Life as a Quorum Cyber Graduate

Towards the end of my third year studying the Digital Security and Forensics course at Glasgow Caledonian University, I began to realise that if all went well, I would be graduating the following year. But I had no real work experience within the cyber security industry.

Due to the pandemic outbreak in March 2020, occurring halfway through my second year, opportunities such as work placements or internships had been far more difficult to come by.

I began sending my CV to organisations in the hope of securing an opportunity, and fortunately my dad had seen an article about Quorum Cyber and our previous investor, Maven, so I thought I would try contacting them as well.

To my luck, there was an internship, named ‘Project F.I.R.E’ (Framework Internship Research Effort), which was a paid, six-week programme which introduced me to the different cyber security frameworks and compared the overlapping controls of each one, as well as actually working for a cyber security company and learning what life at Quorum Cyber was like.

New grad scheme starts

On 29th August 2022, I, alongside several recent graduates, started at Quorum Cyber as part of the launch of the Graduate scheme that would incorporate all aspects of the business by spending time in each department on a rotational basis over two years.

I am incredibly pleased how the graduate scheme went, as it has provided me the opportunity to see and experience the total scope of what Quorum Cyber does. One of the main attractions of the graduate scheme, besides coming back to Quorum Cyber after an enjoyable summer internship, was the rotational basis of the scheme, as it can be a bit daunting picking a career path after leaving university without any real experience of what they entail. This approach helped me understand the path I want to go down and where I want to go in the world of cyber security.

The opportunities presented at Quorum Cyber were present from the very start. As a graduate, I had the opportunity to create learning material, present in front of the entire company and senior leadership team, be involved in client engagements, attend events to speak to a wide range of audiences and support when studying/sitting industry related certifications. Each of these help with your development as a cyber security professional and build your confidence and comfortability to grow as an individual.

Throughout the two-year graduate scheme, I rotated around various parts of the business to help give an overall understanding of what each team does and help shape what career path I would want to go down. These included:

• Security Operations Centre (SOC)
• Client Services
• Engineering (Onboarding)
• Offensive Security
• Advisory
• Incident Response & Threat Intelligence.

Each of the teams were incredibly welcoming and inclusive. Colleagues were always ready to offer guidance and share knowledge, making me feel valued and integral to the team’s success. This inclusivity greatly enhanced my learning and professional growth.

The graduate scheme and internship were both brilliant experiences in different ways. The internship helped introduce me to Quorum Cyber and show why it would be a great place to develop and learn and the graduate scheme helped me understand the tasks each team is responsible for and how they all interlink to make the business operate.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past two years which have set me up to succeed as a Support Engineer and for the future. I would recommend Quorum Cyber’s graduate scheme to any recent graduates who are unsure of what they want to do in cyber or want to work for a great organisation.

The perfect place to learn and grow at every stage of your career

Quorum Cyber’s culture is all about encouraging everyone to keep learning, develop, and grow. The company encourages its team members of all experience levels to learn through a range of different channels and formats, whether its self-paced online learning or virtual classrooms. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Security it provides technical courses in Microsoft Security technologies and a range of recognised industry certifications such as SANS, CISSP, CISSM and CompTia. Quorum Cyber also focuses on soft, or behavioural, skills training such as difficult conversations, giving effective feedback, interview techniques, business writing, and presenting. There’s always more to learn and my colleagues have been tremendously supportive.

Visit Quorum Cyber’s careers website

Head over to our dedicated careers website to learn more about our Graduate Programme and view current vacancies. Contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.