Today we chat with Web Analyst Manager Serena Peruzzi. Serena constantly filters through the web to analyze content. Sometimes her position requires looking through difficult material, but other times you can find her traveling, organizing company events, and even gardening!
See how Serena helps build Webroot’s company culture in this Employee Spotlight.
How did you get into the technology field?
During my undergrad in Translation and Interpreting 10 years ago, I came to realize how big a role automation and machine translation were going to play in my field. Thus, I decided to beat the trend to the punch and focus my research on Google Translate for my thesis; further on, I completed a master’s degree in Translation Technology, which mixed together traditional translation with state-of-the art localization technologies, and included leveraging on Machine Learning and language pattern recognitions to build automated translation engines. Google Translate pretty much rules the multilingual content scene for the general public, making content in more than 100 languages immediately accessible to the global audience with just one click. Also, a lot of crowdsourced content, for example travel or business reviews on the web, is also localized using machine translation technologies to maximize international reach. Additionally, many large corporations already leverage on customized enterprise machine translation engines to translate manuals and other documentation. There are already technologies allowing to converse in multiple languages in real-time, so there’s virtually no language barriers than cannot be overcome anymore; of course, provided you have an internet connection
What does a week as a Web Analyst Manager look like?
I typically have a few one-on-one calls with all remote Web Analysts on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and two team meetings per week, one with the US and one with Sydney. We discuss top issues, upcoming tool updates and feature releases, and use the wisdom of the crowd to find a solution to difficult cases. We use a collaborative Kanban board to track the topics we discuss, so that we can always go back to them or track progress on resolutions. Finally, I work on a number of projects related to training, quality assessments, classification approvals, new implementations, case escalations from the team, and documentation. I also have a few gardening tasks to take care of, keeping the Webroot Threat plants alive is quite an arduous task!
What have you learned / what skills have you built in this role?
Customer care, URL threat analysis, and all aspects of people management are among the key skills I learned in the role. It also helped me keep up my passion for foreign languages, especially Spanish and Japanese, since I need to analyze web content from all over the world.
What is the hardest thing about being a Web Analyst Manager?
Explaining what a Web Analyst does is quite an arduous task, partially because it is a very complex and multi-faceted role involving analyzing large amounts of online content, but also because it involves, to some extent, evaluating content that may be disturbing or violent in nature, and it can be a difficult sell at times.
What is your greatest accomplishment in your career at Webroot so far?
Having helped build a global team of brilliant and enthusiastic minds is perhaps what makes me most proud of being a part of Webroot. The Web Analysts are first and foremost masters of languages and cultures; collectively we speak 12 different languages. The more languages you know, the more confidence you have in analyzing online content from all over the world, bringing different perspectives to the mix. Also, we have another element in common: we all want to make the internet a little safer for our user base. Because of that, building the team has always been an incredibly fun experience. It allows candidates to bring up their unique backgrounds and passions for different cultures and the IT security world in their interviews.
Does your work allow you to travel a lot? Where are some of the coolest places you have travelled?
I’ve travelled to San Diego, Colorado and Sydney with Webroot. While I enjoyed all my trips, I do have a weak spot for Australia. I am a big fan of water sports, and Australia offers the best sceneries for surfing and diving. It also hosts some of the most amazing animals I’ve ever seen. I’ll admit that my encounter with a group of Huntsmen in Sydney, despite being harmless spiders, had me run away fast. But when I first met Quokkas (smiling furry animals), they literally melted my heart
Best career advice you’ve received?
There’s a saying in Ireland which can be used as an antidote when things don’t go your way, “What’s for you won’t pass you.” I felt particularly close to it when I couldn’t attain a role in the past, as it ultimately led me to a different, extremely satisfactory role surrounded by amazing people.
Are you involved in anything at Webroot outside of your day to day work?
Aside from gardening, I’ve given a hand with organizing team-building and social events for Dublin in the past, including Christmas parties, Health Day, mini-golf and bubble football tournaments, and escape room challenges. Since the team is spread across three offices, team events vary based on group size and local amenities. In Ireland, we typically go out for a nice meal once a month, and order in food for celebrations; additionally, there are regular pub sessions with other Webroot teams. We also have office-wide team building activities on a quarterly basis, and/or when we have visitors on-site.
Favorite memory on the job?
St Patrick’s Day in the office, when I was in Support, was also a truly fun day. On our lunch break we went to Temple Bar, the very core of St Patrick’s celebrations, hid amongst the mayhem of thousands of party-goers celebrating, and then pinged the US team to spot us on the live street camera, just like in a game of “Where’s Waldo.”
To learn more about life at Webroot, visit https://www.webroot.com/blog/category/life-at-webroot/.
