I've spent 14+ years in identity. I teach the version I wish I'd been handed.
I'm Andrew Chanthaphone. I split my time between doing the work and teaching it. Here's the short version of how that happened.
It was never a straight line.
Which is the point. Almost nobody gets into identity on purpose. If you're in it without a map right now, that's the normal way in.
- 2012
I landed in identity
Not as a career plan. It was a piece of the work in front of me, and it turned out to be the piece I couldn't stop thinking about.
- Then
I did the jobs either side of it
Business analyst. Project manager. Director level. Across federal and commercial teams. Every one of those seats taught me something about identity that a pure engineering track wouldn't have.
- Then
I went deep on the platforms
Microsoft Entra ID, Okta and SailPoint. I've led large-scale tenant-to-tenant migrations in highly regulated environments, where there's no room to get it wrong and no version of "we'll fix it in the next sprint."
- 2022
I started teaching it properly
I became a LinkedIn Learning instructor in March 2022. That's when explaining identity stopped being something I did for the person next to me and started being the job.
- Then
I started the channel
All Things IAM on YouTube, now past 5,000 subscribers. I answer the questions I get asked most, because I kept answering them one at a time and that doesn't scale.
- Then
I started getting asked to speak
Identiverse. Cyberjutsu Con. IDPro. CSNP. The Identity at the Center podcast. Useful mostly because it kept putting me in front of the people hiring, which is how I know what they actually screen for.
- Then
49 people paid me to teach them
Not a big number, and I'd rather give you the real one than a rounded one. Every one of them paid out of their own pocket, which is a responsibility I take seriously when I decide what goes in a course.
- Now
Handing people the keys
IAM is one of the most important and most underappreciated disciplines in security, and for too long it's felt like a locked room. Here's how I work: I move fast, I follow up, and I'll be honest with you about whether something's the right fit. I give away what I know, because that's how this field grows.
· 60 min
Break In or Lock Down: Identity as Your First (and Last) Line of Defense
The attacks that actually breach companies — credential theft, MFA fatigue, privilege creep — and how identity closes each one. Then the other half: why IAM is one of the most accessible ways into security, no CS degree required, and what it takes to walk through that door.
Hosted by the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu, on BrightTALK.
Register free