“Webbing is a perfect place to be”
Osama Tamimi, IP and Security Team Leader at Webbing, talks about his passion for computer networks, shares why he wouldn’t want to work from home more and explains why he never goes totally offline.
Going where the magic happens
I was born and raised in Jerusalem. When I was a kid, I was in love with sports and technology. In 2006, I went to Jordan to get my bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology. Later, during Covid, I achieved a master’s degree in cyber security from Fort Hays State University in Kansas.
In 2011, a few months after my graduation, I joined a regional telecommunications company as a Junior IP Core engineer. Then I was promoted up until I became an IP network and security supervisor. After spending 11 years in the same company, I felt like I was in a comfort zone. I gained excellent experience, had a chance to work on multiple projects, attended training courses in the USA, Netherlands, Dubai and other countries, as well as technical events and conferences. But at some point, you feel that it’s time to go, because as they say, “magic happens out of our comfort zone”.
I started to apply for open positions and was hired by Webbing. I think it was one of my best decisions and one of the best things that happened to me.
The diversity of Webbing
I didn’t know about Webbing before. I thought it was a small company but very strong, with multiple data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
I joined as an IP, network and security team lead. At a new company, with a new network, it was challenging to understand the details of this network and the systems and vendors and all that in the beginning. I learned a lot, especially in the first months, and I’m still learning.
I’ve been at Webbing for two years now, and these two years have been amazing on both a professional and a personal level. I had the chance to make new friends from all around the world. Webbing is diverse. We have people from everywhere, and everyone is truly nice.
My team is diverse as well: I’m working with two guys here in Israel, and we have team members in Latvia and in Sweden. We also have diverse skills, each one of us has a specialty in some area, so we complement each other.
In my case, managing a team that is spread across multiple countries is not that hard. First of all, we are more or less in the same time zone. We have all the necessary tools and are connected regardless of our physical situation. Our work with the data centers is remote, too. We only go there for some special maintenance once a year. Therefore, having team members based abroad is totally fine, and working remotely is smooth, nice and easy.
Why I think Webbing is unique
Being a part of a network team means we can’t all go offline at the same time. If something happens, someone needs to be on guard, so we always have an on-call person to reach out to.
But Webbing is unique in this regard. Once the company took all employees on a trip to Dubai, and we built a technical room for the NOC team, so they could monitor the network 24/7 from there. I’ve never heard of any other company that’s taken everyone from all countries to one place without compromising the quality of their services. Even all my friends asked “Really? Seriously? They are taking everyone?”.
Webbing is also unique because it’s global in every aspect. It’s global in terms of employees, data centers, vendors, meetings, connections. Not to mention its basic service is connectivity everywhere.
I love coming to the office. I work two days a week from home, and before Webbing, I thought having fewer days in the office was a privilege. Now, if you asked me to take more days from home, I would reject it, even though I’m coming from Jerusalem and it takes an hour and a half each way. It’s nice to come here to see the people, to meet friends, it makes your energy positive because you feel the positive vibe.
Aside from technology, I love travel and sports. I’m trying to maintain at least one physical activity. I’m more into swimming and going to the gym. And I’ve been to 37 countries so far; I even had a chance to explore more countries with Webbing, like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
I need to add that I had my first kid while working here, and I’ll never forget the kindness that I received from Webbing and its employees.
I love what I’m doing
I have a passion for computer networks and security. That’s why I have multiple certificates, and that’s why I studied for my master’s degree in the same domain. Some people were telling me it’s better to get an MBA to combine it with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, but I really prefer to stay in this technical domain, I love what I’m doing.
From a technological perspective, we are working on cutting-edge technology, and we are expanding, opening new sites. Now we have a presence across multiple countries: the US, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, we went live in Tokyo, Japan, just recently, so Japan traffic is being handled locally now to ensure super low latency.
The job itself is challenging, which is good. I love working in challenging jobs instead of doing some routine jobs. This dynamic environment is perfect for a network engineer, because you get to work on the latest technologies, with multiple vendors, enhancing the network all the time to stay up to date.
Although we have an awesome NOC team that’s on guard 24/7, if you work with networks in my position, you too need to be alert, because incidents can happen anytime. I never leave my laptop, never turn off my phone, I never go totally offline. These challenges are part of a network engineer’s commitment. Some people get tired of this, but I could never imagine myself out of this technical field. I’d rather answer phone calls in the middle of the night and stay technical. That was my ambition when I was a little kid playing football. And it still is my point of view now.
Most people are looking to get into big names like Microsoft and Google. They are amazing companies, but their core business is not about networks. That’s why Webbing is a perfect place to be if networks are your passion. A few days after I joined, I told my wife: “I think I have finally made it”, I’ve found what I was looking for.
