Why I love working at Forescout: Public Sector Edition
As you may or may not know, Forescout Technologies is growing by leaps and bounds. What’s the driver behind this success and growth? In my humble opinion – as someone on the front lines – I believe it boils down to three things: 1) Great product 2) Great team 3) Great leadership. Keep in mind that I am no expert in analyzing businesses. This is not a professional statement nor is it an official Forescout statement. It’s just the personal opinion of a current employee.
Conversely, these same three factors are why I love working for this company! Before I get ahead of myself, here’s some insight into who I am and what I did before Forescout. I was born on a cool Thursday evening in Florida…okay, I’m joking there…
At the beginning of my adult life I was nowhere near the world of IT. I was a professional adrenaline junkie who eventually joined the military (non-IT). After the military, I finally stepped into the world of IT. I started my career as a network engineer for a few Department of Defense (DoD) and non-DoD government agencies. At my last DoD location, I deployed Forescout and saw first-hand all the real-world capabilities it provides! This largely contributed to my future decision to move from a Forescout customer to employee (spoiler alert).
Now to be honest, when I was first asked to join Forescout, I hesitated. I was working in a universe very unlike this one I’m currently in. The government contractor world is completely different from the commercial vendor world and I had no idea what to expect. What finally changed my mind? Knowing I would be supporting a great product!
As I stated above, one reason I love working for Forescout is because the product is legitimately fantastic! When I talk to prospective customers, I’m speaking from first-hand experience. When they do their homework and talk to their peers, my words are reiterated and validated. We actually encourage prospects to talk to other users instead of just taking a vendors word. It’s a competitive field and although many other vendors like to make the same claims we do, they fail to produce customer references to back up what they claim. The truth always comes out during a bake-off evaluation. It’s a great feeling to be able to look people in the eye and confidently tell them what we claim is not just fluff. I have a whole team of engineers I can call on, at any time, when someone needs a reference outside of my territory/DoD field.
In addition to the incredible product, Forescout has an amazing and truly rare culture. This kind of culture is one I have never experienced before. Speaking specifically from the Public Sector side of the house, we have a wonderful team spirit! From what I see while interacting with other teams, the company culture as a whole seems to be great all around! The team is full of extremely knowledgeable people, and everyone is willing to help and share their knowledge. I’m no pro in API calls, PKI, VMware, etc, but whenever I need help, someone always steps up. The camaraderie reminds me of the military days where we all work together for the greater good versus competing against each other for a promotion. Everyone cares about you and your success and I truly feel like my team is an extension of my family. If you ever find yourself fortunate enough to be on the Public Sector team with me, you’ll see the emotional emails I tend to send out a few times a year. I typically thank my team for all they do to help me be successful. I also always thank my leadership for giving me the opportunities they have provided.
I wouldn’t be this happy without the great leadership of this company. I am talking about everyone from my direct supervisors, Ellen Sundra and Wallace Sann, on up to VPs like Niels Jensen and Brian Gumbel and eventually those at the top like Pedro Abreu and Mike DeCesare. Everyone knows the old saying, “S**t rolls downhill.” Typically when the leadership is bad, it eventually reaches us grunts on the ground and makes for an unhappy work environment. Thankfully, we don’t have that problem here at Forescout! We are treated like grown adults. We all learn what we have to do to be successful and the leadership doesn’t get in your way. They fight for us and contribute to our success in more ways than us grunts know.
Thank you, people at Forescout Technologies, for making my life better than I could have ever imagined! I look forward to continually helping to grow this company as the company continues to help me grow in both my professional and personal life.
If you are currently debating applying for/accepting a position at Forescout, stop debating and join. You won’t regret it. Knowing the product actually does what we say it does, having a fantastic work culture and truly effective leadership are all you need to be happy in your next career at Forescout! Feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you want to learn more about working at Forescout!
Tamer
