Jacob Bales

Systems Administrator I

“Without people like Jacob in Information Services, we’d be completely lost… He always stops and helps everyone no matter how big or small the task.”

Some superheroes respond to a bat signal in the sky, but Jacob Bales, Systems Administrator I, responds to help desk tickets. At Bay Alarm, it doesn’t matter if you’re locked out of your email or locked out of the building: Jacob is there to the rescue. “From changing out your computer to renovating a new office space, he’s there when you need him, every time,” says Sydnee Noble, Front Office Coordinator.

Jacob started at Bay Alarm in 2016 as a temp, and since then, he has received the Corporate Employee of the Year Award three times.  As one of the faces of the Information Services team, he interacts with every department in Bay Alarm and typically has a joke or two for every encounter. He may give you a hard time, but he says, “I always want to help and for employees to know that I care.”

With the pandemic shifting more Bay Alarm employees to work-from-home arrangements, Jacob had to don his cape more than usual. At the peak of covid, the number of employees on the server quadrupled. And his whole team had to go into super mode to find ways to respond to the growing number of support tickets.

Chris De Jesus, Jacob’s manager, says, “His technical knowledge and experience allows him to provide quick resolution to IS-related issues with a friendly smile. He’s a great team player that helps pull the weight of the multitude of tasks and projects we have, and he passes that knowledge to the help desk team to further reinforce the team overall.”

Jacob is quick to say he learns from all of his teammates and describes them as a tight-knit group of people. He says, “I work with some of the smartest and most genuine people I have ever met, most of which are in the height of their career. It is amazing to see the amount of work that gets done along with the quality of work. Everyone is always willing to teach and to learn. I couldn’t imagine working with any other team”.

Jacob’s favorite Bay Alarm memory is a department outing where the team went fishing with Graham Westphal. He sees the Bay difference in how the Westphals treat the company as a community and know your name when they walk down the hall.

When Jacob isn’t saving the world one help desk ticket at a time, you can find him repping the Raiders, fishing, and watching reality television like Big Brother and Love Island.