A day in the life of a trainee cybersecurity consultant

Wondering what a junior cybersecurity consultant job involves or how to get your career started by applying for a trainee cybersecurity job?

Find out below what a day in the life of a junior cybersecurity consultant involves from one of our associate consultants, Silje, who recently joined our team in The Netherlands.

Could you give an overview of your career to date?

I studied my undergraduate and master's degrees in philosophy. As my degrees were very theoretical with lots of academic research, after graduating I started a trainee programme at Spring Professional for developing general experience in the working field and to help me see what I would like in a job. Whilst looking for a job, I stumbled across the programme and its main focus was on information management. As part of the programme, I then began working at Gemeente Brunssum as an information specialist, where I learnt about information and process management followed by a course focused on agile project management and advisory skills. Once I had the hang of things, the challenge of the job had gone for me so I started to look for my next role. I met Karin, a principal consultant at Intragen, who is also an acquaintance of my parents. She got me excited about identity access management and Intragen, so I applied for a job here.

Could you give an overview of what a typical day might look like for you?

As I recently started my career in identity and access management, I don’t have a typical day at the minute – but my day does always start with a cup of coffee for sure! Instead I have a large variety of tasks to get started with and new on-the-job training opportunities to be involved with. For example, I already have my own project that I am responsible for which involves working on a maturity assessment model. It’s a good exercise, with a mix of theory in addition to understanding how things work. I get to start at the basics, for example looking into what a company needs to be mature in identity and access management and what the stepping stones are. I sit next to a more experienced consultant who is putting together a workbook for a client to ensure that the One Identity solution receives the right attributes from their HR system – it's very technical but it’s great to be involved with this task to see what is needed when replacing an identity management system. I’ll shortly also be joining one of our key client accounts, listening in to client calls and starting my first client project.

What led you to a career in cybersecurity?

I started doing some information management at my previous job, which initially got me enthusiastic about it. I really like advising people, hearing different people’s points of view, thinking through the possibilities, solving problems and being the bridge between the organisation and IT – it brings a lot of variety to the job. One thing I missed in my previous role was the analysis though but that’s a big part of being a functional consultant at Intragen, I have to analyse large organisations and complex processes and structures in detail.

What do you enjoy most about working at Intragen and what makes it different to other companies you have worked in?

The biggest change for me when I moved to Intragen was being surrounded by highly qualified people in my direct team - it feels really great. It’s quite unique being in an environment where everyone works hard but also enjoys making jokes together and talking about their weekends. Everyone is very enthusiastic about the company and their work here.

“I sit next to a more experienced consultant who is putting together a workbook for a client – it's very technical but it’s great to be involved with this task to see what is needed when replacing an identity management system. I’ll shortly also be joining one of our key client accounts, listening in to client calls and starting my first client project.”

Silje van Duivenbode

What is your experience of the Intragen Academy so far and how has this supported you in your role?

My first week at Intragen started with one-to-one training, which was a firm basis for my next few weeks. I sat with one of our more experienced consultants and learnt the basics of identity and access management and was given functional training from a processes perspective, which helped me with the maturity assessment model; for example, who needs to be part of an identity access management project to make sure it succeeds. I've also had the chance to do some basic role modelling, which was a really cool exercising drawing up and connecting different things. I also participated in the 3-day mini Intragen Academy where I learnt more about Intragen’s products, our partnerships with One Identity and Ping Identity amongst many other things. It was nice to be taught by my expert colleagues and also to attend the course with colleagues from different job functions to hear their perspectives; for example, Jack from HR and Ian from sales were in my cohort. I’ll also be attending the full Academy training programme very soon for more in-depth identity and access management training.

Could you give one interesting fact about yourself?

I enjoy the mental and physical sport of bouldering – it’s a form of climbing but you don’t have the usual gear, just some special shoes and a wall. And I also really love baking, particularly making recipes from the Ottolenghi cookbook, Sweet.

Fill in the blank - When I’m not at work, you can find me...

Playing board games with friends, climbing in a boulder hall, on my racing bike (in summer), visiting the zoo, drinking beers and G&Ts, or attending a concert.

What’s your top recommendation for someone visiting Utrecht?

During the 3-day Academy we went to De Rechtbank (Korte Nieuwstraat 14, Utrecht) and had a lovely dinner there. For breakfast I really like De Ontdekking (Voorstraat 110, Utrecht) and for climbing, the boulder hall in Utrecht (Elektronweg 10A) is great!

“I really like advising people, hearing different people’s points of view, thinking through the possibilities, solving problems and being the bridge between the organisation and IT – it brings a lot of variety to the job.”

Silje van Duivenbode

Looking for a junior cybersecurity consultant job?

We’re passionate about training ambitious and talented graduates or early-stage professionals looking to start their career as an identity access management consultant. Tell us about yourself, what motivates you about becoming a cybersecurity consultant and what qualities you could bring to the team.

Apply here

Day in the Life

Find out what it’s like to be part of our expert team of identity access management consultants, developers, project managers and sales representatives and pursue a career in cybersecurity.

Principal Technical Consultant