole. Not only are people available, but they really listen; they’re interested in my experiences and concerns. And when I express interest in trying something new and unfamiliar, they encourage me to go for it, because this is the entire foundation on which the company was built: Pushing the envelope and doing what hasn’t been done before.
All in all, I would say that if you have a passion for solving problems and engaging with people, this is the position for you. Just bring your most genuine, best self, and you might find this is the right fit for you.
Filling the Cybersecurity Talent Pipeline
It’s been widely reported that there is a global cybersecurity workforce shortage. Those of us working in the industry are seeing the tremendous growth in the industry firsthand and seeking ways to add to our pool of available talent. One such idea, the Secure the Future Academic Competition, has proven useful in identifying qualified, early-in-career individuals who have what it takes to work in this booming industry.
Developed in 2019, Secure the Future enables students who are currently enrolled in Palo Alto Networks’ cybersecurity curriculum at colleges and universities around the U.S. to participate in a four-phase competition to demonstrate their research, analytical, and presentation skills. Candidates select an industry sector and, over the course of four months, conduct in-depth research in order to identify potential security threats in their chosen industry and recommend an array of security solutions that leverage threat intelligence and a thorough understanding of business platforms.
The competition requires exceptional skills in time management, research, organization, problem-solving, and presentation, as students must complete independent study while completing a series of assignments and preparing a video and slide deck presentation, all outside of their regular school work. And at the end, the top three competitors receive cash prizes as well as internships and/or full-time employment at Palo Alto Networks.
At Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 and Threat Analysis Unit (TAU), we frequently seek interns for a few reasons. Interns often expose us to new concepts that are being taught at the university level that could enhance what we do. Most importantly, it provides us with a future job candidate who will have good foundational skills and may wish to join us full time when their formal university education ends.
Early this year, as I was looking to hire a summer intern for the TAU, a member of our University Recruiting team reached out to let me know about a young man named JR who had recently taken one of the top three spots in the Secure the Future competition who seemed like a good candidate for the internship. He told me that JR stood out both from an interpersonal skill perspective as well as technical capabilities — he could bring a lot to the table in terms of different ways to think about and visualize data. The TAU requires a very diverse and unique skill set: a combination of technical know-how as it pertains to malware analysis and threat hunting, along with an understanding of the business rationale behind what we’re hunting for, as well as geopolitical sensitivities that may be occurring in specific regions around the globe.
We conducted several interviews with prospective interns, and we decided pretty quickly that JR had an ideal skill set as an early-in-career candidate that I knew we could benefit from. He accepted the summer internship, and during those three months, he demonstrated a lot of valuable assets. Interpersonal skills are really important for our work — we have to not only be able to understand and convey sensitive and highly technical information but then we have to be able to explain it in writing clearly and effectively. What struck me about JR was his ability to speak and write very well. Additionally, we have to think analytically, to have a strong ability to reason, and form conclusions based on data and evidence.
A lot of the technical aspects of what we do can be taught, but those skills — interpersonal and analytical — in particular, need to be quite strong, and JR fits that mold really well. The Secure the Future competition, with its emphasis on research, analytical thinking, and clearly presenting information in a variety of mediums, only served to strengthen his abilities in those areas. It became a direct way for him to experience what’s involved in information security from a corporate perspective, and it placed him into our “hopper” of job candidates, which was beneficial for him and our team. In fact, he was such an asset as an intern that after the three months were over, we offered him a full-time position with the company.
For those who might be considering a career in cybersecurity, it’s clear that participating in the Secure the Future Academic Competition can provide you with an edge by honing crucial skills and introducing you to potential employers and experts in the field. For these reasons, it’s a worthwhile investment in your future.
Competing for the Future
My Experience in Secure the Future 2019
Last fall, as part of my final year of my Master of Science program in information and communication sciences at Ball State University (BSU), one of my professors, Dr. Steve Jones, approached me one day and told me that he had recommended me and two fellow students as potential candidates to participate in Palo Alto Networks’ Secure the Future Academic Competition, the first of its kind.
Though I had already determined that I was interested in a career in data science and specialized in it, I had been interested in cybersecurity since my first years in engineering school at IMT Atlantique (in France) prior to my enrollment at BSU. My studies and personal research had not only helped me to learn more about the common types of cyberattacks, such as DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) or social engineering techniques, but also to understand the devastating effects cybercrime can have on small and large businesses, individuals, and the society as a whole. A 2019 report estimated the cost of cybercrime worldwide to be about $600 billion (USD) per year, and each year this figure increases.
Participating in this competition, I realized, would be a tremendous opportunity to learn more about cybersecurity, as well as about Palo Alto Networks, a leader in the fight to secure the digital world. Not only would the competition be a great learning experience and opportunity for exposure to industry professionals, but the top three competitors would receive cash prizes of up to $10,000 and would be offered the opportunity to interview for internships and/or full-time employment with Palo Alto Networks. Although I knew it would take months of hard work, I was excited to participate.
The competition was developed by the company as a way to engage more students in the field and provide a pipeline for new talent to the company. It was designed “to challenge student candidates to make decisions regarding the protection of operational assets through the analysis, comparison, and selection of advanced security tools, methodologies, and implementation options.” Competitors each had to select an industry — finance, health care, energy, or a sector of our choice — then research and develop a competition report, summary video, and presentation that would include methodologies for deploying end-to-end attack detection, alert triage, threat hunting, investigation, orchestration, and automated response activities.
Money is very often listed as the first motive of cyber attacks, such as ransomware or phishing. The money cyber attackers extort from their victims is then withdrawn from the scrutiny of financial institutions and laundered by financing all kinds of illegal activities. Preventing this money from leaving its normal circuit as much as possible is therefore an important step in reducing these crimes. So I selected the finance industry as my area of focus, as I knew that threat actors had increasingly been targeting banks and because I believe that strengthening security in this sector is essential to building a safer world. I wanted to focus on what could be done to further improve the security of the banking industry. This would be the focus of my research for the next four months.
The competition was comprised of four phases, the first being the qualifier phase, during which time candidates took a pre-test to determine whether we had the fundamental skills necessary to compete. Only those who successfully passed the qualifier round were invited to continue on to phase 2, the competition research, and learning phase. This stage was quite challenging, as I needed to conduct independent research while also completing a four-module course of assignments and assessments — as well as completing my coursework for the last semester of my degree program.
In the third phase, we completed and submitted our competition reports as well as a five-minute video summary of our research. The top 10 candidates from this group would be invited to phase 4, which involved preparing a 15-minute slide deck presentation about how to secure the future of our selected industries, which included a five-minute Q&A with the board members at Palo Alto Networks.
My hard work paid off because I was fortunate to be one of the top 10 candidates selected to move on to the final round, and in the end, I placed third in the competition. Not only did I receive a cash prize of $2,500, but after four rounds of interviews, I also was offered a full-time position as a Data Scientist with Palo Alto Networks, which I accepted and started in February 2020 and have truly enjoyed.
My main take-away in this competition regarding the security of the financial sector is that we must continue to insist that financial institutions invest even more in their security and strengthen intelligence sharing (given that most financial institutions are linked through systems like Swift — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) because the threat is growing and the techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated. Securing this sector can help curb the development of illegal activities that the stolen money finances, thereby contributing to the construction of a safer world.
Participating in the competition was a huge challenge, and it required me to stay motivated and consistently dedicate many hours of my time each week to it. At times it was really difficult, but overall it was a great experience. Aside from the prize and the position, I gained benefits that will prove valuable throughout my career, including a more thorough understanding of cybersecurity and the ability to take ownership of my learning and work autonomously.
The competition involves an extraordinary level of commitment. You need to stay very organized in terms of completing work on time and adhering to a strict, detailed schedule. You must read all instructions and meet strict deadlines, and you can’t be afraid to ask questions. Most importantly, have fun! I encourage all students who are passionate about IT or cybersecurity — anyone interested in finding ways to build a safer world — to participate in the Secure the Future competition. It may be one of the most challenging experiences of your academic career, but it could also be one of the most rewarding.
Developing Women’s Leadership Potential
Palo Alto Networks has been running a project called “Women in Cyber,” and I’ve had the privilege to expand this initiative with my team in Taiwan, China, and South Korea for the past year. I’ve been fortunate to have great dialogue with the women in the industry from our various sessions. And one of the most memorable moments was when, after a speech I gave in Seoul, a young Korean Ph.D. student approached me and asked me a question I loved: “What motivates you, Wenting?”
I was always motivated to achieve academically and to accelerate my path to a career. I started to seek out sources of motivation on my journey, and I learned quickly that I am most motivated by the achievements of others — seeing them be inspired, influenced, and empowered sets a great example for me. In the meantime, I continue to discover new sides of myself, and I hope to continue improving and inspiring others in order to give back to society.
The Journey to Becoming a Leader
I started my career as an individual contributor and then, over time, developed into a manager and people leader. As much as I enjoyed the autonomy and flexibility of being an individual contributor, I was excited when I saw what I can achieve through others, and this motivated me to shift to a new gear in terms of my own work. The myth I had believed was that as a manager, I would simply be delegating work to others in order to meet the goals set forth within a team and company, not making my own contributions.
As my management journey continued, I saw that both of these scenarios were the case. We all eventually would like to achieve business goals; however, achieving with excellence is difficult, and the business continually needs more talent. I started to realise that, as a leader, I was an enabler, and as such, my singular objective was to identify and amplify the strengths of those with whom I worked. It’s about understanding what motivates your employees and improves their wellbeing, and it’s about making this the best possible workplace for them.
Advice to Women for Developing Leadership Skills
If you’re looking to enter leadership yourself, I would recommend taking these steps for professional development:
Get a mentor. It’s never easy to be self-aware enough to identify and confront your vulnerabilities. One of the ways to do this that I have found effective is to have a work or life mentor. A mentor is just like a mirror showing me who I am and how I can transform those vulnerabilities into strengths. Although it is never comfortable to face our weaknesses or the parts of ourselves that need improvement, you might feel you embrace this new chapter when you find you’re more able to contribute at work and discover that you enjoy the new you that arises from the transformation.
Get out of your comfort zone and learn new things. Resilience can be developed. Getting out of our comfort zones and putting ourselves in situations where we can learn new things can unleash our potential. I was born and raised in Taiwan. When I was in my late twenties, I decided to live in North Africa for a few years and simply challenge the way I had been living. I wrote a series of articles about my journey in Morocco, from the beginning, when it was so hard to immerse myself in the culture, to the end of my time there, when I had eventually come to respect and appreciate all those differences. I would say my time there was one of my best life experiences because it opened my mind to places and people I had never before experienced.
Have a growth mindset. Continuing to learn and having a growth mindset are critical. The very first product for me to sell, more than 20 years ago, was a load balancing, disaster recovery system, which today is built by default on a laptop or a server today. The technology evolves, and we need to continue learning to keep up to speed and reflect the way we can contribute to society. While I am writing this article, the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting everyone’s life and the world economy. In order to tackle this, we must continually adapt to all types of situations, and making the best decision is never easy.
In my conversations with women leaders, for the most part, the views they’ve shared with regard to how they got where they are today and what their biggest challenges have been did not have anything to do with their gender. From my observations, the critical factors to their success have been their characteristics of resilience, adaptability, and a growth mindset — traits we should all develop on our own career journeys.
Everyone wants their voice to be heard, and everyone has a dream. If we can help others to fulfill their dreams and have their voices heard, that is a gift we all benefit from.
Discovering My Path
Neel Kattumadam, Software Engineering Intern
It may sound odd coming from someone who just finished a software engineering internship, but when I graduated high school, I wanted to be a doctor. I was accepted into UT Austin, and once I started college, however, I quickly realized that becoming a doctor was a fantasy, because it wasn’t my love for medicine that made me want to pursue that career. As corny as it may sound, what drew me to medicine was helping people with their problems and finding solutions for them. And that applied to technology as well as to medicine.
I had already been taking computer science courses, so I decided to pursue a career in that field. Once I graduated from UT Austin in May 2019, I started looking into graduate programs, and I was accepted into Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Science in information systems program, which I began last fall. I went into the program most interested in data science, but the more courses in software engineering that I took, the more I liked it.
So when it came time to start exploring internships for the coming summer, I applied to a host of computer science internships, including the Palo Alto Networks program. Its focus on software engineering was appealing to me, and over the course of this three-month program, I’ve decided that this is the career for me.
In general, my team was working on projects that, in several ways, allow us to customize our products to suit the customers’ needs and their unique work setups. My work in particular involved creating a best practices assessment. I came in after the sale had been made and the customer was learning how to best use the product. I love interacting with customers, helping solve their problems, and optimizing their products to improve the way they work, so this was exactly the kind of thing I set out to do!
It never felt like work to me. I never felt like it was a grind to work three or four hours on a project — instead, it was more like, “Oh cool, now I can learn more about this!” I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that with any other subject.
Going Remote
Of course, when I applied and was accepted for this internship, my expectation was that I would return home to the Bay Area from Austin, TX, and work at Palo Alto Networks’ headquarters. But the coronavirus changed everything, and in March I was told that my internship would be done remotely. I left school and moved home to Saratoga, CA, and I spent the three months of my internship working from home.
Surprisingly, I loved working remotely. I enjoyed being able to structure my own day rather than arriving at a designated time. I’m not exactly a morning person, and if I’d had to go to the office, I would have had to wake up early and then sit in traffic for 30 to 45 minutes just to be there on time. But because I was working remotely, I was able to adjust the schedule so that I was at my best — starting my day a little later in the morning and working a little later into the evening. Not only that but I enjoyed having flexibility in my work environment. Sometimes I worked at my desk, sometimes at the kitchen counter with my mom. Sometimes I worked straight through, and sometimes I took a break and watched the news with my family. I think this flexibility allowed me to stay fresh.
Of course, it wasn’t always easy. I think going to work in an office is definitely the best way to network. I only knew three or four interns in my class, and that may have been my fault, because I immediately started flooding myself with work, and I didn’t hop on as many Zoom events as I could have. The face-to-face connections you make with peers when you’re in a workplace are really valuable, so if there’s one drawback to working remotely, I’d say that was it.
However, even though I’ve been remote the entire time, Palo Alto Networks’ human resources and recruiting services are 100% better than any I’ve seen at any other company. I had done an internship the previous year with a large, established, very well-known company, and during that time I only spoke to the recruiter a couple of times and was invited to a couple of socials at bars, things like that. But even being entirely remote with Palo Alto Networks, this was hands-down a better experience for staying connected.
Almost every day, there were opportunities to socialize and connect with each other, to hear speakers share their ideas and experiences, and to learn about new technologies or ways to improve the work we were doing. We even played interactive games using Kahoot or other apps, and the prizes were incredible — an Apple watch, gift cards to Amazon, and more. Gestures like this demonstrate that the company’s doing well, which is reassuring, but also that interns are worth that level of investment. There are numerous small groups that we were part of as well, and in my group, the Global Customer Support group, there was a team of about 15 interns who met every week to share common interests, compare experiences, or ask advice.
In fact, my internship experience was so positive that my manager was able to get approval to extend my internship, giving me the ability to work for Palo Alto Networks part time while I continue school. I would highly recommend this experience, both for the tremendous learning and professional experience you’ll get as well as for the connections you’ll make along the way.
LEAP Sales Academy Offers Hot Career Prospects
Tara Aspin, Business Development Representative
As most people who are early in their careers know, finding a full-time job in your desired field right out of college is a challenge. As someone who’s interested in sales, what I often see is ads for positions that require one to two years’ experience. That may not seem like a lot, but even if you’ve worked a couple of internships, those are typically only about three months long, so by the time you graduate, you still fall short.
While I was completing my bachelor’s degree in Graphic Communication and Management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I took a summer internship with Cambridge CM, a construction management company in the Bay Area, California. That’s when I discovered Palo Alto Networks — Cambridge managed the building process of its new headquarters in Santa Clara. I grew interested when I saw the building and how well-appointed it was, so I started doing a little research into the company.
I didn’t really know anything about Palo Alto Networks, but I have always been interested in technology, and I knew cybersecurity was a growing field, so I was curious about whether they had any sales positions available. That’s when I discovered Palo Alto Network’s unique offerings for new grads, the LEAP program, and among its various academies was the Sales Academy. During this one-year program, I would get the opportunity to work as a full-time employee while also being given an opportunity to learn and develop my sales skills — all within the safe confines of an early-in-career program where I’m expected to be inexperienced and learning the ropes. Not only that but the company’s trajectory and workplace culture, from what I could see, seemed exciting to me, so I applied to the program.
Over the course of just a month, I interviewed with a recruiter and three different managers within the sales team, and by September 2019, I was part of the Business Development Representative team at Palo Alto Networks!
Inside the Academy
My year has certainly been exciting! Of the 10 of us in the Sales Academy, four of us were at headquarters, and we were able to work together in the office, collaborating and asking questions, so I had a fantastic support system and was never the odd one out. Early on, we would also do Zoom calls with the teams in Plano, Texas, and New York, learning about cybersecurity and all our products and verticals. We got to try our hand at making and delivering presentations, in groups and solo, which was tremendously helpful in building my confidence in working with customers.
Within about two months, we were each given a territory to cover, and I was assigned to our State, Local, and Education (SLED) accounts in the Northwest. I worked with other Business Development Reps and Field Reps to determine the best tactics for developing new business, and I discovered an array of prospecting tools. I got to work side by side with colleagues in an office for a few months before COVID hit and forced us all to work remotely from home. And although working from home brought new challenges, I no longer had to commute in Bay Area traffic (a definite plus!), and I was already very used to working with team members in other parts of the country, so conducting business and collaborating with peers virtually was something we were all used to doing already.
Valuable Lessons
One of the most important things I’ve received from the Sales Academy is confidence in speaking with customers. I’ve learned so much about how to help customer’s pain points with our products, and the work on presentations I’ve done has really prepared me to talk to customers in a professional way and to address their unique needs.
I’ve also learned a whole lot about time management since I had to manage my day-to-day work prospecting accounts while also making time to expand my product knowledge and prepare quality presentations I’d been assigned. That time-management training will serve me well as I grow in my career.
Early on, I was really intimidated about talking to more experienced team members within the company. I quickly realized that everyone was so helpful and really wanted me to succeed. It has been extremely valuable to set up internal calls with my coworkers, to pick their brains and learn about their career journeys in sales.
The company is certainly generous in terms of its perks — the fancy snack bars, donation matching, the stipends to help us cover home office expenses while working from home, and more. But more importantly, the generosity I’ve found in people who offer their time and commitment to my success has made all the difference. I look forward to continuing to grow in this role and learn even more about this industry and this company.
Culture of Empowerment
Since I was a kid, when my parents gave me a MacBook, I’ve been interested in technology. From there, I fell down the rabbit hole — I knew right away I wanted to grow up to have a career in technology. I started out learning things like PhotoShop, then progressed to programming in high school, and now I’m in my last semester of my bachelor’s program in computer science at UT Austin. Once I got to college, I started looking for high-quality internships to prepare myself for the professional world of software engineering.
Cybersecurity always interested me, but I didn’t really see an overlap between it and software engineering until I found the Palo Alto Networks internship program. The program was three months long, from May through August, and my work was in NetDevOps, which is the intersection of networking and development operations that involves automating network design and changes.
Since I joined the team in May, I’ve been working with Panorama, our firewall management product, to create tooling for our firewalls in order to increase the transparency of how they’re managed. I write many supporting microservices and libraries in Python to interact with services like Okta, ServiceNow, Panorama, and databases. I’ve also automated some of this work through Jenkins or CI/CD pipelines.
Being in the midst of a pandemic, there was no other choice but to do the internship remotely. Fortunately, I was still able to do everything I needed to do from my home here in Prescott, Arizona. It was definitely a challenge, particularly in the beginning. I wasn’t sure how to get the support I needed when it seemed like everyone was so busy, and I couldn’t just walk over to ask for their assistance. That first week mostly involved ramping up, setting up my computer; figuring out how the team works and who provides approvals at what stages; and learning the goals and objectives. But soon I figured out how to navigate those issues and get the help I need, and it was really rewarding to be independent and find answers on my own. I also found that I really enjoyed the flexibility of working remotely. I would say one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned through my internship is how to work autonomously — to find or develop solutions on my own. I think that will serve me well in my career.
I started learning right away, and it hasn’t stopped. The interns here are constantly getting new projects to work on, and you have to learn quickly — though I find I’ve really enjoyed that fast pace. I also had previous internship experience, so I was familiar with having challenges thrown at me and having to push through my uncertainty and address them. Plus, speaking professionally, having that experience prepares me more for my career and will show future employers that I can work independently, think on my feet, and operate in a deadline-oriented environment.
Another thing I’ve learned that I have found tremendously valuable is proficiency in Python. Prior to this internship, I was self-taught but I’m very idiomatic in it now. Knowing it well and writing in it concisely is an important skill for the future.
Socializing and connecting with other interns as well as Palo Alto Networks employees has been a bit harder, obviously, because of the nature of remote work, but University Recruiting has put on some fun virtual events that have helped with that.
Even though I’ve been working on my own from home, I’ve definitely been treated as a member of the team, and my work has been meaningful and important. Just because I’m an intern doesn’t mean that I’ve been given menial tasks. In fact, a lot of my code has been used in important projects. In some companies, interns work in silos, removed from the teams, but I’ve been given assignments that were time-sensitive, where I’ve helped someone who was relying on my work to ship a big project. It was a little intimidating at first, but it was also really exciting to be contributing in a real way.
There’s a culture of empowerment here, and we’re all empowered to take on responsibilities and find solutions. Interns are encouraged to participate and complete projects with real stakes attached to them — not just meaningless, fluff jobs — and my code actually makes a difference. For me, that makes this the gold standard of internships.
And that leads me to another valuable lesson I’ve learned along the way, which is taking ownership of projects. I haven’t shied away from opportunities to learn and push myself. For example, our team uses remote contractors, and there have been times when they needed help clarifying spots in the code that were unclear or buggy, so I had to jump in and take ownership — identify places that needed improvement and take it upon myself to make those changes. In fact, I was strong enough in designing microservices that I got the opportunity to mentor another intern in that. So I’ve had a chance to both lead and follow during these three months, which doesn’t often happen during internships.
We’re exposed to people at all levels of the organization. We had an organization-wide intern fest, and we were on a call with high-level executives and the CIO, and I’ve even had some small group sessions with him. It’s really cool, and I’d never expected that from a big tech company like this.
Prior to this experience, I didn’t know what went into next-gen firewalls, and I honestly didn’t know much about what Palo Alto Networks did. But it’s been rewarding to see how all these things fit together, and I like that we’re doing something important — we’re securing companies, which is really exciting.
If I were to offer some advice to future interns, it would be this: Learn as much as you can, and don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially early on. It might seem like you’re being a nuisance, but no one expects you to know everything right away. Come in with a positive attitude, be open, and expect to learn a lot.