The Women in Technology World Series Online Festival
The Women In Technology Online Festival was created to inspire, celebrate and unify women tech professionals and diversity advocates from across the globe. Every year they have an amazing group of speakers – In order to see my name with these awesome established speakers I had to submit to see where they have a gap. As you can see from the Agenda, I am the only one with a QA topic. Last year I attended this conference and saw how they selected the topic. I have worked hard to submit my abstract with their guideline. Finally, I got accepted 3 months ago.
This conference was one of the best so far. It was a paid conference. I have attended and got inspired by the Keynote Conversation With Former First Lady Michelle Obama. There were a lot of sessions during the 5 day-long conferences. I have attended a few of them.
My Topic was “Transforming Your QA Team In An Agile Environment”
I’ve shared my expertise on Transforming your team as a QA Leader. You need to be an effective communicator, problem-solver, detail orientated, adaptable, and use your time efficiently. You need to be a confident team player who can negotiate for his/her team and unblock any obstacle your team might encounter. I will share the tricks and tips to make the journey easier in defining a goal for your team and working with your team to achieve the goal.
Key Takeaways:
- Define the ground rule for your team
- Cultivate QA team culture
- Define Quality metrics to ensure the team deliverable
- Define short and long term goal for the team
I was very privileged to represent Palo Alto Networks in such a global Platform. I love to contribute to Palo Alto Networks’ external representation at global conferences like this one. During the same week, I have also spoken to another conference WomenTech Network Global Conferences 2021: https://www.womentech.net/speaker/Dilruba/Malik
I have been speaking to WomenTech Networks since 2020. This year my topic was Leading Remotely.
My Talk at UCSF: https://lecture.ucsf.edu/ets/Play/c9bc1c73fe194e6b975ffa2311cd72521d
Fireside Chat: Choose to Challenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwAu8PQk-2I
Technical Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Xub-Rjgd4
Panel Session: Applying Emotional Intelligence to the Tech Workplace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWT34D3xTQA
My article on QA Myths: https://www.womenwhotest.com/2021/02/19/most-common-qa-myths-by-dilruba-malik/
Palo Alto Networks blog: https://jobs.paloaltonetworks.com/2021/03/26/reach-for-the-career-you-want/
InherSight mention: https://www.inhersight.com/blog/working-mom/why-companies-should-hire-moms-according-to-moms
5 Minutes With WomenTech Influencer Dilruba Malik: https://www.womentech.net/blog/5-minutes-womentech-influencer-dilruba-malik
Advice To My Younger Self: Women In Leadership Edition: https://www.womentech.net/en-us/blog/advice-my-younger-self-women-leadership-edition
Speaker Profile:
https://onlinefestival.women-in-technology.com/speakers?hsLang=en
https://transformvirtual.events/speakers/
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Speaker/21/Dilruba-Malik
https://www.womentech.net/speaker/Dilruba/Malik
https://learnfrominfluentialwomen.lifemastery.foundation/speakers/dilruba-malik/
A Great Place to Grow
I started working for Palo Alto Networks in November 2019, joining the front-end team for Prisma Cloud Compute, part of Prisma Cloud, the company’s cloud-native security platform. Prisma Cloud secures the host, container, and functions across the application lifecycle and provides vulnerability management, compliance, and runtime defense.
I work with the team responsible for the user-interface functionality and visualization that enables the user to secure, monitor, and manage the application security. We take pride in our efforts to provide a unique user experience, creating most of our visual components ourselves while also being consistent in design with other aspects of the Prisma Cloud platform. We want to ensure that the experience we would like to have with the application is the one we offer the customer.
In the short time since joining the company, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the industry’s best technologies and talents. I have also learned so much about my field.
I was fortunate to conduct independent technology research as part of our migration to a new front-end framework. I was assigned to research a solution that can fit our styling demands. During this research, I consulted with other front-end teams at Palo Alto Networks — people with whom my team usually does not work — about their technologies. This research allowed me to get in-depth, front-end styling knowledge and have an impact on our product development. I appreciated the opportunity I received to cross-collaborate with others in the organization, gain new insights into technology, and make significant contributions to our product.
Why Palo Alto Networks?
I started my career in 2013, working as a software engineer and an endpoint security team leader. When I decided to go back into software development, I wanted to stay in the cybersecurity field. So the opportunity to work at Palo Alto Networks, a company on the front line of cybersecurity technology, was a perfect fit.
The technological aspect was an important one in my decision to join the company, but just as important was its workplace culture and the investment it makes in its employees.
In fact, Palo Alto Networks places a strong emphasis on employees’ professional and personal development and makes significant investments to provide it. The company offers various resources, courses, and workshops in a multitude of subject areas, so employees who would like to develop their skills in certain areas may do so. These resources are customized according to employees’ interests and knowledge levels so that the information provided is of value to employees. In my short time at the company, I was able to take part in several such courses and workshops. That enriched my knowledge and gave me tools beyond the scope of my work.
Palo Alto Networks’ Culture
Palo Alto Networks has a positive and welcoming culture. It is also an environment of empowerment — employees are encouraged to take full responsibility for their tasks rather than going through a hierarchy or being forced to remain locked in by titles or job descriptions. The company empowers employees to push themselves forward and places value on the sharing of different ideas. That ensures that employees feel heard and that their contributions matter.
Employees are an integral part of this positive culture. In every interaction I have had, professional or other, I have encountered a willingness among others to help as much as possible. There is a very comfortable working environment with a healthy feedback culture that advances and lets us help each other to grow professionally.
Palo Alto Networks is also committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace, which is why the company has implemented several programs, some to which employees can contribute, to ensure a more diverse industry in the future.
Since coming to Palo Alto Networks, I have learned a lot about both cybersecurity technology and myself. I have been able to research new technologies, improve my presentation skills, and even publish my first blog post — all with company encouragement and support. For all these reasons, I highly recommend working for Palo Alto Networks.
Reach for the Career You Want
By Dilruba Malik, Software QA Manager
My background is proof that if you work hard, reach for what you want, and refuse to become derailed by obstacles, you can have the career that you desire. Today, as an Engineering Manager, leading a highly talented software QA engineering team with Palo Alto Networks, I feel I am living the dream I have held since I was a child.
I grew up in rural Bangladesh, where education is a privilege, not a right. But I had a dream that I would someday become an engineer. This goal would by no means be easy to reach, but I had learned early on that I would have to persevere and work extra hard if I were to achieve this goal. I put in many hours of studying, which helped me to take and score well on my college entrance exams.
Just as I was beginning my studies at college, I had to move to the U.S. with my family. I didn’t speak any English, so here I was at age 21, working my way up from the bottom once again. Because I then had to support my family, I had to take a series of odd jobs, at times earning only $5 an hour, and I worked both day and night so that my younger brothers could complete their education.
My first job in the U.S. was at McDonald’s, which gave me a great opportunity to interact with many Americans each day, which helped me to quickly pick up the English language. Eventually, I earned a promotion to assistant store manager. And though I had experienced a setback on the journey to reach my goal of becoming an engineer, I didn’t become discouraged — I knew in my heart that it would happen, but it just might take longer than I had wanted. My hard work paid off and I was accepted to Georgia Institute of Technology, where I earned an electrical engineering degree, all while continuing to work and support my family.
After years of hard work, I graduated from Georgia Tech, and I went on to secure engineering roles with several multinational companies, from Microsoft to Cisco, Hitachi Vantara, and, in May 2020, my current role with Palo Alto Networks. I also have been fortunate to be involved in Women in Tech, giving talks and sharing my story to hopefully inspire other women who face challenges. I have a great opportunity through this network to show others what is possible through vision and hard work.
Since joining this company a year ago, I feel I am where I belong. This is a company that welcomes and celebrates the many differing cultures and experiences that our employees bring. I have been welcomed wholeheartedly by my colleagues, despite (thanks to COVID) never having met them in person. In the short time I’ve been here, I have been empowered to introduce many new processes and allowed to bring positive changes that were inspired by my past experiences. This is a company where anyone can voice any concern without hesitation and always feel that you are working together as a very committed and engaged team.
My experiences have taught me to appreciate what I have, to make do with very little, and to treat everyone with respect by understanding each individual’s unique challenges. You never know what someone else is going through or how a little support and encouragement can be just what that person needs to achieve their goal.
As someone who still finds inspiration in challenge and pushing myself to the next level, I am happy to have found a role with Palo Alto Networks, a company that encourages this mindset and offers every employee the chance to take on new responsibilities and push boundaries to see what’s possible. And it makes every employee — no matter where they come from or what they’ve experienced — feel included and welcomed.
A Seat at the Table
By Aneesha More, Senior Customer Success Engineer, Cortex
I grew up in Mumbai with the goal of studying engineering and becoming a hardware designer. I was fortunate to earn a bachelor’s degree in electronics and telecommunications in India — an opportunity that few women in India get to experience. In 2017, I moved to the United States to earn my master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University’s Silicon Valley campus. Upon graduation, I was ready to put my skills to test in the industry. I soon realized that getting a job wasn’t going to be that easy.
I was told by many that companies are more likely to hire if you are referred by an employee. I reached out to a friend who was working at an exciting cybersecurity company named Demisto and asked if he knew of any open positions. He suggested that I come to interview there. I was a little uncertain about entering an industry that I had little experience in. But I did my research and was fascinated by this product. I learned that in only three short years, Demisto had made huge strides in the area of cybersecurity automation.
During my interview, I could see that they were extremely talented people, and I could also hear the passion in their voices. This made me even more excited. As I cleared the different stages of the interview process and was offered the job, I was thrilled about working with this amazing team on this dynamic product. I feel extremely grateful that my friend referred me to this role, and I have never regretted for one moment that I didn’t stick to electrical engineering.
Inclusive Culture
I was hired in August 2018, and seven months later, Demisto was acquired by Palo Alto Networks. I was apprehensive at first. After all, I had just joined Demisto, a company I loved, and I was worried about being able to keep my job, whether my team would remain intact, and whether the product would change. But, very soon, I realized that my current team and managers would remain the same, yet with Palo Alto Networks, we had a much larger presence and endless potential, so this incredible, small team now had an opportunity to shine on a much larger scale.
Not only that, but the workplace culture was wonderful. The company had a true commitment to inclusion and diversity. As an early-in-career woman of color in tech, I appreciated the efforts being made to increase diversity and to discuss a lot of the issues people like me faced each day, which was extremely empowering. I could see how much the company’s leaders cared about their employees.
For a while, I was the only female engineer on the Cortex XSOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) team. But even though the number of females has slightly grown, I definitely have, in the beginning of my career, been the only woman in the room during meetings and conferences, and I have experienced exclusion — albeit unintentional — which was difficult to navigate at first. But as I gained confidence in my work and the more I started talking, the more comfortable I felt asking questions. I think a lot of women worry about asking questions, but I felt like it was my moral responsibility to ask so that others would feel comfortable doing so as well. That was when I started making a place for myself. In my mind, if I’m asking a question worth answering, I have a presence on the team. I’m not fading into the background. I have a voice.
As I became part of Palo Alto Networks, I continued that practice. I was fortunate to have a lot of amazing mentors on the team (who happened to be men) who were extremely helpful and encouraging, and who happily answered those questions and taught me everything I know today. They made a real effort toward being inclusive, which is representative of how this company operates. In fact, my current manager invited me to be part of the hiring team, which I saw as a deliberate effort on his part to show that he cares about diversity on the team — having a woman engineer be a part of the interview process tells the candidate how we want our team to look, and that to me is very special.
Though I don’t think anyone in tech sets out to exclude women, I think the gender gap happens early on, when recruiters are reaching out to new job candidates. Companies seek referrals from current employees they trust to fill open positions. So if there’s a majority of men, they will probably mostly know other men to refer, so the cycle continues. It’s hard for women to make a dent in that network. That’s why I think it’s so important for women to network with each other more than they do — and why we need more of us to share stories about our experiences and show what’s possible.
Nearly 50% of the world’s power is held by women, so without women in cybersecurity, think of the potential we’re missing! Women are multitaskers, with a temperament that enables us to navigate difficult situations calmly and respectfully, and often we can engage one on one with customers in a different, more empathetic way. In a role such as mine, which involves dealing with customers, those talents are crucial. Yet women often lack the confidence to apply for these roles.
In fact, what I’ve seen is that if a job posting lists 10 qualifications, men who may not meet all 10 requirements are still more likely to apply anyway than women are. But you can’t get hired for a job you don’t apply for! So I encourage more women to seek out these roles and to be confident in their abilities. Believe in the value you bring to the workplace — this is a company that I know from personal experience will welcome it.
**The Cortex Customer Success team is looking to bring in more diverse talent. Please check out our careers page for remote opportunities as Customer Success Manager, Customer Success Engineer, and Customer Success Architect roles. If you have a passion for technology and working with customers on cutting-edge products, we want to talk to you! We are hiring Cyber Ninjas all across the United States.**
A Company With Heart
By Bill J. Pruitt, Senior Product Manager, Prisma (CloudGenix) SD-WAN
Growing up, I was like many boys my age — I played sports with my friends and had dreams of someday joining the military. But at age 13, after experiencing health problems, I saw a doctor who diagnosed me with a heart condition that brought my ability to play sports and my military dreams to an abrupt end.
Throughout my adolescence and early adulthood, I was hospitalized for my condition several times. As I grew up and started thinking about what career I wanted to pursue, I felt more and more drawn to information technology (IT). I enrolled in college at McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in IT management, becoming the first person in my family to earn a bachelor’s degree.
I was fortunate to work for several major international companies in technology architecture and systems engineering. As my career was moving to the next level, with my CCIE certification from Cisco Systems, my health was also moving to the next level. As I was completing my CCIE program, attending a lab exam in January 2012, my heart again went into arrhythmia. This resulted in EMS arriving on the scene to administer emergency medication to restart my heart with the proper rhythm — quite embarrassing and disruptive.
Despite my condition, the following month, I passed the lab exam and earned my certification. Two months later, after a correct diagnosis, I underwent surgery to correct my lifelong heart condition.
That surgery gave me a new lease on life, enabling me to get back to doing physical activities that I’d always loved but had been unable to do. I started running again, eventually completing a marathon in 2016 and, after hundreds of hours of preparation, an ultra-marathon in 2020. These days, I still run for enjoyment, along with boating with my family, swimming, biking, hiking, and even CrossFit!
In 2016, after the July shooting of a group of police officers in Dallas, in which five officers were killed and nine injured, I was moved to support the community and help put a positive face on law enforcement. I volunteered as a deputy sheriff, put in 300 hours of training, and became part of several community and safety programs.
Continuing to strive for further success in my career, I accepted a position in systems engineering with a scrappy SD-WAN startup called CloudGenix in early 2017. It was a company I grew to love, with a workplace culture that celebrated autonomy, collaboration, and hustle. When Palo Alto Networks acquired CloudGenix in April 2020, I was elated at the possibilities but also concerned that the culture and work I’d so enjoyed would change, which occasionally happens in acquisitions.
Fortunately, my worries were unfounded. Not only were those of us from CloudGenix empowered to continue working in the entrepreneurial style that we had come to love, but the culture here is so supportive and collaborative that we felt part of the team right away. Hierarchies and job titles don’t matter here as much as pitching in and doing what needs to be done — no one is “above” any task, and if something needs to be done, everyone jumps in to get it done, whether it’s part of their “job description” or not.
Throughout my life, I have learned the importance of maintaining a balance of faith, family, fortune, and fitness. I believe deeply in self-improvement, and I make it a point to listen to podcasts and audiobooks for inspiration so that I can develop all these areas of my life.
What I appreciate about Palo Alto Networks is that it supports that balance. The company’s leaders believe in personal and professional development, a work-life balance, and emphasizing physical and emotional wellbeing, and it offers plenty of resources to employees to help us maintain these things. Even though I’ve only technically been part of Palo Alto Networks for about a year, I have seen that it’s a company with heart, and I’m happy to be here!
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.
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.
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.
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.
When Things Fall Into Place
I grew up in India and did my undergrad in Electronics and Communication engineering. I moved to the U.S. after graduating to pursue a master’s degree program in Electrical Engineering. I have always been fascinated with building things, and I began my career as an FPGA/ASIC design engineer. After a few years of doing that, what I realized was that while I enjoyed working on complex engineering problems, I also wanted to learn more about the business and customer-related aspects such as – why are we building this product? What customer problem are we trying to solve? Etc. To get exposure to these aspects, I decided to enroll in an MBA program at Dartmouth College. Through my MBA, I got exposed to a variety of different career paths and met people across various industries. But after doing two product management internships, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in product management – I loved the fact that no two days are ever alike for a product manager (PM) and that there are always new things to learn. I also realized that I liked working at the intersection of business and technology problems.
It is interesting how I ended up at Palo Alto Networks. I had heard about how dynamic the cybersecurity space is, and I started looking into opportunities in the field. I came across a career posting for an early-in-career PM at Palo Alto Networks and decided to reach out to a few PM leaders in the company to learn more about the role. I sent a LinkedIn InMail to a Director of Product Management who in turn put me in touch with the hiring team. Things moved quickly from there, and within two weeks, I had an offer to join the company’s accelerated rotational product management program (Product Management Academy – PMA). It’s been a year since I joined Palo Alto Networks, and looking back, I believe it was meant to be. When you’ve found the right fit, things fall into place.
Reflecting on the last year
It’s incredible how quickly the time has flown by since I joined the program, yet I also feel I’ve gotten the opportunity to do so much in just a short time. During my first year at Palo Alto Networks, I focussed on building a Telemetry platform that helps our customers maximize the benefits they enjoy from the products and services that Palo Alto Networks delivers. As part of this, I got exposed to a lot of different aspects of being a PM such as working with UX and engineering teams to build a product, collaborating with marketing on positioning it, and creating field enablement content.
My most significant areas of growth through the year have been in developing critical thinking and soft skills. As someone who came from an engineering background, one of the learnings for me through the PM journey has been to become comfortable navigating through ambiguity. Because as a PM, you are discovering what is the real problem for the customers and then finding ways to solve it – so there is no set path to follow here. I learned how to go about breaking down large ambiguous problems into smaller consumable parts, how to validate assumptions for each of those parts, and figure out a way forward. Over the last year, I have also become comfortable acknowledging that “I don’t know something, but I will figure it out.” As a PM, there will be new things coming up, and there are going to be some areas that I know nothing about. It’s okay to acknowledge that and learn. That is where I think having a growth mindset helps!
Through the PMA program, I have also had a lot of opportunities to learn from senior leaders in the company. For example, we have had discussions with leaders on what are some best practices for developing a pricing strategy or aligning product development with go-to-market. And these discussions help me expand my horizon and learn from experts who have years of experience in these fields. To me, these learning opportunities are one of the biggest benefits of being in the PMA program. There is no straight path to becoming a successful PM – it is about learning best practices along the way and working on applying them, and the PMA program helps accelerate that learning. I also enjoy the diversity of our PMA cohort — we’re a small group, and all of us come from different backgrounds, but that means each of us brings something unique to the table, which makes for more robust interactions and innovation. We are always bouncing ideas off each other. Being able to share experiences and knowledge that way gives us a bird’s eye view of what’s happening across the company and helps us see how all these different products are stitched together in a much deeper way than we realized.
The PMA program is a rotational program, with our second year pushing us to challenge ourselves more and drive more significant impact. I am excited to see what the next year brings! Because Palo Alto Networks is continually evolving and growing, I don’t think there will ever be a time when I’m not learning at this company. I think as a PM, you want to be in a place where you’re looking on the horizon and seeing new things happening. I feel I have that here.