Hybrid Or Remote Job? At Pax8 You Decide!
💎Would you prefer a hybrid or remote job? Pax8 lets you make the decision! Watch the video to the end to know more about the company and your options!
📼 For either a hybrid or a remote job, at Pax8 the work schedule is very flexible. Myles Pegues, Talent Acquisition Partner at Pax8, shares some tips and pointers that are going to help you be successful when interviewing with them for your next job.
📼 Hybrid or remote? Your job at Pax8 will adapt to your comfort level. The company is okay with either and they think they will get the best results from the person that's going to be comfortable with their work format. So, pick which one you prefer. Some people prefer to be remote five days a week and that is completely fine. Are they going to be comfortable with where they're at, what they're doing? Would they be comfortable coming in? If not, Pax8 doesn’t want to put you in a situation where you feel like you have to go to the office.
📼Whether it’s for a hybrid or remote job, interview processes at Pax8 are usually pretty brief. The company tries to keep it within two weeks. So they usually use a four-stage format that's going to be a phone screen, an interview with the manager, peer, or stakeholder, and then the VP interview portion. Now, that is customizable, but usually, Pax8 tries to be sensitive to what the candidate's experience is like.
Hybrid or remote job in Pax8? - Core Values Are The Same
Pax8 core values are to innovate, elevate, celebrate, and advocate. The company has an amazing culture and that's not by happenstance. It’s by recruiting great people and having moral values that create a great community for anybody who goes in and anybody who interacts with them. So just having that great moral compass is going to allow you to fit in with what the company does!
🧑💼 Are you interested in joining Pax8? They have open positions! To learn more, click here.
Get to Know Myles Pegues
If you are interested in a career at Pax8, you can connect with Myles Pegues on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to mention this video!
More About Pax8
The company simplifies the way organizations buy, sell, and manage cloud solutions, empowering its partners to achieve more with cloud technology. At Pax8, they know that they are only as great as their people. They realize that every individual has unique personal and professional aspirations, which is why they strive to offer a complete and competitive Total Rewards offering for their members and family.
How This Former Teacher Keeps Learning at NSA — And Helps Others Do the Same
Christina S., Deputy Director of the Computer Science Skill Community at the National Security Agency, is a computer scientist by trade and an educator at heart.
Whether she’s volunteering, providing mentorship, or spending time with her husband and two daughters, Christina finds ways to infuse learning in every encounter.
We sat down with Christina to hear how she uses her love of education to help others grow in their careers through professional development opportunities and mentorship.
Before NSA
Coming from a long line of educators, it was only natural for Christina to start her career as a high school teacher. After graduating from NC State University, she began teaching math and computer science at a public high school. “I have had the pleasure of teaching a variety of learners,” Christina explains. “I taught students that were previously incarcerated, special needs students, and learning disabled.”
Her time teaching at the high school level gave her a strong foundation for her current role as Deputy Director of the Computer Science Skill Community at NSA. “My teaching experiences helped me understand that acknowledging and emphasizing each student’s unique ideas, thoughts, and talents is critical,” she elaborates. “Every student's unique point of view and perspective matters.”
Helping Others Through Education
Christina joined NSA through a development education program and, nearly 20 years later, she’s the one providing professional development opportunities to other computer scientists that join the agency. In her role in the Computer Science Skill Community, she offers coaching, mentorship, and support to computer scientists who want to improve their knowledge and skills to prepare for their next position.
When a computer scientist joins the community, Christina typically starts their development process by asking them to answer a series of reflection questions. “I ask them to describe their dream job. Then I ask them what they are most passionate about. Lastly, I ask what is stopping them from pursuing their dream job.” She then creates a personalized action plan for the student so they can overcome the roadblocks that prevent them from reaching their professional goals. “We go down a path of identifying obstacles and come up with ways to get around each one until we arrive at a solution,” she explains. She encourages the participants in the community to take advantage of NSA’s tuition assistance and training programs. “NSA has excellent tuition assistance programs that even offer time off to attend class and study, and their National Cryptologic School offers hundreds of courses in various skill fields.”
In fact, NSA offers a number of development programs to help employees “enhance their skills, improve their understanding of a specific discipline, and even cross-train into a new career field.”
Giving Back to the Community
Apart from technical education and development through the Skills Community at the agency, Christina is passionate about furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the STEM community. “Some of the ways I do that is by visiting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and conferences such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) to recruit, give tech talks, and conduct resume reviews and interviews,” she explains.
NSA offers numerous unique opportunities for employees to work toward furthering DEI efforts. “I volunteer through NSA’s K-12 Mathematics Education Partnership Program (MEPP) and Partners in Education (PIE) programs to give STEM talks, judge science fairs, and tutor at schools in underserved communities.”
She’s also served on NSA’s Graduate Fellowship for STEM Diversity (GFSD) Computer Science committee; she recently became the committee chair where she “emphasized recruitment of a diverse applicant pool.” She is also an active member of the African American and Women’s Employee Resource Groups at NSA where she is able to give back to the community in other ways. “I participate in events and activities for professional development, community involvement, and improving overall work life,” says Christina.
Finding Work-Life Balance at NSA
When Christina first started at the agency 20 years ago, she never imagined she’d have the chance to get involved with all of these extracurricular programs. Switching careers and moving to a new location, she didn’t know if she’d be able to balance her new job and take part in the community and professional development activities she always loved. “I was nervous I wouldn't be able to volunteer in my daughters’ classroom, chaperone field trips, or pursue graduate studies,” explains Christina. “However NSA is one of the best places to work if you need work-life balance and I've been able to do all of those things and more.”
Her best advice for newcomers to the agency is to “not be afraid to bring your true authentic self to the office and offer your unique perspective and ideas to solving problems. Whether you have been working at the agency for 30 days or 30 years, you are an asset to your office and you have great ideas, solutions, and insight.”
Is This Company Right For Me? 3 Must-haves When Choosing Where to Work
Is This Company Right For Me? 3 Must-haves When Choosing Where to Work
💎 So you've come to the final stages of the interview process, but you're still wondering: Is this company right for me? Learn three must-haves that will help you choose the best place to work!
📼 If you find yourself in front of a job offer thinking, "Is this company right for me?" play this video to get three top must-haves from Dionabel Espinola, Customer Success Manager at Veracode.
👉Want to work at Veracode? They're hiring! Check out the company's open jobs:
Solutions Architect, Channel (remote!) https://bit.ly/VeracodeSolutionsArchitectPTF
Senior Software Engineer (remote!) https://bit.ly/VeracodeSrSoftwareEngineerPTF
Principal Customer Success Manager (remote!) https://bit.ly/VeracodePrincipalCustomerSuccessManagerPTF
📼 Tip #1: Look For Work-life Balance. The first tip that will help you answer "Is this company right for me?" is finding an organization that has a true work-life balance. And what Dionabel means by that is a place that encourages employees to take time off, decompress, disconnect, and do the things they love, whether that's spending time with family or reading a book.
📼 Tip #2: Look For Career Growth. The next tip that will help you answer "Is this company right for me?" is making sure you apply to an organization where you will have career growth. Picture yourself there already. "If I work there, what's my next step? What do I want to do? What do I want to be?" And align yourself with that. And it's totally okay to reach out on LinkedIn to current individuals who have that role and ask, "Hey, what does the career path look like for this specific role?" As Dionabel recalls, it can get a little boring when you have a role that changes over time by title and not responsibility. So for her, it was crucial to continue being challenged, hence the huge career switch she made at Veracode.
Is This Company Right For Me? Last But Not Least Must-Have
The third must-have is diversity and inclusion. Dionabel says, "As a person that identifies as a person of color, I am Dominican, I'm very proud of my roots. I wanted to make sure that where I was going, things like this were being celebrated because I think this is what brings us even closer to each other."
Dionabel knows her must-haves may not be the same for everyone. So she highly encourages you to grab a pen and paper, jot down the top three things you must have at work, and at the end of the day, don't forget that you are your best advocate. Advocate for yourself and the things you want because no one else will do it better than you!
📨 Are you interested in joining Veracode? They have open positions! To learn more, click here: https://bit.ly/VeracodePTF
More About Veracode
Veracode delivers the application security solutions and services today's software-driven world requires. Veracode's unified platform assesses and improves the security of applications from inception through production so that businesses can confidently innovate with the web and mobile applications they build, buy, and assemble as well as the components they integrate into their environments.
Veracode's powerful cloud-based platform, deep security expertise, and systematic, policy-based approach provide enterprises with simpler and more scalable ways to reduce application-layer risk across their software infrastructures. Veracode serves hundreds of customers across various industries, including nearly one-third of the Fortune 100, three of the top 4 U.S. commercial banks, and more than 20 of Forbes' 100 Most Valuable Brands.
0:00 The Perfect Work-life Balance
0:09 Introducing Veracode
0:26 Tip 1: Work-life Balance
1:21 Tip 2: Career Growth
2:11 Tip 3: Diversity and Inclusion
2:51 Tip Summary
3:34 Share Your Own Tips!
#Veracode #jobmusthaves #TopTips #workatVeracode #PowerToFly #careeradvice
5 Keys to Thriving at a Remote-First Company with Plex’s Emily Bersin
To Emily Bersin, pre-pandemic life and pre-babies life exist in the same hazy set of Before Times memories, and she's fully accepted that neither one is ever coming back.
The new mom had twins 18 months ago, right as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting. It was (and still is) tough to balance motherhood with work and surviving a pandemic.
But Emily has been working remotely for 13 years, four of which she has spent at all-remote media streaming company Plex, where she's currently an Engineering Manager. So she didn't have to learn how to switch her day-to-day work into a remote setting. She just had to figure out how to manage it alongside new obligations—like breastfeeding.
"It's very challenging with twins," explains Emily. "I hated pumping. It was really nice to work for a company that didn't care if I was like, 'Okay, every three hours, I'm going to be gone for 20 minutes to feed my babies.' I never would've been able to do that if I worked in an office."
We sat down with Emily to hear more about her career journey, what she loves about Plex's remote culture, and what advice she has for others who have made a permanent switch to remote-first work and want to make sure they are set up for success.
Exploring the Software Lifecycle
Emily's career in software engineering may have been fated. Her parents are both engineers, and she loved math, science, and programming classes in high school. It wasn't until she got on-the-job experience, though, that she realized the kind of role she most preferred.
She started out in a tech support function, and while she was only there for about six months, she credits it with several important lessons for her development. "It taught me that we make software to improve someone's life somehow, even if it's just making their job a little easier. It taught me how to think from the user's perspective," she explains.
When that first company was acquired, she moved into a development role—and also moved to Austin, Texas. She thought she'd stay in Austin for a year, but a decade and a half later, it seems like a more permanent decision.
She learned relatively early on that while she liked being an engineer deployed to solve problems, she liked figuring out what those problems were even more—so she moved into a product architect role at her next company.
"I like making sure that we're developing the right thing for the user," explains Emily. And now, as an Engineering Manager at Plex, she's able to continue doing that work. "I have even more of an ability to shape what features we're going to work on and the direction of the product."
Why Plex?
When Emily was ready for her next challenge, she started by looking for roles on PowerToFly.
"I took my time to look around for something I really wanted, at a company I wanted to work for, with a product that I found interesting," says Emily. "I found a posting for Plex on PowerToFly and applied."
Emily liked Plex's product, and how user-focused it was. "We allow people to access their media how and where they want, and that makes their day a little bit better. If it works properly and it has the features they want, then that is something that makes them happy, makes their life better," she explains.
And getting to know the company behind the product, Emily was inspired. "The company culture I saw in interviews was really amazing. Once I was offered the position, it was an easy decision to accept it."
Emily loved Plex's commitment to being kind, helpful, and humble, and their remote-first approach to work was the cherry on top.
"I'd been working from home since 2008, but with coworkers who were in the office," explains Emily, who originally went remote to enjoy more freedom and not be stuck squeezing vacations into limited holiday time. "You're kind of isolated that way. At Plex, everyone has the same challenges and the company works really hard to solve them and make us all feel like we're a team."
This influences everything the company does, from meeting structure to communication. "Rather than having emails that are private or having little discussions in offices that no one else is privy to, most of the channels [on Slack] are open for anyone to join, [so you] can read what they're discussing and get up to speed," Emily says, highlighting the importance of transparency when working remotely.
5 Keys for Success in a Remote Work Environment
Over the years, Emily has developed her own best-practices guide for successful remote work. Here's what she suggests:
- Separate your workspace. Emily is originally from Cape Cod, and she goes back every summer to see her family. During that trip and others like it, she works from wherever she can set up a temporary office. But the rest of the time, she's got a set workspace that lets her really focus on her work. "It's easy to be interrupted by people otherwise. It's harder to switch your brain back between regular life and work if you're doing it from your living room," she says.
- Go outside every day. "When I first started working from home, there were days I would go out at 6 p.m. to check the mail and be like, 'Oh, the door is locked, I haven't left the house yet today,'" says Emily. Now, even if it's just to go for a walk or to sit on the porch in the sunshine for a few minutes, she makes sure she gets outside.
- Get the equipment you need. In her engineering manager role, Emily is still responsible for code, and having the tech she needs to troubleshoot and test things is key. "I have a big, beefy development system I keep in my house," says Emily. "When I'm here, I work on it directly, but I'm also able to remote into it so I can go work from wherever on my laptop, as long as I have good internet."
- Be thoughtful about communication. "Maybe technically I'm a millennial, but I didn't really grow up with sharing myself online. And I'm not naturally extroverted. So it can be hard to make connections with people when you're working remotely," says Emily. She consciously tries to over-communicate—and to use emojis whenever possible—to address that.
- Set boundaries. Having kids helped with this one, says Emily. Before she had the twins, she would sometimes find herself checking email at dinner, or doing work in the evenings while watching TV. Now, the nanny leaves at five, so Emily and her husband have to stop working and switch into childcare and family time.
And a bonus one: take advantage of the work-life balance opportunities that remote work provides. "I can go have lunch with my babies if I want!" says Emily, smiling. "I never would have been able to do that if I worked in an office."
