Understanding Faith Without Fear
By Carl Borsody, Vice President of Sales – Americas Majors and Globals
When companies talk about wanting their employees to feel safe bringing their “whole selves” to work, it’s important to realize that a person’s whole self may be inextricably linked with their faith.
While people of all religions have confronted prejudice and even demonization throughout history, those who practice the Islamic faith have arguably faced the most misrepresentation and discrimination in modern times. Though it is the second-largest religion in the world (behind Christianity), Islam is frequently misunderstood, particularly in the West. The impression of Muslims as extremists to be feared is, unfortunately, pervasive. And for an organization such as Palo Alto Networks, a global organization committed to inclusiveness for its 9,000+ employees, one important way to help combat such misunderstandings is to offer a safe space in which to discuss concerns, find connections, and build bridges instead of walls. That’s why Salam, the Muslim Employee Network, was established.
It may seem odd that I, a middle-aged, white American man, would be asked to assume the role of executive sponsor for this group. When I was offered the role just a few months ago, I certainly asked whether I was the right person for the job. But the role of executive sponsor — the person who provides executive-level support, advocacy, and guidance to an Employee Network Group (ENG) — means providing a much-needed outside perspective that can be valuable. Part of an ENG’s charter is to address negative stereotypes, so someone in my shoes can play an important role in heading those off. Plus, if cross-cultural understanding is the goal, a great place to start is with an executive sponsor who is open to learning more and can act as an advocate and facilitator of important discussions and activities.
With an active membership of roughly 180 employees, Salam is the only faith-based ENG at Palo Alto Networks. It may surprise you to learn that while our members live around the globe, particularly in the Middle East, a large percentage of them were born and now reside in the U.S., and about 60% of them identify as female. Discussions among members frequently revolve around the Islamaphobia and racism directed at them, from both other Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Many have indicated a desire to break down the mystery of Islam, to shed light on the various differences that exist between them and the extremists they’re often associated with. There seems to be a real sense of fear and confusion about their faith, which often leads to people presuming they are bad people. Education is the only way to move past such misconceptions. It’s appropriate, then, that salam, an Arabic word meaning peace, was selected as the name for the ENG.
Though the pandemic has affected the group’s ability to bring people together for events or discussions, we are increasingly finding ways to connect virtually. Though I’m still learning about my new role as executive sponsor and how I can best serve, I am happy to be someone to bounce ideas off, to raise important questions, and to give structure and consistency to the group from an executive level.
Though I often saw flyers in our company elevators promoting various ENG activities (before the pandemic sent us all home to work), and though I knew Palo Alto Networks was committed to increasing the diversity of its workforce and creating an atmosphere of inclusiveness, I didn’t truly understand the value of ENGs before taking on the role of executive sponsor. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know the power of these groups and seeing the influence they can have on the company as a whole. In fact, in the last six months alone, the company has received roughly 1,800 referrals for potential employees from ENGs across the company, which will significantly bolster our diversity efforts.
Overall, serving as executive sponsor for Salam not only provides me with greater understanding of and exposure to other cultures, but it will help me to see my team with new eyes, to think more about how diversity can improve our business. Of course, though Palo Alto Networks is making huge strides toward being a robustly diverse company, it — like many other businesses — has a long way to go. The more voices and perspectives there are in the room, the better our decisions will be. ENGs are a first step in making sure everyone’s voice can be heard.
Research repeatedly shows that ENGs benefit both employees and employers, boosting employee engagement and satisfaction, generating greater opportunities for professional development, increasing employee retention, and improving recruitment efforts. The leaders at Palo Alto Networks understand that ENGs are good for business. If you’re an employer, consider how to make ENGs a part of your community, and continue to be vocal about their value for everyone on your team.
If you’re an employee, I encourage you to seek out an ENG that interests you, whether you’re technically part of that affinity group or not — the learning, connection, and personal growth that often take place are sure to be valuable.
An Unexpected Detour
A lot of us go into our careers with a plan for where we want to go and how we’re going to get there. But sometimes we’re presented with opportunities we never planned for and discover we’re right where we want to be.
I started my career in the United States Marine Corps, where I held several positions, including roles that involved network and systems administration, telecommunications, network builds, upgrades, migrations, and more. I enjoyed that so much that I enrolled in an associate degree program in enterprise networking at Foothill College in California.
During that time in 2017-2018, I also participated in a program called Year Up, a nonprofit technical training and career development program that works with corporate partners to help young adults ages 18-24 get a head start on their careers. For my program year, Palo Alto Networks was the corporate sponsor. Because of my background and degree program, I was fortunate to be offered a six-month internship as a Desktop Support Specialist. As someone with no prior professional experience, I truly appreciated the learning I was able to do during my internship, and I worked with an amazing team. However, I still had a passion for routers and switches, for how networks are designed and built, so I was still focused on a career as a network engineer. During my internship, I made that desire well known to my manager.
In the last few months of the internship, I was placed in a rotation with the Corporate Systems Engineering team. SEs here are an integral part of the sales team, helping to convey technical information to potential customers and devising security solutions that address their needs. This experience helped not only to provide me with a wealth of knowledge about Palo Alto Networks’ products and sales, but also to connect me with a number of people from departments across the organization.
When I finished my internship in July 2018, I received a full-time offer to continue working as a Desktop Support Specialist. I knew this was a great opportunity I couldn’t pass up and I accepted right away, knowing I had a lot more to learn but also making it known what my ultimate career goal was. By August of that year, I was a full-time employee. I felt blessed to have been given this chance.
In this role, I was collaborating with a couple of network engineers in the company, and one of them unofficially became a sort of mentor to me. I confided to him that I was interested in eventually moving into the same sort of role, and he suggested that if that was truly my goal, I should gain a bit more knowledge in Palo Alto Networks’ firewalls, which was how the company implemented its network. I realized he was right — although I’d had a few courses on that at school but nothing substantial.
I reached out to the team lead in Corporate Systems Engineering whom I’d worked with during my internship SE rotation and learned that, coincidentally, they had an opening for a Systems Engineer. “I know you’re still interested in becoming a Network Engineer,” he told me, “but I think this would be a great way to learn more about our products on a daily basis.” I accepted his offer and in June 2019, I became a full-time Systems Engineer.
My plan was to perform this role for a while until I could eventually work my way into a Network Engineer position. But once I began working as an SE, I absolutely fell in love with it. I love sales, I love working with customers to help them find the right solutions and close those security gaps they have in their environments. Helping to steer them in the right direction to improve their security posture is so satisfying. I’m learning new concepts every day; it’s never boring, and no two days are the same. Sure, it can be stressful at times, but it’s well worth it. In this role there is immediate gratification in solving problems. I’m developing public speaking skills, strengthening my customer service abilities, and contributing to the important sales work taking place in the organization.
I’m so thankful to have worked with managers that were fully supportive of my desire to pursue my chosen career and willing to do whatever it took to help me get there, even if it meant leaving their teams. They weren’t going to let that stop me from being successful, and they never stopped encouraging my growth, wherever that happened to lead me. That openness on their part, combined with my openness to taking an unexpected detour on the road to my goal were what led me to a position I’m really happy in today.
Since starting this role, my goal has changed from becoming a Network Engineer to moving up within Systems Engineering to eventually work on named, major, or global accounts or even become a consulting engineer. If you’d asked me a year ago whether I’d even consider these fields, I would have said no. That’s why I’m a firm believer now in trying everything — new roles, new experiences, new foods. You just don’t know what you’re going to fall in love with.
Best of Both Worlds
By Miki Kisaka, Regional Account Sales Manager, JP-Named
Before joining Palo Alto Networks in November, 2019, I spent 15 years working for a domestic (Japanese) IT company. We handled a wide array of digital technology products from multiple vendors, including PCs, servers, printers, middleware, workflow systems, Office 365, video conferencing systems, and document consulting. I had worked in sales throughout my career and had worked very hard to become successful at my job.
However, like many women in the workforce who become mothers, after my two children were born, I realized that my salary had dropped to roughly 80% of what it had been, even though, upon my return to work, I still managed to surpass 100% performance. The reasoning behind this was that my shift had been shortened to seven hours per day, instead of the usual eight and a half hours, because of my family obligations.
To me, it seemed that I should be paid for my performance on the job, not simply for the number of hours when I was at work. Although my family was my top priority, I believed I was still fulfilling the duties of my role. Because of this, my motivation at work started to wane. I realized that I might be a better fit for a position with a company that paid for performance, not strictly for my workday hours.
A friend of mine was working for Palo Alto Networks and indicated to me that it might be a good fit for me. I gathered from what he had told me that decisions were made very quickly within the company. I liked that the values of speed and agility were emphasized here. At the company where I had been working, I had been frustrated about the fact that decision-making sometimes involved as many as 10 levels of approval before action could be taken — a very common feature at most Japanese companies — so the fast pace at which things happened at Palo Alto Networks was very appealing to me. Not only that, but I wanted an opportunity to connect more deeply with my customers in addition to reaching sales targets, no matter what product or solution I might be selling.
Fortunately, I eventually did secure a role with the Palo Alto Networks Sales team. I’m very happy to have made the change. I really enjoy the workplace culture here, in which everyone is willing to cooperate with and support each other. We are all working toward the same goal, so we are all highly motivated to work hard and assist each other when needed to overcome challenges. This work environment is the best of both worlds: It is both entrepreneurial and collaborative. We are each encouraged to develop and work toward solutions at a pace that’s appropriate for us. This means we can learn new tasks and gain new skills quickly. Yet none of us is working alone. Everyone is open-minded and willing to exchange ideas, because when one of us succeeds, we all succeed.
Also, it isn’t always about work — we like to have fun together, too! We are always finding opportunities to celebrate and connect with each other. For example, we had a virtual year-end party, and all our families (even our pets!) were invited to participate. We had a lot of fun playing games (such as a scavenger hunt and Rock, Paper, Scissors), watching dance videos, and more! It was wonderful to realize that we can be innovative, have fun, take care of our work, and be there for our families, all at the same time, thanks to having an employer who believes all these things are important.
Also, as long as I’m accomplishing my work, I have the flexibility to determine a schedule that works for me and my family as well as my customers; I’m not locked into a predetermined schedule. It’s about the quality of my work, not the quantity of hours.
In fact, in 2020, the leaders at Palo Alto Networks announced that the company was beginning a new initiative called FLEXWORK. They had realized that in a COVID-19 world, people’s needs and their style of work have completely changed, so the company’s expectations have had to change too. Under FLEXWORK, we are empowered to work on a schedule that suits our needs, and we are given the tools we need to perform that work remotely, as well as the resources we need to nurture our health and wellbeing.
This is only possible in an environment where diverse opinions are respected and accepted. This culture, which also emphasizes the importance of inclusion and diversity, provides a high level of mental safety and makes it easy to find inspiration, develop ideas, and seek innovation. Sometimes our ideas don’t work or we might make mistakes, but that’s okay. The important thing is that people here respect each other exactly as they are, share their thoughts in a positive way, and create agreement. That’s why I encourage others to join this company and find out for themselves what a pleasure it is to work in this uplifting, satisfying environment.
At the Speed of Technology
By Akira Ikenaga, Systems Engineer Specialist
Before joining Palo Alto Networks, I worked in multiple roles for four different, prominent technology companies. But none of them offered the comprehensive, integrated product line nor the speed of innovation that Palo Alto Networks does. This is why I wanted to come to work here.
I began my career doing sales and marketing for a Japanese systems integration company that was focused on the small- and medium-business (SMB) market. My six years with that company led me to become interested in the security industry. From there, I spent one year as a regional product marketing manager with a public key infrastructure vendor before joining an internationally recognized endpoint security company, where I held multiple roles over the course of nine years, including systems engineer, pre-sales engineer, and regional product manager/field enablement. From there I moved into a sales specialist role working with vulnerability assessment products and services for another major multinational tech company.
In all of these roles, I realized that I was most drawn to systems engineering because I enjoyed being able to help customers by tailoring technology solutions to their problems. I learned of an available SE Specialist position for Palo Alto Networks’s endpoint security product, Traps, and was fortunate enough to be offered the position in November 2014.
The role involves sales — working alongside sales representatives to approach customers and explain the technology behind our products — but it also allows me to demonstrate the technology in a hands-on way to help address customers’ real-life concerns so that they feel comfortable with our products.
When I first started this job, no one on the Japanese team knew the Traps product, so I had to co-work with members of the Tel Aviv team to learn about the product. This was my first time working with developers and product managers from Israel. The first large deployment of Traps did not go smoothly. At companies where I had previously worked, such issues might have taken several months to address. But the engineers in Tel Aviv were very supportive and fixed customers’ issues overnight. That’s when I began to truly understand the speed and agility present in this company, and it reinforced my belief that this was the right company for me.
I also admired that the company, which originally was strictly focused on its Next-Gen Firewall product, had evolved to develop a full suite of complementary cybersecurity products to secure enterprises. Unlike my previous company, Palo Alto Networks’ products are easily integrated for the benefit of our customers. It’s very exciting for me to see our products really work together in a meaningful way.
The pace at which work takes place here is very exciting. In fact, the speed of new-feature and new-offering releases is much faster than any other company I’ve worked for. At Palo Alto Networks, I can work with a range of new security technologies, rather than being entirely focused on one product, and we are constantly innovating, so we are able to see our ideas brought to life rapidly. Here, I don’t have to wait for someone else to solve my problems; instead, I’m empowered to seek solutions and to reach out to others for help. Everyone takes responsibility for the quality of our products, and the results speak for themselves.
I would encourage anyone who is interested in working with the latest and best technology in the cybersecurity industry, with a company that encourages and nurtures creative solutions, to consider working with Palo Alto Networks.
My Journey Before and With Palo Alto Networks
By Ashwini Prasad Krishnamurthy, GSI Partner Manager, Singapore
I embarked on a career in technology sales and channel management in 2004. My Palo Alto Networks journey began in 2015 and I currently manage our strategic Global System Integrator (GSI) business across JAPAC. The pace at which we continue to evolve is exhilarating, and it’s indeed an opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of it! I am grateful for the wonderful colleagues that I have the pleasure of working with fulfilling our mission of becoming the cybersecurity partner of choice for our customers and delivering our vision of making each day more secure than the day before.
The fast pace of cybersecurity industry transformation brings with it growth challenges as well as several opportunities. I have often found it easy to handle any setbacks by always being guided by our vision, mission, and company values.
In my early days at Palo Alto Networks, I managed a broad range of regional partners but have since pursued a very focused path in driving our strategic GSI business with our top global partners. These partnerships are highly instrumental in delivering long-term business value to our most critical customers by continually delivering innovation to enable secure digital transformation — even as the pace of change is accelerating.
Choosing to Challenge
As a core member of the JAPAC Women’s Networking Committee, I am honored to manage our “Industry Partnerships and Development” engagements and lead purposeful programs that help women connect, inspire, educate, and empower each other through personal and professional development, networking, and community involvement.
I have had the privilege of initiating our company’s very first Lean In Circles in 2020, which have since expanded globally with over 10 circles and 60 members, and those numbers are growing. Each Lean In Circle is made up of a group of peers who meet regularly to support each other, seek advice, learn new skills, and grow together in an atmosphere of confidentiality and trust. Since the inception of Lean In, I have ensured that our participating members take turns to facilitate our engagements, and this has proven to be a very powerful initiative in empowering the team and growing leadership skills organically within our organisation.
Recently, I had the honor of leading an early education program in cybersecurity for young girls in Singapore, in partnership with Accenture Security, our strategic GSI partner. We introduced our basic level 1 cybersecurity program to 112 Girl Scouts from both international and local schools ranging in age from 5 to 16 (grades K-12). Our young leaders can’t wait to take up the intermediate and advanced cybersecurity courses in the coming quarters, and we have expansion plans to take this program to other JAPAC countries soon, too.
On a more personal level, our community of artists within the company gives me great support and advice in continuing to develop and grow my skills as a hobby impressionist landscape artist.
I’m proud to be a part of the Palo Alto Networks community and to continue to choose to challenge norms by pushing myself and those around me to be our best selves!
The Only Woman in the Room
Usa Sangchantrarin, Systems Engineer GSI, JAPAC
I started my journey with Palo Alto Networks in October 2020 as a GSI Systems Engineer supporting the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. My main responsibility is to work with our GSI partners and customers to accelerate their security transformation through Palo Alto Networks’ comprehensive portfolio of technologies and expertise. It’s my pleasure to join one of the fastest growing and most innovative cybersecurity companies in the world.
My Cybersecurity Journey
Two decades in cybersecurity – a male-dominated industry — has rewarded me with invaluable personal and professional experiences in life, from being the only female in a boardroom with military generals to having a husband working for a cybersecurity competitor. I grew up in a family that upheld a typical Asian culture and beliefs. I still remember the day when I gave my mom a shock by saying that I wanted to be an engineer. She replied, “That’s a man’s job. Why would you want to do that?” She then tried to persuade me to become a lawyer or a doctor instead. Clearly, that was a failed attempt.
Now that I am an adult professional, I am in a cybersecurity family. My husband and I both work in the cybersecurity space. In fact, there was an interesting time when we were competitors bidding for the same project. That’s when we introduced a ground rule at home to completely avoid talking about work. I can’t imagine how we would manage such a situation during Covid-19 when we are both working from home. Trying to manage the same deal without leaking information while in the same house would definitely have interesting implications for arranging conference calls, remote discussions, etc.
For the past two decades in this field, I have been exploring the many aspects of cybersecurity, from being a network security engineer to a cybersecurity consultant, to a technology risk-management professional, to, now, a security architect. It’s true that in almost every engineering team I have been part of, I have been either the only woman or just one of two women. This lack of gender diversity becomes really apparent when I attend large-scale cybersecurity events where men make up the majority of attendees.
As I mentioned earlier, being a woman in tech is rewarding personally and professionally. For the past 10 years, my job has required me to travel more than 50 percent of my time. Travelling has been an eye opener for me. I have gotten to meet with many people from diverse industries and backgrounds, especially in the past five years. My account manager and I were assigned to grow the business and partner ecosystem in emerging countries such as Myanmar, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Vietnam. There were multiple interesting situations in which I found myself.
One of the most memorable of these situations was when I was the only female in a war room with my customers — a group of security experts from the Ministry of Defence. Everyone in the war room was in their uniform discussing a security incident. My role in that meeting was to become a trusted advisor and help them handle the incident and escalation to the forensic investigation team (if required). In such situations, it’s important to establish your leadership presence in the room and get your voice heard. We hear women say that they feel less effective in meetings than they do in other professional situations. Others say that their voices are ignored or drowned out.
So what can we do? We can’t afford to sit back and wait for someone to ask for our opinions. Instead, we need to empower ourselves and learn strategies and techniques to make ourselves heard. One useful trick is to overcome your lifetime of negative inner talk and use a confident tone to communicate in a short and precise manner. Put your main point up front and follow it with precise supporting details. Women tend to use too many words in an attempt to soften what we are saying or avoid coming across as aggressive. This tends to distract your audience from the main message. And this makes you less effective in appearing as the subject-matter expert who can provide them with a confident action plan to resolve a problem.
In my opinion, cybersecurity is an amazing field for women. There are so many opportunities, and the careers are so diverse. Women are definitely an asset to the industry, and I would strongly encourage women to seek out the many career opportunities in the field.
Motivated By Challenge
By Pratthana Suppradith, Systems Engineer, Thailand
Life is about choices and changes.
Life has never been easy for me, I could say. There were so many changes and challenges I needed to go through. This even proved true when I needed to choose between passion and practicality.
Since I was young, singing and music have always been my refuge and delight. However, as I was approaching my high school graduation, I realized my dream of pursuing further education in music was not worth considering. I was born the third child out of four in a family in which money was sometimes scarce, and majoring in music education required spending a lot of money. Therefore, during my senior year of high school, with determination to prove my educational potential and reduce financial stress on my family, I decided to apply for a scholarship to pursue my higher education at a private university. I didn’t know at first which education program would be the right fit for me, but being a mathematical-arts student, I had gradually formed motivations and aspirations to learn about numbers and formulas. After studying the course syllabi of all programs enrollable in the university, I found that a degree in telecommunications and computer networks engineering could be my best choice.
Difficulties you face will ultimately trigger determination to succeed.
Being an engineering student brought about challenges and opportunities concurrently. When I was a junior, there was a subject that was compulsory for all students, which was called Data Communications. Here was my turning point. The subject was primarily designed for students in the computer engineering program and was not an ideal course for students in other fields. However, I proved to myself that nothing was beyond my abilities as long as I aimed to achieve. I got to class one hour earlier than everyone else throughout the semester, focusing on the content and studying hard. Thankfully, my hard work paid off with the highest score in the section as my reward.
Being a female engineer was never easy.
In Thailand, it’s undeniable that people do prefer a public university to private ones. Graduating from a private university was therefore one of my greatest two challenges in my professional life; being a woman in the engineering field was the other one. In Thailand, this occupation is still dominated by men, making many people perceive that only men can be successful as engineers. So there were several times I needed to prove that those perceptions were wrong.
I began my career path by working for a local internet service provider as a network engineer. During that time, I worked closely with other vendors on several projects to exchange expertise and best practices to improve and enhance our capacity and achieve best results. I did not see many women in my field, though. As time passed, I realized that my desired optimal career goal was to be and to work like those vendors. Among those with whom I worked was a systems engineer from Palo Alto Networks. He had demonstrated his prowess to an extent that I considered him a role model. Aspiring to be like him, I intended to make everyone focus on my expertise instead of my gender. I spent six years gathering experiences, achieving each target set and going beyond limitations, telling myself to be the best I could be.
Happy family, happy me.
My determination was formed when I realized how dire my family’s financial status was. Back when I had been in high school, we did not even have a house of our own. My parents did not have money to support my education. As the third child of the family, I wanted to be successful in my life and be someone my parents could rely on. I worked seven days a week after school to finance not only my own lifestyle but my family’s as well. With all my perseverance, I managed to buy a house two years after my graduation, enabling me to create certainty for my loved ones.
The route to success is your own.
Even though working for Palo Alto Networks has contributed a great deal to my success, the world of technology and cybersecurity still has something new for you to learn and develop yourself every day. What’s important is that you never let anything stop you, and never forget to be thankful for everybody around you and even for all the obstacles and opportunities that emboldened you.
Optimize your skills, turn your dream into a reality, and be confident in yourself. I wish you all the greatest success in life!
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.
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.