Michael Pasternak
Director, Sales Engineering - Central Majors at Zscaler
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMichael Pasternak is an award-winning IT executive and presales leader with 17 years of experience building and scaling high-performing sales engineering teams across cybersecurity and infrastructure, currently directing Sales Engineering for Central Majors at Zscaler from Chicago. He blends deep technical hands-on skills—contributing to notable open-source Django projects like django-mptt and django-autocomplete-light—with enterprise presales acumen to close strategic deals and shepherd mission-critical deployments. Michael is known for removing operational barriers, improving CI/CD and release pipelines, and translating complex technical constraints into clear executive-level decisions. His background spans systems engineering and IT leadership at Dell and large financial institutions, giving him a practical grasp of modern datacenter, security, and compliance challenges. He also pursues open-source work in Python and AI in healthcare, reflecting a curiosity that bridges applied engineering and domain-specific innovation.
17 years of coding experience
11 years of employment as a software developer
Implementing Cisco Works LMS (CWENT), Implementing Cisco Works LMS (CWENT) at Cisco Systems, San Jose, CaliforniaCISSP Boot Camp, CISSP Boot Camp at Creative Breakthroughs, Inc, Troy, MichiganLeadership for Managers, Leadership for Managers at Dale Carnegie Institute, Troy, MichiganIntrusion Detection In-Depth, Intrusion Detection In-Depth at The SANS Institute, Bethesda, MarylandUniversity of Detroit MercyProject Management Fundamentals, Project Management Fundamentals at New Horizons, Troy, MIBachelor of Science - BS Administration, Bachelor of Science - BS Administration at Central Michigan UniversityCertified OnBase Administrator, Certified OnBase Administrator at OnBase, Cleveland, OhioCertified Novell Administrator Netware 5, Certified Novell Administrator Netware 5 at New Horizons, Troy, MichiganBusiness Development Sales Training, Business Development Sales Training at CUNA Mutual Group
Github Skills (16)
autocomplete10
javascript10
github-ci10
githubaction-workflow10
python10
cicd10
django10
testing10
caching9
documentation9
css9
database-api8
databases8
release-management8
database8
Programming languages (16)
Github contributions (5)
yourlabs/django-session-security
Jun 2014 - Jul 2022
A little javascript and middleware work together to ensure that the user was active during the past X minutes in any tab he has open. Otherwise, display a warning leaving a couple of minutes to show any kind of activity like moving the mouse. Otherwise, logout the user.
Role in this project:
DevOps Engineer
DevOps EngineerContributions:22 commits, 4 PRs, 17 pushes in 8 years 1 month
Contributions summary:Michael primarily focused on improving the project's build and deployment process. They migrated the project to GitHub Actions, updating the build process, and included badges in the README. Additionally, they updated the version number and release tags, suggesting a role in managing releases. These actions indicate a strong emphasis on improving the continuous integration and continuous deployment pipeline.
javascriptmiddleware
yourlabs/django-autocomplete-light
Jul 2012 - Feb 2018
A fresh approach to autocomplete implementations, specially for Django.
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:26 commits, 4 PRs, 17 comments in 5 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Michael contributed significantly to the django-autocomplete-light project by implementing new features and improving existing ones. Their work included adding functionality for inlines and customizing the UI by adding new CSS styles. They also refactored Javascript code related to the widget's behavior and fixed a bug with the "Create" option. Additionally, they enhanced the demo project by adding new examples and making them more accessible to new users.
autocompletedjangopython
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