Diving into Digital Identities through Nixu's IGA academy program 

Nixu started an Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) academy program at the beginning of 2022. The idea of the academy was to provide a good environment for interested and motivated juniors to learn and become professionals in the field of IGA/Digital Identities. In addition, the idea was for the trainees to gain experience and to grow into experts, and through that to answer the high demand in the market for Digital Identity professionals. Read more about the traineeship program written by the trainees themselves! 

Greetings reader. Welcome to read this blog post about the Nixu IGA academy program written by us, the trainees. The traineeship program started at the beginning of 2022, so we have already gained a lot of experience since the start of the program.   

Let's start from the basics and define what is meant by Digital Identities and Identity Governance and Administration, as that is what the academy program is built around. We all have digital identities when we are using our digital services. Digital identity is constructed from a set of attributes e.g., name and email, these attributes are what makes your identity unique. Based on this unique digital identity, your access to different digital services can be accepted or rejected.   

Part of the Digital Identity services provided by Nixu is Identity Governance and Administration (IGA). IGA is an important part of an organization's overall information security. With IGA, an organization's digital identities are governed to provide secure and efficient access to organizations' digital resources. 

We, trainees, started our journey to become part of Nixu’s experts delivering these services for organizations to handle their digital identities securely and efficiently.  

What’s your background and what got you interested in becoming a Nixuan DI expert? 

In total, six trainees started in the IGA academy program, and we all had quite diverse backgrounds relating to IT and cybersecurity. We thought it could be interesting to shed some light on some of our backgrounds as there is no one “right” background to become an IGA expert and to apply to an IGA academy program. Having divergent backgrounds helped us to troubleshoot and get through problems whenever we encountered any. In every situation there was someone who could help or to turn to with questions. 

Kasper: “Currently, I am finishing my bachelor's degree in the field of Software Development. During my studies I grew deep interest in Cybersecurity, and when I needed to find a place for my internship period, Nixu was a natural choice. In IGA, I can combine my interest in cybersecurity with learnings from my studies. “ 

Tommi: “I recently graduated from the cybersecurity master's program at the University of Jyväskylä. After graduation and as a person interested in the field of cybersecurity, Nixu popped up in many places. I had heard good things about the company and decided to send an application.” 

Alex: “During my studies in Business Information Technology at Laurea University of Applied Sciences, one semester our teacher took us for a session at the Nixu Head Office in Espoo. We were amazed at how the cybersecurity department works and the threat response team acts in an emergency. After that visit, I decided to take extra courses in cybersecurity, and towards the end of the degree, I applied for cybersecurity positions. To my surprise, Nixu wanted us, recent graduates, for the IGA Developer Trainee positions.”  

Insights about the IGA Academy program 

The academy program started with the basics of digital identity management while familiarizing trainees with Nixu as a company. It was interesting to have introductions about the entire Nixu, including what kind of work/tasks the Nixuans are doing relating to Nixu’s diverse offering of cybersecurity services. The trainee program was well planned, and we had a curriculum to follow straight from day one. 

The normal training period days looked something like this: wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, open your laptop, see what is on the schedule, join into training, do some exercises you received from the training, chat with other trainees, and so on. The training sessions were held by experienced Digital Identity professionals from Nixu, which was valuable for learning. You could interact with them throughout the training period, and you were not left alone.  

In the academy program, it has been interesting to learn what tools and technologies are used around the IGA field and how the technologies work.  

There has been a helpful and encouraging atmosphere among us who started the traineeship program. We have shared the issues encountered during the training and tried to solve them together. Also, there has been good support from people responsible for the traineeship program; they have been asking for feedback and encouraging us to tell if there is a need for more support or training. In addition, we were asked for feedback about the entire training period to develop the trainee program based on our insights.  

What the future holds? 

After the training period, trainees are assigned to real customer projects, and that is where we keep learning. When utilizing a Junior-Senior model, trainees have well-supported onboarding for the projects, and the ways of working become familiar. In cybersecurity, learning never stops. 

We are also planning to participate in the futsal/football hobby club which one person from our trainee group has already set up. There are also many other hobby clubs where all Nixu employees are welcome to join. 

Keep an eye on Nixu’s future trainee programs posted on our career website.

You can read more about Digital identities and the services provided by Nixu on our website.