In our staff spotlights, we get up close and personal with our amazing Sophos team members.
Up next is Jose Palad, Senior Technical Support Engineer L2-1.
Let's Talk Career
1. Can you tell us about your role at Sophos?
I am an L2 Gateway Technical Support Engineer. Additionally, I consider myself a Sophos Support content creator through Recommended Read articles and Sophos Techvids videos and a mentor to new hires and younger colleagues.
2. How did you get to the role you're in now?
I started as Endpoint Technical Support. I later transitioned to Gateway support.
3. What inspired you to get into IT and security?
I like helping people resolve their technical issues and protecting them against threats.
4. What do you enjoy most about your role?
The feeling of being able to resolve issues is very rewarding. I also like to impart my technical knowledge and experiences to others to help them with their issues.
5. What's something you've done during your time in the organization that you're proud of?
There are two things I’m very proud of: being able to drop the severity of a burning case and being able to contribute to improving our products by providing feedback.
6. Describe a typical day in your Sophos life.
A typical day in my role looks like this:
- Handling cases
- Mentoring engineers on their cases (mostly email related)
- Creating New Hope presentations
- Creating Sophos Techvids
- Testing Sophos products/features while providing feedback
- Answering queries in various Teams chats
- Answering queries in the Sophos Community
- Creating Recommended Read articles or Knowledge Base articles.
7. What's the best advice you can give to someone who has just started their career?
I have two points to share:
- Reach out whenever you need to because help is always available.
- Specifically for support roles, it’s good to be strong technically but always empathize with your customers.
8. What would you do (for a career) if you weren't doing this?
I think I’d be doing something creative, like being a graphic designer, photographer, or illustrator.
Role in the Sophos Community
9. What's a fun fact about you that you could share with the Community?
I enjoy assembling things like Ikea cabinets, Lego, or miniature robot figures.
10. Have you posted any Recommended Read guides on the Community?
Yes. Check my latest here: Sophos Email: How to add aliases to AD synchronized user accounts
Who is Jose outside of Work?
11. What are your hobbies outside of work?
I have multiple hobbies like 3D printing, Gunpla, photography, painting, drawing, playing musical instruments, and tinkering with Raspberry Pi and other iOT devices.
12. What’s something you’re planning on doing in the next year that you’ve never done?
I would like to visit and experience Japan.
13. What's one thing you're really good at?
Repairing things, perhaps.
14. If you could learn how to do anything, what would it be?
Coding and remembering what I learned.
15. Tell us about where you live (and your journey getting there - if applicable).
I'm originally from the Philippines and migrated to Canada in 1989. After 19 years, I moved to Australia in 2008 and currently stay here.
16. What's your favorite thing about where you live?
My family and the beach!
17. Any favorite line from a movie or book?
“It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course, the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well."
18. If you had a superpower, what would it be?
The power to understand what a person is really trying to say.