Two tracks. One path to hired.
One simple idea: you never hit the hard work before you can handle it. Start with the fundamentals under Chad. Prove they're solid at a clear gate. Then advance to Lance for the deep work, the full compliance stack, and the job search. One path, two mentors, no skipping ahead.
Foundations
Entry-level IAM and CyberArk. IT and Active Directory fundamentals, core identity concepts, and your first hands-on privileged-access work, taught at a pace that assumes no prior background.
Readiness check
No one advances before the fundamentals are genuinely solid. Chad signs off against a clear checklist, then moves you up to the advanced track. It keeps your time well spent and the group consistent.
Advanced and GRC
Advanced CyberArk, Okta, and Active Directory, plus the full governance and compliance stack: SOX, HIPAA, and NIST. This is where your capstone and career services live.
Foundations, with Chad.
Level 1 takes someone with no tech background and builds the bedrock everything else stands on. Chad runs it patiently. Rushing the basics is how people stall later.
What you build first
You start with how IT and enterprise networks actually fit together, then move into Active Directory: domains, users, groups, and delegation. This is the backbone that the rest of IAM connects to, so it comes before anything advanced.
Core identity concepts
Authentication versus authorization, least privilege, the lifecycle of an account from joiner to leaver, and why privileged credentials are the most dangerous thing in any environment. The vocabulary and the mental model employers expect you to already have.
Your first CyberArk work
Entry-level, hands-on privileged access: what a vault is, what safes are for, and how powerful credentials get protected and managed instead of left lying around. Real tooling, not slides.
The pace is the point
Chad assumes no prior experience. The goal is not to cover the most ground fastest, it is to make sure the fundamentals are actually yours before you carry them into the advanced track.
The readiness check, explained.
The gate is the hinge of the path. It's the one point where Chad confirms you're ready for Level 2. You move up because the fundamentals are solid, not because time has passed.
What the checklist covers
Conceptually, the readiness check confirms you can reason about identity and access on your own: that you understand Active Directory structure, can explain core identity concepts in your own words, and can do entry-level CyberArk work hands-on without being walked through every step.
Why it exists
Advanced work assumes the basics are automatic. If they are not, the deep material does not land and your time is wasted. The gate protects you from advancing before the foundation can hold the weight.
What happens if you are not ready
You stay in Level 1 and keep building until you are. The gate is a checkpoint, not a pass-fail exam to be feared. The whole point is to get you genuinely ready, not to filter you out.
Chad signs off
When the checklist is met, Chad signs off and hands you up to Lance. That sign-off is what keeps the live sessions consistent: everyone who reaches the advanced track has cleared the same bar.
Advanced and GRC, with Lance.
Level 2 is where the membership turns into a career. Lance is a working identity and privileged-access engineer with enterprise and SOX-audit experience. He leads the advanced work, the full compliance stack, your capstone, and the work that gets you in front of employers.
Advanced identity tooling
Deeper CyberArk, plus Okta for single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and user lifecycle, and advanced Active Directory. The platforms that show up by name in real identity job descriptions.
The full GRC stack
Governance, risk, and compliance from real practice: SOX access reviews and segregation of duties, HIPAA and protected health information, and the NIST frameworks organizations use to manage risk against a recognized standard.
A capstone you can defend
On the IAM Engineer Track, your capstone is real work under Privance, a defensible line on your resume rather than a fabricated one. It is the difference between saying you learned the tools and showing you have used them.
Career work that gets you hired
Resume and LinkedIn built around what hiring teams and screening tools look for in identity roles, mock interviews you review with your mentor, and a clear certification roadmap. Skills get you capable; this gets you hired.
How the handoff works.
The same two people teach you the whole way, with one clear handoff. No faceless rotation of instructors. No being passed to someone who doesn't know where you started.
Chad hands you up
Chad's job ends when yours is ready to begin. He builds the fundamentals, confirms them at the gate, and only then passes you to Level 2. By the time you reach Lance, you have already cleared a known bar.
Lance takes you to hired
Lance picks up members who are genuinely ready, so Level 2 can move into advanced tooling, the GRC stack, and the job search without re-teaching the basics. The handoff is what makes the deep work possible.
A typical path, start to finish.
Exact timing depends on your track and your starting point. Bronze is self-paced. The IAM Analyst Track is about six months to job-ready; the IAM Engineer Track runs about twelve months and keeps going into the engineering work. What stays the same is the order: fundamentals, gate, advanced, then the search.
Early on
You are in Level 1 with Chad, working through IT and Active Directory fundamentals, core identity concepts, and your first hands-on CyberArk labs. The focus is depth on the basics, not speed.
At the gate
Chad runs the readiness check against the Level 1 checklist. When the fundamentals are solid, he signs off and you advance. If they are not yet, you keep building until they are.
In Level 2
With Lance, you go deep on advanced CyberArk, Okta, and Active Directory, then work through the full SOX, HIPAA, and NIST stack. On the IAM Engineer Track, your capstone under Privance comes together here.
Into the search
Your resume and LinkedIn get built for identity and GRC roles, you run mock interviews until your answers are sharp, and on the IAM Engineer Track your mentor stays with you through your active job search for as long as you're a member.
Ready to start at Level 1?
Apply now and we will help you pick the right membership. Month to month, cancel anytime. We do not sell job guarantees: you bring the work, we bring the skills, experience, and mentorship.