Bad bad BAD - Avis employé Senior Penetration Tester Information Risk Management

The core staff at IRM are a close knit team, who offer both support and friendship, making it a pleasure to work with them. IRM used to always be known for helping juniors getting into the industry and make their way up through the ranks, however this has fallen by the wayside is recent years. No help to being taken over by a french conglomerate who spend most of their time eating croissants than actually listening to people.

The great core teams are severely let down by less than satisfactory senior management. If senior management spent more time investing and listening to staff than they do counting numbers it would be a whole different game. 100% billable is the new norm leading to highly utilised and burnt out of staff running on fumes and energy drinks. IRM had always been a bespoke company who their staff were always at the forefront of who they are. However the Atlran aquisition has led to everyone being identified as a "number" and no longer can the CEO make any changes. It should be noted he still has the staff's interests at heart however now faces beuracracy and paperwork thus creating the game of cat and mouse.

Great opportunity to get exposure in IT security niche engagements. Working with mid level management of FTSE 250 companies. Very hands-on learning, where you are thrown into the client environment with minimal support - leading to a sink or swim outcome.

Immature consultancy approach, heavily relient on the individual. Professional training is available but limited to QSA and CHECK, and be prepred to pay a tapering proportion if you exit early. The business is transforming from simple vulnerability/penetration/technical security testing boutique to small mid player PCI DSS niche consultancy, so collateral and back end process/support sytems are still in infancy or non existent. Sales is king, and hand to mouth selling is unavoidable, including services outside of core competency - placing the professional under significant pressure to perform.