Jake Ferretti is a professional services engineer who joined SPK in June of 2024. Before joining SPK, Jake worked for a zero-trust security startup company. In his current role, he ensures customer satisfaction by providing AWS, Azure, GCP, and other technical infrastructure expertise to our clients.
My Role at SPK
I view my role as a professional services engineer as a balance between technical delivery and customer satisfaction. My focus is on making sure customer needs are being served. While every project is different, my day-to-day involves providing technical infrastructure. I work very closely with a team of SPK engineers and often find myself asking for their perspectives.
In terms of tools, I mostly deal with cloud infrastructure. I’ll set up environments in Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. I also do database management, so I work a lot with Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Management Studio. Most days, I sit in those cloud consoles setting up infrastructure, and then present it to the customer. I typically ask a lot of questions about what they want out of it. I need to know what the use case is. Then, after presenting it, I give them a demo and ensure they’re happy with it. One of the best parts of my job is that I get to learn new tools and do things I have never done before. It scratches the itch of living a fulfilling life, as I am always learning.
Career Advice
As I mentioned, I am exposed to a lot of tools that I am just generally unfamiliar with. So I think the biggest challenge of my job is ensuring I am always knowledgeable enough to get a job done without holding the project back. The best advice I can give is you’re not going to know everything, and nobody expects you to know everything. You could throw Bill Gates in front of a newer tool, and he may have no idea what he’s doing with it, despite his technical experience. You can always learn and still be able to excel at what you do.
I think the best advice I’ve received is to not go for a position that you dislike solely because of the pay. In my experience, working for a company that has good people is going to make you far happier than a miserable job with a large paycheck. I really enjoy the people I work with, and my day-to-day life is fulfilling.
Extracurriculars
After work, my partner and I like to make fun, crafty projects. Currently, we’re working on making bio leather out of citrus peels. We plan to make obnoxiously large, wide-brim hats out of them. Other than that, I like to read, write, and hang out with my friends. A fun fact about me is that one time I was in New York and I ran into Rachel Dratch from SNL, but for some reason I thought she was my 7th-grade English teacher. I approached her and asked, “Hey, are you Miss Sherwood?” and after she said no, she and another subway passenger joked about it. So I got off at the next stop, which was not my stop, and I ate a sad falafel. That memory has always stuck with me.
Looking To The Future
Jake’s extensive experience has made him a valuable asset to the SPK team in just one short year. We are looking forward to seeing all the new tools he will learn and the future clients he will help. We are grateful to have such a collaborative and open-minded member of our team.
