To raise awareness of IRM’s Graduate Pen Tester Scheme, we’ve interviewed some of 2018’s grad intake to find out what it’s really like to work as a pen tester at IRM. Today, we hear from Charles.
Name: Charles Bain
Education Background: Not a fan of school – kicked out and decided to go down the apprenticeship route.
Age: 23
What is your role?
I’m a Graduate Technical Consultant.
What did you do before you joined IRM/how did you come to join IRM?
I worked as a Junior Technical Account Manager with another cyber consultancy. When I was there I used to run lots of vulnerability assessments with customers and help manage and remediate any possible vulnerabilities found. The key difference is, at IRM I can complete the full exploit at times rather than just validating some results.
Why did you choose IRM?
For the community element and sharing of tech goods.
How do you manage your home and work life balance?
Making a clean cut between work and home life, plus doing sports in between.
Did you always plan to work in cyber?
No, started off as an IT apprentice, they saw I had knack for security and then sponsored further training with QA Training. I didn’t get on with education at all, with a mix of needing a job and learning best by shadowing people I chose the apprenticeship route.
Do you find your job challenging?
Starting out as a grad on the scheme, it took a bit of time to get used to the new reporting style compared to previous roles but I’ve definitely got the grip of it now. I do enjoy travelling around though and seeing the different challenges with each job.
Tell us about how you learn new things
I tend to go for open courseware from Openuni/Harvard and YouTube channels.
Have you been to any interesting places working in cyber?
Unfortunately haven’t gone abroad with work yet so currently Birmingham was the most interesting!
What training opportunities have you got with IRM?
CSTM and other Cyber Scheme related courses. I would like to become a CCT INF and get into exploit development.
What tips would you give to somebody looking to enter the cyber industry?
Grab as many free resources as possible and go for it!