Arbel Zinger - Product Manager in Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics

Arbel was born and raised in the northern city of Tzfat, but made Tel Aviv is home, together with his wife Arina.

Arbel is a veteran of the army unit 8200, Tel Aviv University Computer Science graduate, and currently works as a Product Manager at Microsoft’s Advanced Threat Analytics team- a recently acquired cyber security Startup.

Arbel’s hobbies includes eating (and taking photos of his food) and running (and taking photos before, after and during runs).

What are you working on these days?

I’m a Product Manager in Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics (Aorato), a cyber-security StartUp that was acquired by Microsoft 2 years ago.

2 years ago, I co-founded “HiTech Problems” (צרות בהייטק) with my best friend, Eran Yacobovitch.

HiTech Problems is a platform where people from the Israeli HiTech community, who face the same unique challenges, can talk to each other – either to get advice from someone who experienced the same thing, or just share laughs about the ridiculousness of some “problems” in the daily life of HiTech employees (“Only 2 types of beer in the fridge!”)

HiTech Problems started 2 years after Eran started working at Lightricks.

We talked about the different benefits that Arbel had in his job, from vacation days and health insurance, we got to fresh orange juice and an ice cream machine (only during July and August, of course).

That’s how we started – talking about the crazy things some companies provide, and how we should appreciate how lucky we are.

The first HiTech problem we published was about getting new iPhones from work, though only 16GB.

Today we have almost 44K likes on our Facebook page and recently we opened a new Facebook group which now has more than 14K members.

Seeing that something we started is growing, and gaining a life of its own, is amazing. The page is a huge success.

The HiTech community are sharing stories, problems, asking for advice and helping out fellow group members to find a job – which is what it’s all about.

What was your first position In the Startup-Nation?

Fresh out of the army, almost 10 years ago, I started a job as a QA Engineer at MyHeritage, helping people to track their family roots.

I worked at MyHeritage for 5 years, where my last position was a Backend software engineer.

What was your first job ever?

During 12th grade I worked as a bartender/waiter in a super-small pub that the owner opened more as a hobby, than a business venture.

The job requirements included being nice and knowing how to play a simple bass lick, for the owner to improvise on his guitar.

What life event or moment affected your life the most?

Growing up in Tzfat, I never felt like I truly belonged.

Most of the people around me didn’t seem to have the same interests I had, and I spent most of the time with Eran and a small group of other friends.

The first day of my army training for 8200 was the first time I found myself surrounded with like minded people.

Everyone was as excited as me about technology, books and “geeky” things.

All of us wanted to learn about each other, and just talk. I instantly felt like I belonged.

This became even more clear throughout my service, and I’ve made friends for life.

Best advice you received or would like to share?

Surround yourself with people you like and trust.

Whatever you do, work related or not, it’s a lot easier and way more fun if you have friends involved.

Friends can make a dull project exciting, and have someone you trust to let you know when you’re missing something important (or acting like an idiot) can be the difference between success and failure.

I’m a lucky guy. I have a huge network of friends, from different places and backgrounds, that will stand by my side no matter what, as I will do for them.

Surround yourself with people you like and trust. – Arbel Zinger

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