Hello there! My name is Jochen Kerremans, a 27-year-old security consultant. I am part of the IS4U group for almost 5 years now and it has been a blast so far! Allow me to provide further insights into my journey at ActWise.
From interest to profession
Let me take you back to the beginning. I studied ‘Electronica and ICT’ with a specialization in infrastructure at Thomas More in Geel. There were a few courses related to security that triggered my interest. After completing that study, I started to look for a job and did some research.
Unlike other heroes, I did not intern for IS4U. I did an internship at a company which focuses on monitoring. Within this company my role was more focused on Artificial Intelligence and data than on security and infrastructure. I enjoyed working but I thought: What if I could find a company that is more focused on my passion, which is security.
Bingo, that’s when I found IS4U & ActWise my saviors 😉! After some interviews with Stefan Jacobs and Wouter Decruy – and an extra interview with Robin Gorris – I was convinced to start my career at Actwise.
Up until this day, I don’t regret my decision! At ActWise we like the motto: work hard, play hard. A few weekends ago, we went glamping at Durbuy Adventure Valley. We did a lot of fun activities and the whole team connected more on a personal level.
– Jochen Kerremans –
Act wise and always chase your passion
It was an amazing opportunity to start my career at ActWise and chase my passion in cybersecurity, even though I had the feeling there was a lot more to learn about the topic than I had seen during my studies.
Due to my passion and interest, I decided to take on a challenge: an extra 2 year study whilst working! The study focused on computer- and cybercrime and I completed it successfully. Up until this day, I still have the feeling that this additional study gave me the advantage that I can certainly use in today’s challenges in the cybersecurity field.
I’m very proud of that degree because it was quite a challenge, working and studying at the same time. On the other hand, I’m also very proud of the fact that I obtained all 4 CyberArk certificates within one year. That’s quite a nice achievement if I say so myself. I learned here a lot from Jelle Verreth, he is a CyberArk guardian – there is no higher certificate than that so I would like thank him a lot for being my own guardian.
The three CyberArk musketeers
Today, I am a Security Consultant. Being part of the IS4U group means being part of the world of Identity & Access Management. My main focus is CyberArk – if it has something to do with CyberArk then I’m your technical guy to implement and maintain it. CyberArk has grown tremendously throughout the years. My day-to-day job consists of two aspects: on the one hand it’s about technical implementations, on the other it’s also meetings with clients about the next steps in a project. It’s a combination of technology and communication.
If I remember correctly, I believe that I was one of the first CyberArk guys in the ActWise team. Jelle and Stefan are of course the founders and had a lot of knowledge about CyberArk. So did others from the IS4U group, but as time went on, they discovered new technologies and for some reason CyberArk really stuck with me. We’re like the three CyberArk musketeers.
A Cloud-y future ahead
Futurewise, I’m very eager to learn more about DevSecOps – Development, Security and Operations, which is more focused on Application Security. As CyberArk also delves into DevSecOps to some extent, I see a natural synergy happening between these areas.
While CyberArk holds my interest, I am equally intrigued by Cloud technologies like Azure and various DevOps tools. By deepening my understanding of these technologies, I can integrate CyberArk solutions in a more effective way. Speaking of my future career, my long-term aspiration is to become a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
Alongside this goal, I am striving to achieve some management certifications. Where will IS4U stand in five years? I envision IS4U expanding its presence beyond the realm of IAM into multiple domains through different partnerships. The details of that expansion? Only time will tell!
Ready to boost your career? Join us!
Make sure to take a look at the career page or contact my colleague Cindy Van den Hoecke via cindy.vandenhoecke@is4u.be
