From the Royal Air Force to Solutions Consultant at Palo Alto Networks

I jumped at the opportunity, and joined a fantastic team of like minded people at Palo Alto Network, later realising I had been missing something from my last two jobs since leaving Service life - the connection/bond you get from working in the military.

Mike Forward

Solutions Consultant

EMEA | Blog | Military & Veterans

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

My Journey from the Royal Air Force to Solutions Consultant at Palo Alto Networks

In late 2017, I had given notice to leave the Royal Air Force, following almost 10 years of proud, and mostly enjoyable, service. Finding myself in a fortuitous position whereby I was equipped with transferable skills, I still had to find a new employer - and a new means of keeping the bills paid. Everyone says “you’ll be ok” or “there’s plenty of work out there”, the truth is, until someone offers you an employment contract, it’s a very daunting prospect.

My first job in ‘Civvie St’ was as a Cyber Security Engineer (specifically an IPS Engineer) at a major Telecommunications company. This was a steep learning curve where I was exposed to other areas outside of my technical skillset, such as commercial/budgetary matters, risk management, and audit requirements to name a few. Five years flew by and, having held a couple of other roles in management of the Security Engineering and Security Operations functions, I decided it was time for a new challenge. I made the jump over to one of the vendors who supplied us, into the role of a Technical Account Manager. This was my first exposure to life at a Cyber Security vendor, where I then learned about customer satisfaction and relations, and the importance of understanding, and treating, each customer individually.

A short while later, a veteran, and former colleague, told me he was heading up the Defence team at Palo Alto Networks. I jumped at the opportunity, and joined a fantastic team of like minded people, later realising I had been missing something from my last two jobs since leaving Service life - the connection/bond you get from working in the military. The Defence team was built around a number of veterans, plus others with a vast experience of working in the Defence sector. Whilst going through the interview process, I realised I had a lot of relevant and transferable skills that were desirable - it was just a case of understanding these, and learning how to communicate them effectively.

One piece of advice I would give Service leavers is to find a first job that still has a foot within the Defence world; either a company in the Defence Industrial Base, or one that works back into your old world, that you have lived and breathed. Palo Alto Networks goes one step further, and has an Employee Network Group for veterans. In part to recognise Service, and also a great way of collaborating with your veteran peers.