Employee Spotlight – Joseph Pike

We spoke to ESS Project Lead, Joseph Pike

For this month’s employee spotlight piece, we spoke to ESS Project Lead and heavy metal enthusiast, Joseph Pike.

How long have you been working at SE Labs?

I’ve been working at SE Labs for over 3 years.

How did you hear about SE Labs? Why did you want to work here?

I heard about SE Labs through a friend of mine who had nothing but good things to say! He informed me that there was an opening for a tester and I jumped at the opportunity. I always had an interest in tech and I knew that cybersecurity was a rapidly growing industry.

What’s the first thing you do when you start working every day?

The first thing I do when I get in is grab myself a coffee, it is very much needed! After that, I check my emails and find out what samples need to be sent for the day. In my department, Email Security Services, we test the accuracy of email security products by using a variety of samples that are based on common email threats. The test is focused on ENT (Enterprise) and SMB (Small/Medium Businesses) email security solutions.

What does a typical day look like for you?

A typical day changes depending on where I am during a testing period. During testing, my day consists of sending email samples and rating them individually whereas during the test set-up, I’ll be creating samples and sending test emails to each product.

What are some of the challenges you face in your day-to-day work?

The main challenges I face are during the set-up period of testing. We create many samples for the test, so it is a challenge to come up with dozens of scenarios whilst also keeping them varied.

Tell us about a project you have worked on that you are particularly proud of.

It was quite a small project, but I once imitated a scam victim to get an insight into how beneficiary email scams work. I replied to the email address in one of our commodity samples and followed their instructions, to the point of having a phone conversation with one of the scammers. We documented it all and made it into a blog post on the SE Labs website!

Do you have any specific advice for anyone interested in a career in cybersecurity?

You don’t need a degree in cybersecurity to start a career in the industry. There are so many tools available that can help to improve your technical skills, as well as courses and certifications that can give you a solid knowledge base. Anyone can learn if they have the drive and passion to do so.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

In my spare time, I like to play video games, practice guitar and write music.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself!

I’m the lead guitarist in a progressive metal band called After Reach.