In our Staff Spotlight series, we get up close and personal with our amazing Sophos team members.
Up next is Maxim Weinstein, VP of Market and Competitive Intelligence.
Let's Talk Career
1. Can you tell us about your role at Sophos?
As VP of Market and Competitive Intelligence, I lead a team of research analysts. Our team helps the organization understand Sophos’ place and opportunity in the market. The analysts find answers to questions like:
- How is Sophos Endpoint better than the competitors’ endpoint security?
- What features do competitors’ zero trust networking products have that Sophos ZTNA lacks?
- What can we learn about emerging market segments like identity threat protection?
We share these insights with our sales organization, channel partners, product teams, and senior management.
I also oversee two other functions within the Sophos product organization: Pricing Operations and Product Business Operations. These teams are critical to running the business and measuring our success.
2. How did you get to the role you're in now?
I spent several years working in IT and technical education. Then, for a time, I led a non-profit organization focused on internet security. This background gave me the mix of technical and communication skills I needed to join Sophos as a Product Marketing Manager.
After a couple of years in that role, I switched to Competitive Intelligence, and my role expanded as the need arose.
3. What inspired you to get into IT and security?
I enjoyed playing with tech long before I—or most people, for that matter—knew what IT was. After finishing graduate school, I was looking for teaching jobs, but I also kept my options open with tech jobs.
I landed a technical trainer role, which combined both skill sets. From there, I started studying more technical content, and I eventually decided to get hands-on experience in an IT role. I found security an interesting aspect of IT, so I kept learning more about it until I got a job at a non-profit organization.
4. What do you enjoy most about your role?
I love the variety of my role. At any given point in the day or week, I’m researching products, meeting with senior executives, delivering a training session, or writing a blog post.
5. What's something you've done during your time in the organization that you're proud of?
I’m proud that I was able to build on the work started by my colleagues and turn Market and Competitive Intelligence into a function that is highly visible and respected within the organization.
6. Describe a typical day in your Sophos life.
As mentioned above, every day is different. When possible, I try to start my morning by catching up on email and planning out the rest of the day. Afterward, I fit in blocks of focused work time around scheduled meetings.
7. What's the best advice you can give to someone who has just started their career?
Figure out, together with your manager, how to add value to your team or organization.
Can you do something better than how it was taught to you? Can you identify an unmet need and meet it? Can you share your knowledge with your peers? It’s what you do beyond the job description that makes you stand out and allows you to learn and advance in your career.
8. What would you do (for a career) if you weren't doing this?
I often wonder about that myself. Maybe I’d be a teacher or school administrator. Or maybe I’d return to non-profit management.
Role in the Sophos Community
9. What's a fun fact about you that you could share with the Community?
My first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer with 16 kilobytes of RAM, about 1/1,000,000 of what’s included in a typical modern PC.
Photo from Wikipedia
10. Have you posted any Recommended Read guides on the Community?
No, but I’ve answered many questions in the Sophos Endpoint forum!
Who is Maxim outside of Work?
11. What are your hobbies outside of work?
I enjoy reading fantasy and sci-fi books, cooking, eating desserts, watching TV series (I just finished The Last Kingdom and Forbrydelsen), and playing computer games (mostly turn-based RPGs and strategy).
12. What’s something you’re planning on doing in the next year that you’ve never done?
If my wife and I can work out the plans, I hope to attend the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.
13. What's one thing you're really good at?
My wife says I’m good at finding problems or potential obstacles in a plan. What she doesn’t mention, but I consider it important to add, is that I’m also good at finding creative solutions to solve or prevent problems.
14. If you could learn how to do anything, what would it be?
There’s a lot. But if I were to choose just one, playing acoustic guitar at a professional level would be high on the list.
15. Tell us about where you live (and your journey getting there - if applicable).
I grew up in New Jersey, about equidistant from Philadelphia and New York City. I moved to the Boston area for college, and I’ve been here most of the time since then. I live north of the city, just at the border, where urban areas are becoming suburban.
16. What's your favorite thing about where you live?
I love that everything is within walking distance—restaurants, medical offices, pharmacies, the post office, the library, and even a theater.
17. Tell us something that might surprise us about you.
I used to be a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). I’ve driven ambulances and administered CPR, but still, I never had the opportunity to help deliver a baby.
18. Any favorite line from a movie?
“Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’.” –The Shawshank Redemption
Photo from IMDB.com
19. If you had a superpower, what would it be?
This one sounds a bit unusual, unlike flying or super strength; I would say having the power to “turn down” a person’s emotions like a volume knob. Imagine calming down someone who’s infuriated and ready to start a fight. Or helping someone paralyzed by fear take the next step into the unknown.
Admittedly, it doesn’t lend itself to a great superhero name - “Chill Dude” doesn’t have the same ring as Iron Man or Black Widow.