In our new section open source We will talk each time with a CTO or VP R&D, who will tell us a little about themselves, the path they took to get to the position, share professional tips and answer both professional and silly questions. And this week, our guest is Ayelet Kutner (LinkedIn), CTO and also GM of At-Bay Israel. so lets start.
Ayelet Kutner, CTO at At-Bay. Photo: Aviad Horowitz
Hi Ayelet. First of all, we would love to hear about the personal path you took in your career up to your current position.
“I have always been attracted to technology and computers. It started when I spent hours in front of the computer playing games like Barbarian and Prince Of Persia; in the army I was exposed to the world of communication networks as a System Admin in the Air Force; and right after the army I started studying at the Technion. Because of the student strike during the first semester I decided to look for a job And I was accepted for a QA position at a security company (back then it wasn’t called cyber yet). After graduation, I was accepted as a developer in VoIP worlds at Check Point. At Check Point, I had the privilege of doing many diverse positions, from team leader to department manager; I dealt with hardware and software and in the last position already I was responsible for about 100 people. After Check Point, for three years I managed the development organization at another security company – Forescout, and I am at At-Bay in March 2020. Although my background is development, for many years now my tendency has been towards the product world. I believe that when you speak both ‘languages’ you can guarantee that the technological solutions you find will serve the product in the best possible way.”
Source: BRODERBUND / JORDAN MECHNER
Tell us a little about the product you are developing at At-Bay and the technology behind it
“At-Bay is developing a platform for assessing risks and selling insurance against cyber hacks. We know how to simulate the actions of attackers and make sure that the insured company is protected against them. Our system had to grow significantly while running and in the last two years we have moved from a monolith to a micro-services architecture, with the biggest challenge we face Today, there is an increasing use of managed asynchronous processes.”
Photo: Aviad Horowitz
Let’s talk for a moment about your development culture and work methods, how do you work in the company?
“Our technology organization currently contains four teams: R&D, Data and Research, Product Management, DevOps. After the difficulties I experienced in previous companies, which resulted from communication problems between the various teams, I place great emphasis on open communication and sharing information and knowledge between all teams. Within an organization In R&D, we try to let the team work as a team on one or two projects at the same time in order to allow people to work together. We don’t have a Front End team and a Backend team, we have teams that can take a task from end to end, to implement the entire process.”
Be interested in what the product does and don’t just immerse yourself in the lines of code
What interesting and significant breakthrough or development under your leadership makes you proud?
“When I look at what we have built in the last two and a half years – it is clear to me that we have done an amazing job. The technological organization at Hovel grew from 12 employees about two years ago, to 90 employees, and we managed to do a lot while recruiting and training new people, and while building a team that loves To build things together. One of the other things that makes me very happy is that most of the technology managers today have progressed from within the organization itself. In other words, the rapid growth has enabled maximum personal and professional development, and I believe that this is the best way to build and establish ourselves in all respects.”
Your most important tip for juniors, who are just starting their careers in the worlds of programming, development and engineering?
“Do everything to find a position in a workplace that interests you. For the developers among you – be interested in what the product does and don’t just immerse yourself in the lines of code. A developer who understands the big picture is an asset to the organization, so I spend a lot of time explaining why we do what we do and how it affects The customers have a broad vision.”
Aliens invaded Earth and destroyed the entire Stackoverflow database. What is the first thing to do?
“There are alternatives – Quora, Medium and there is also a lot of information saved in the Internet Archive… I assume that with a concerted effort we will be able to recover what is really important to people quite quickly…”
Do you have a recommended podcast or book?
“I highly recommend The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horvitz. I strongly identify with the sober look at challenges that many organizations face, especially startups, who are both building a product and themselves in the process… there are many pitfalls to fall into and complex issues along the way” .
What is your must-have playlist while programming or working?
“I’m addicted to Audible, and in every spare moment I have (thank God for the traffic jams) I listen to books. Mainly fantasy books and books of general education and management, when I have the strength to concentrate and delve deeper.”
Samsung Galaxy Fold. Photo: Giktime
Which gadget or gadgets are a must for you?
“Galaxy Fold, Samsung’s foldable phone, and good headphones”
The first thing I do after the exit is:
“I love what I do and my job. As long as this is the case, I see no reason to stop.”
Tabs or spaces?
“Only tabs”.
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