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. 

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!

Riley Mueller, Collaboration Systems Engineer Intern

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!

Michael Boswell, Associate Systems Engineer

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.

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.

Kanat Iliasov, Corporate Systems Engineer

As a Corporate Systems Engineer, I work with the Sales team in our EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia) region to drive sales of our products. But whereas a lot of Systems Engineers are customer-facing and actually go out on sales calls, I’m primarily working from inside the company to communicate with customers by phone or email and support those sales efforts. I work on a team of six that’s based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and we represent a mix of cultures and languages from across EMEA.

I was born and raised in Kyrgyzstan, a country that most people in the world haven’t heard of, and I speak both Russian and English. I lived in that country until I was about 24, after I earned my master’s degree in information systems. I never planned to get into sales at all. I set out to be a software developer, but I couldn’t code to save my life, so I went into systems administration, which basically meant I was in charge of everything that plugged into a socket and related to information technology. 

I did that for about two years, and then I applied for what I thought was a job with Cisco but actually ended up being a graduate program: the Cisco Sales Associate Program. I was part of a group of about 120 people from nearly 50 countries — some more technical, some more into sales — and when I finished the program a year later, I found myself in a corporate IT career.

I’ve done this kind of work for about 10 years now, and the job gets more fulfilling and easier when you work with a company that has an excellent product. That’s why it has brand recognition and a lot of accolades. Working for Palo Alto Networks is kind of like selling a Tesla — all you have to decide is whether you want it in red or black. The shit just works.

I also think the company has done a nice job of hiring people who are not only good at their work but are also good people. Everyone’s helpful, and it doesn’t matter if they’re senior or junior employees — there isn’t a class system here. There aren’t a lot of big egos. I’ve seen plenty of that at my previous jobs, people being moved forward for visibility rather than capability. But at Palo Alto Networks, that kind of behavior isn’t rewarded. I think this company is both big and small enough to have a good balance, and on the technology side, they’re making the right choices as well. 

But I think a lot of people start out in systems engineering with false expectations that it’s mostly about technology. That’s only half true. The other half is being comfortable working with people. That was an acquired taste in my case. I was closer to a textbook geek than a salesperson. My first meetings were clumsy, to say the least (some were a straight-up dumpster fire), and I felt like a total fraud. My advice is just to do it. Fail, and fail quickly, and don’t be too hard on yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. Learning is a big part of the work we do, and it never stops, so be prepared for that. If you’re professional and understand the industry, the technology, and how its application can help customers, you can do well.

Esther Weng, Business Development Representative, JAPAC

“In my first month of onboarding at Palo Alto Networks, I can truly feel the strong bonding and cohesion between each of us. As a team we share our knowledge and resources to enable and help others to achieve different goals, inside and outside of work, with no consideration of our genders, cultures, and backgrounds.”

Transitioning from the travel industry to the tech world made me nervous at first. I had a hospitality background before joining Palo Alto Networks, and I always wanted to step out of my comfort zone to achieve something big and meaningful. My role as a Business Development Representative is to drive opportunities by following up with the marketing leads and discovering new potential customers for Palo Alto Networks.

While in my first month of onboarding at Palo Alto Networks, our daily operations were affected by the coronavirus. However, it did not stop us from being a cohesive team; in the HK office, we helped each other in sourcing hygiene products and sharing our limited resources with others. I can truly feel the strong bonding and cohesion between each of us in HK. As a team we share our knowledge, and resources to enable and help others to achieve different goals, inside and outside of work, with no consideration of our genders, cultures, and backgrounds. Besides the HK team, I also work with the regional Inside Sales team, and they have shared their experience and insights with me and supported me through onboarding. With all the support and encouragement, I have adapted to the new environment smoothly.

I am lucky to be working with my teammates, who are open-minded and mutually respectful, and I believe we can empower each other to make a better workplace. I am excited to be around the great people and great minds at Palo Alto Networks.

What Inclusion and Diversity Means To Me

International Women’s Day, is more than one day. For me, inclusion is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate not only women’s contributions and achievements in society, but also the collaboration among all of us in the company to make positive change, reach ambitious goals, and build a better world together. It’s also a great opportunity for us to appreciate how much we have accomplished and reflect on how much we still need to focus on more to make a more inclusive society.
Never limit yourself because of your gender. One’s ability should not be restricted by any prejudices. We improve and excel by understanding our capabilities and seeing the true value of ourselves.

Palo Alto Networks is the leader in cybersecurity not just because we are good at what we do, but also because we believe that an equal world is an enabled world.

Sandra Wenzel, Consulting Engineer, SecOps

In my role as a Consulting Engineer with the Security Operations, or SecOps, team, I work with the sales account teams in the field. The SecOps team consults with customers about their security programs and how we can help them achieve better security outcomes. We also help account teams extend the relationships from the network security team into the Security Operations Center, or SOC. This helps drive the need to consolidate tools and adopt more of the Palo Alto Networks platform and best practices. 

This is unlike any other team I’ve worked within this industry. We’re security people and are focused on security, but we’re more driven by successful customer outcomes and how we can apply our technologies. We’re not looking for ways to shovel tons of our products at them — instead, we’re looking for ways to make them more successful and confident in using our products, protecting their systems. 

My team also educates and engages with the Systems Engineers and partners in the field on the various SOC use cases and trending security topics that are top of mind to our customers. What I enjoy about the role is that my day to day is rather dynamic. Every customer interaction is unique, and each one provides insights on how security concerns can vary based on industry. We are truly working to partner with customers as technical advisors.

Although many who work in cybersecurity come from a variety of backgrounds, I actually studied systems engineering in college and began my career in network security. In previous roles with other companies, I worked to help safeguard data for the financial services and insurance sector, and that’s where I first encountered Palo Alto Networks’ products. But more than the quality of the technology, what I was hearing increasingly from competitors and colleagues was about its great company culture. That gave me the confidence to take the leap and pursue a role with the company.

Family Feeling

Now that I’ve been with Palo Alto Networks for over three years, I can see what those people were talking about. If I had to pick one word that describes the company culture, I’d pick “family.” The family feeling here is what sets this company apart. Even though I work remotely, I work on a small team of just four consulting engineers, so we’re an intimate, close-knit group. I knew them all before coming to work here, and we already had a great rapport. I have the flexibility to work on my own as well as with the team in our offices when I need that camaraderie and exchange of ideas, so it’s the best of both worlds. 

I really enjoy the fact that people in this company, at all levels, are encouraged to engage in dialogue and offer feedback, and that the managers have an open-door policy. But especially within my team, there’s a real openness and a sense of moral support. If they feel I’m struggling or if I need help, they have my back. All I have to do is show up and raise my hand; there are no dumb questions. Being that we’re a team of technical engineers, we’re the throats you choke when things go bad, so having people support you — whether it’s management, your peers, or the president of the company — show up at your meetings, try to kick down doors for you, and celebrate your successes, that is so important, and it’s what I love about working here.

That company culture is a big part of coming to work here too. You need to be someone who has the right aptitude and attitude, to learn and challenge yourself and be receptive to feedback. That’s part of why the interview and hiring process can be long; the company has really grown in the last year, with new acquisitions and larger staffs, but they’ve still successfully maintained that family-oriented feeling, so it’s important to be patient during that process because it’s part of what makes this company special, and it has paid off.

And it’s also important to know that this company values diversity. The leaders here recognize that the more people we include, the more cultures and backgrounds we have offering perspectives, and the stronger and more approachable we make the security community. It used to be that cybersecurity was viewed as a man’s world, but I’ve seen that changing, so my advice is just to show up. Ask questions. Stay curious. There is opportunity in this industry if you’re willing to work hard for it. 

Juliana Lim, Team Lead, Enterprise Sales

I am a dynamic, creative, energetic, passionate woman and mother of two, and I have worked for the last four years as a Sales Representative for Palo Alto Networks, in the Asia Pacific, or APAC, region. In my role, I’ve been mainly selling to clients in the banking and finance sector. Because I have consistently exceeded my targets and set sales records within APAC, I’ve been given the exciting opportunity to lead the Enterprise team in Singapore to begin taking on new challenges in sales.

Sales is the frontline of technology — it’s where we present solutions to the clients. When we’re selling, we need to know our products well so that we can cater our solutions to appropriately address our clients’ problems. It’s a goal-oriented role in which we’re measured by how well we meet our targets. But it’s also quite fun in that we’re meeting many new people and building relationships with them. There’s a lot of flexibility in how we manage our work. I find that the greatest sense of achievement comes from helping clients to fend off their digital adversaries and protect their digital way of life. 

From my years of working in this role, I’ve learned that I need to constantly think outside the box to find solutions that disrupt our competition in the marketplace and win over new clients. I’ve learned the importance of always staying positive when taking on challenges and accepting rejection. I also need to be open to changes in mindset in order to drive my team members forward to achieve our desired results. 

Following My Heart

I come from a family with a background in the food and beverage industry, so I used to believe my career path in that industry was set. Fortunately, I have supportive parents who encouraged me to pursue my interest in technology — a much more specialised field than simply “Business Studies.” I chose to earn a degree in information technology and to work in technology sales, specifically, because it is ever-changing, like a chameleon. It is so important for every facet of our lives, and there are so many distinct roles within the field that contribute to our digital lives. Much like the fashion industry, I see technology as a very colourful trade. I’ve enjoyed my career in tech ever since I embarked on it almost a decade ago, and I’ve never looked back. 

I’ve noticed that there seems to be an association between computers and the male gender, particularly having to do with gaming or coding. There seems to be the impression that technology is very complex and binary, and for some reason they believe that men are better “wired” to work in the field. This may be why fewer women work in tech than men. However, I don’t see gender as predisposing anyone to be “better” at technology. In fact, the diverse perspectives and approaches toward solving problems that come from having a blend of backgrounds, genders, and cultures contributes to a healthier organization and technology sector. 

This can be a demanding career, though, which is why I find it important to maintain work-life balance. I do this by incorporating a weekly exercise regimen at the gym, keeping a weekly schedule for keeping up with friends and spending time with family, and taking holidays at least twice a year. I enjoy going out for a great meal and cocktails, taking drives by myself to explore new places and experiences, and shopping. I try to live by the motto, “Work hard, and play harder.” 

I think whatever career you choose, you should find it satisfying and enjoyable. A job is where you spend time every day for most of your life, so it should be something that you care deeply about and find enjoyment in. Start with the right attitude, and don’t let your first impression of any industry turn you away. Know that there are numerous careers outside of the typical coding or tech support within the technology sector, so if tech is something that interests you, it’s worth exploring roles within it that suit your interests and talents. Be yourself and dare to dream!

Trevor Coetzee, Director, Regional Sales, South Africa

I’ve been in sales for most of my life, and I’ve worked in sales in the cybersecurity industry for 19 years. What has kept me in this industry for so long is that the landscape is always changing. When I first began working in the field, I was making 50 or 60 cold calls a day, cybersecurity was just antivirus software and a firewall, and people were still doing data updates via CD and floppy disks. I was intrigued by the fact that security was increasingly important, and I realized that in this business, I would never get bored. What started with antivirus and firewalls shifted to content filtering, vulnerability management, compliance, and now 3,000 new security vendors handling all kinds of niche technologies. The threat landscape is constantly changing, and so does the work as a result. I got hooked very early on by the fact that I’m continuously learning, so I’ve remained in the industry. The only constant in cybersecurity is change, and that’s very exciting.

In my role as Regional Sales Director, I work from Johannesburg, South Africa, and oversee a growing cybersecurity market in the South African Development Community (SADC), a region comprised of 16 member states. Since joining Palo Alto Networks less than a year ago, I’ve watched this territory grow from where we had only four people on our team to now having almost 20 by the coming fiscal year. What’s most exciting to me about my role with Palo Alto Networks is the sheer speed of change, growth, and acquisition, as well as my ability to see the business as a personal franchise and to be autonomous while accountable in helping drive that growth.

Part of my job has been, over the last few months, to grow our team by bringing on talented individuals to help grow our presence in the region. I’ve always ascribed to the philosophy that you should hire people stronger than yourself, who can do the job better than you. I’m proud to say that we’ve assembled a team of tremendously talented individuals who each challenge and push each other, so that has strengthened our team as a whole. So in a very short space of time, we’ve jointly assessed where we need to go and where we want to end up, and we have the best metrics and processes for getting there. For me, that’s a success story.

What Sets Us Apart

I’ve worked for a lot of other companies in this business, but when I was ready to make a career move, Palo Alto Networks really stood out in terms of its technology, its organic growth, its research and development, its excellent leadership, and its customer relationships. Even before coming to work here, I noted that it continually hired excellent leaders, and its Net Promoter Score (NPS) and CSAT Score — which are crucial measures of customer satisfaction — were always in the top quartile, which is beyond great. Its execution, day in and day out, in all the ways that count, was very appealing to me and told me this was a company I could truly grow with.

Also, the other companies I’d been with are mature, stalwarts in the business, while here is uncapped potential, a company that drives technologies and revenues like a pre-IPO startup, and that startup mentality made it very exciting for me to get on board. We have the backing of a huge organization, but with the ability to be entrepreneurial.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was that it’s the little productive actions, repeated consistently over time, that add up to the difference between failure and success. What I have observed about Palo Alto Networks is that it consistently, successfully executes those productive actions that to me spell out success and longevity for the company, and for my career here.

I have also always believed in the principle of the Say:Do ratio when it comes to leadership — it refers to the difference between what you say you do and your actual execution. There are plenty of leaders who talk a lot of hot air and deliver nothing, but the leaders with strong Say:Do ratios, the ones that do what they say they’re going to do — those are the ones you go to war with, and that’s one of the things that really stood out to me about this company. The leaders maintain integrity and have a high Say:Do ratio, and that tells me I’m in the right place.