Last week Palo Alto Networks Academy collaborated with VetsinTech to host a product training session exclusively for veterans.
Mark McLaughlin gave the welcome address and spoke about the importance of cybersecurity and how its impact and necessity is growing by leaps and bounds in both government and industry.
Mark shared his own background as a veteran and spoke about how job skills and definition that tap into what veterans bring to the table is key when hiring veterans. He also spoke about the importance of cybersecurity education, how new positions are being created in security that reveal its necessity in today's cyberthreat-driven world (for example, the CISO's office), and the impact of Palo Alto Networks in the area of digital cybercrime protection.
Brett Eldridge sent in his greeting to the veterans.
The audience, comprised entirely of veterans, was eager to find out more about threat prevention, threat intelligence, and studies and forecasts in those areas. Mark answered each question with facts and figures and shared interesting details related to how veterans can help secure our future by using their own experience and expertise in the prevention of successful cyberattacks – a key goal of Palo Alto Networks.
This training was a first of its kind in several ways:
- First collaborative effort by VetsinTech and Palo Alto Networks (Education and Recruiting).
- First time our training was offered to a class made up exclusively of veterans qualified in security and hoping to join the workforce in suitable security-related positions.
- First time our Academy trainers directly trained students, whereas they usually train educators from colleges and universities from around the globe, who then train their students.
On February 12 we had a closing graduation ceremony where Wilson Xu, Palo Alto Networks EVP of Engineering, delivered encouraging words to the graduating class of veterans. Visitors from Wells Fargo, DOL, and the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation (LAAF) were also present to officiate and congratulate the veterans, along with members from the Recruiting (Amanda and Chuck) who worked on the event and Education team (Dave, Carlos, and Steph) who developed the training.
This training and recruiting event was pulled together by Education and Recruiting teams from Palo Alto Networks and VetsinTech, with a sponsorship from Wells Fargo. It was wonderful to collaborate with Katherine Webster, President of VetsinTech, who brought in qualified and interested veterans to this training.
VetsinTech has several chapters around the United States and supports current and returning veterans with re-integration services and by connecting them to the national technology ecosystem. This class is a starting point to train more veterans in the future, and we are proud to be part of this solution.
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