Shaping Independent Entrepreneurship and Personal Guidance At KEA, the foundation of the training program to become an IAM specialist† In doing so, each student draws on a large network of clients and the knowledge of fellow IAM professionals. How does this path work and why would you choose it?

The increasing focus on attacks by cybercriminals and even states means that companies have to pay more attention to how they protect their systems, data, and employees. Hacked user data is often the first target of attackers who use it to gain access to corporate networks through malware, phishing, ransomware, and more. It is therefore not surprising that Identity and Access Management (IAM) as a field can rely on increased interest.

Giving the right people access, at the right time and for the right reason: The IAM system should facilitate all of this. “We help organizations set this up with the necessary tools, processes and governance,” says IAM specialist Wim van de Heijkant, who works as a self-employed person from a partnership. Favorite Works. “We do this in such a way that the organization can do this with its people over time.”

Incentives to improve

From Fortigia He is a coach KEA established. The initiative obviously chooses a path in which you can broadly develop as a self-employed person, with mentoring and coaching from fellow experienced IAM staff. “Many companies offer a short course, after which anyone can immediately call themselves an IAM Specialist. This is strange, given the complexity of the field and the developments following each other in quick succession,” says Wim. “The landscape is in motion and you need a model where there are enough incentives to constantly improve yourself.”

Erik Cheizoo, co-initiator and founder of Fortigi, sees the problem that many young IT guys are rapidly making a career in the consulting world. “These people shoot for four or five years and often get burned after that. They are charged a high hourly rate – for the consulting firm at least, not so much for the professionals – and drive a big rental car, but will you still stick with it? It’s almost impossible Make time for self-study in a casual way. Maybe you have a young family and at some point you really come across yourself.” As a self-employed person, on the other hand, you have more freedom. “We advise you to spend at least one day each week gaining new knowledge. This is possible if you are in control of the whole financial picture. Then your hourly rates can remain high and you can continue to compete with the best.”

The challenge that everything should be fine

Wim has studied Network Infrastructure Design and has worked in various roles and for different companies as an IAM Specialist for the past 20 years. As a self-employed person, he is currently assisting the Port Authority of Rotterdam and HelloFresh, among others. “At the port, we deal with millions of tariffs every day, for which I am responsible technically and sometimes also organizationally. Certainly at the moment (with the aim of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, editor) the port is under a digital attack and there is increased monitoring by dams. Everything is happening. Even if you look at The general trend towards distrust models, where you have to have the identity part to be able to make contextual choices based on user profiles.As IAM has so many aspects – from technology to functional design and from business processes to infrastructure – you’re dealing with enormous complexity For the attackers, there should be only one thing going well, but on the defensive side everything should be fine.”

In any case, IAM specialists will continue to be sought after in the coming years. “Misconfidence is still in its infancy and is still relevant,” Eric says. Moreover, new trends appear on the horizon, such as decentralized identity Where it is no longer about central databases but about applications in the blockchain. A company like Microsoft is also working on this. This recently made his first project on decentralized identity available for beta testing. Companies are increasingly hiring in-house specialists, which shows the increasing importance of identity.” If the past is any indication of the future, that’s good news for IAM, too. Wim: “I haven’t made any acquisitions in fifteen years. For companies, it is almost impossible to find specialists at times. If you educate yourself extensively, it is always possible to later switch to a field like information security or even something outside of IT.”

education model

As independent entrepreneurs, Wim and Erik work in partnership (Fortigi). “It turns out to be the best legal form. We work with a dozen professionals who all get enough work based on their own reputation.” With the knowledge available, there is a good opportunity to train new IAM specialists, people who can develop themselves under the wings of a mentor to clients. Eric: “It’s actually a training model for large consulting firms, but it’s inverted. There, one senior professional has to train six junior professionals, and vice versa with us. We always have room for three active students who end up in a group of twelve experienced IAM employees. so you have “You will work with the people who have invested in you. Everyone benefits from success.”Immediately a lot of knowledge and experience around you.”

KEA was founded from the observation that there are currently no quality training courses to ensure a high level of independent professionals in IAM. Eric: “If we see that in you, we’ll build the future BV together, from which you can come up with the name yourself. From the partnership we invest in a BV to offer you financial security for at least six months. That way you’ll be instantly on ‘your’ payroll.” A mentor will then be assigned from the partnership with whom you will develop a personal training plan.” Wim says this interaction between young and old is important. “You will work with the people who have invested in you. Everyone benefits from success; you are not just a number, and you can always go somewhere with your questions.”

learning in practice

Learning is largely done ‘on the job’, with practical cases clients have. Wim: “For example, you will create networks yourself, with the guidance of your mentor. So we are particularly looking for places where you can play as a beginner and where there is room to guide you properly. The advantage of this is that you instantly earn money for your BV and pay back to investors. Because these are the people around you, everyone is motivated to make sure you get it right. The intent is to eventually pass your BV on. Your company will then have three to five years of good characters in its books, and with many flying hours, You’ve developed into a good IAM specialist who is accustomed to working independently.” Eric adds that what happens next is mostly up to the student. “The first two students just finished and are now self-employed. With a few more years of experience, they can join the partnership, but they can also choose to continue with their BV or work somewhere in a paid job.”

Wim believes, however, that the person who once smelled a freelancer no longer wants to work. “Companies attract a lot to our students; every customer wants them. If a student prefers paid work somewhere: only good friends. Being independent requires something from you, you have to be able to handle that and you have to have a certain personality for that. My experience is that For people with an open mind who would like to enter the world of IAM and truly become the best, “Companies attract a lot to our students; every customer wants them.”under their feet. They want to be free. I myself still enjoy my choice to get into the business. In my own area, I see people starting out with a technical job as a salaried employee, and after a few years becoming managers because it’s often the only path to promotion within the company. And they don’t have time to keep up with technological developments. This is a big loss. To give an example: Every year I meet my former colleagues at a barbecue. But a few of them are still IT professionals, and the rest are now managers. Few are happy with their choices.”

Would you like to learn more about KEA and how you can make a difference as an IAM Professional? discover it over here