In our Women in Cyber series, we talk to the women who work in cybersecurity about how they got there and what they have learned along the way. This time: Danielle van der Werff, Solution Architect in Sentyron's pre-sales team.
The bridge between technology and people
As a Solution Architect, Danielle connects Sentyron's solutions to the needs of customers. When an organisation faces a security challenge, she is the one who works out whether Sentyron can help, which solutions fit, and how they should be used. Where account managers focus on the commercial side of the relationship, Danielle's role is that of a trusted technical advisor. "It's a link between knowing what you're talking about and how things work, and the people and organisations you speak to. My job is to build the bridge between the two."
From the SOC to the products themselves
Danielle joined Sentyron about a year and a half ago, but her story with the company started much earlier. Almost nine years ago, while still studying, she began working part-time in the Security Operations Center at what was then Fox-IT. After a few months full-time in the SOC, she moved into a role as embedded software developer, working on products like the ones she now helps customers deploy.
She enjoyed the technical depth, but after a few years she started to miss something. "I found the technology really interesting, but I missed the human factor in the work." She moved abroad to work in pre-sales engineering for another company. A few years later, she felt the pull to come back, and an opportunity came up at what had by then become Sentyron.
The moment that shaped her view
What drew Danielle to cybersecurity in the first place was a course during her studies: a hacking lab in which students tried to hack pacemakers. They didn't succeed, but the exercise stayed with her.
"The impact of a lack of cybersecurity is enormous. That's what pulled me in this direction."
Seeing how much could go wrong when a product isn't secure made it clear to her how important the field is, and where she wanted to contribute.
Ask Danielle what people underestimate most about working in cybersecurity, and her answer is how many different directions the field covers. Many people assume cybersecurity is one thing, she says, while in reality it covers software developers building secure products, advisory roles, implementation, customer contact, and more.
Even within cybersecurity, the markets differ hugely. Working for retail or manufacturing is a different world from the high assurance market Sentyron operates in. "In high assurance you deal with certifications, product approvals, and extremely high security requirements that other parties don't have to worry about at all. That makes it challenging, in a good way. And that's what makes it fun."
Take the bold move
Her advice to her younger self, and to anyone starting out, is simple: don't underestimate yourself. When she made the switch to pre-sales engineering, she didn't meet every requirement in the job description on paper. She did very well anyway.
"If you have the right mindset, if you're eager to learn and willing to work hard, you can do so much. Maybe you can't do it today, but you will soon."
She sees this especially among women, who tend to hold back when they don't tick every box in a vacancy. Her view is the opposite. "That's exactly when you should apply. If you can already do everything, you'll get bored."