ENGIE

Eat, Learn, Network

(by Oana)

Amazing experience, amazing city, amazing people? That's what a BlindApplying internship at ENGIE sounds like. How do you conclude a summer in Paris where you dived into such an interesting and unique field and learned so much from experienced and friendly people? Well, that is a quite difficult task but I will give my best to write some remarks and conclusions here.

What professional skill did you develop the most through the internship?

My previous background did contain a base in cybersecurity and computer networks, but I have never emphasized these areas since my main previous jobs and internships concentrated on web and mobile development. 

Paris from the 30th floor

Paris from the 30th floor

The internship at ENGIE had in the same package diverse notions like cybersecurity, big data, marketing, business processes, and even sociology. All these skills and knowledge are needed in order to understand, use, and acquire threat intelligence and related tools and services.

Another important professional skill that I developed (more or less intentionally) was of course French.

What is the fondest memory you will take from this experience?

This internship was a real memory-creating machine, but if I were to choose a particular one, it would be one threat intelligence conference in which I participated along with my team, and where I had the chance to meet many interesting people like the chief information security officers of Chanel and Hermès. It was an amazing occasion to learn and network, alongside with eating gourmet food!

What would you recommend to others interested in a similar job or in ENGIE?

If you are planning to apply to a similar job, prepare yourself for challenges, deadlines and many new concepts and information to absorb.

“The work environment was professional and friendly. I was always encouraged the ask any question I had, and people helped as much as they could”

On the other hand, the work environment in my case was more than professional and friendly. I was always encouraged the ask any question I had, and people were as helpful as possible. The cybersecurity field is a very dynamic one (the most fast-changing one if you ask me). This means that you have to put a lot of effort in order to stay up-to-date with what is happening around the world regarding malware, threat actors, tools, and technologies. It can be a bit tiring sometimes, but the rewards are just as big or even bigger.

That would be all from my side, but one last thing I want to do is wishing you, dear future BlindApplying applicant, good luck and an awesome experience in your internships!

À bientôt!

Oana

Paris

Paris

In Normandy

the steps to choosing a cybersecurity vendor

ladefense_engie_thumbnail.jpg

(by Oana)

If you think working in cybersecurity is cool then working in cybersecurity in a company with 140,000 employees is even better. Hackers never sleep and they are targeting everybody 24/7. By everybody I mean also, of course, you.

Yes, if there is something I learned while working in the awesome cybersecurity team at Engie, is the fact that hackers are not considering the color of your hair, your height or your religious beliefs. If you are connected to the internet or use devices that have been connected to other computers (like a USB stick) you are a target. I am not trying to be pessimistic here, there are also many ways to protect yourself, ways about which I have also learned from the Engie cyber threat squad.

Other than that, I have already started working on the main internship subject. Doing a market research on a competitive sector like cyberthreat intelligence products and services is not an easy task. Besides having to really know the company and the tools used, you also have to understand the current and future needs.

“Communication is a key aspect since different answers are known by many different people.”

After setting the requirements, the next step is creating a needs and a wants list.
The needs list should be very brief and should consist only of the features absolutely necessary in the product.
The list of wants should be much broader and be ordered according to the importance.

After the budget is set, the next step is researching through many potential vendors and their products, while always having in mind the selection criteria previously set. Besides the many technical aspects, the credentials of vendors, certificates and previous performance also need to be taken into consideration. All the vendors and criteria must be evaluated into a scoring matrix which will result into finding the semifinalists.

The next stage is the most interesting since you get to have direct contact with the providers: interviews are set, free trials are offered, products are tested in order to eventually select the winner.

That is more or less the process when selecting new products in a cybersecurity department. Besides having to interact with other cybersecurity professionals like incident response or forensics, you also have to assess needs, research, analyse and contact vendors for a first-hand experience with the product. And if you ask me, it can't be done better than within a company this big. That is all for now, à la prochaine!

Engie team-selfie at Fontainebleau 

blindapplying_engie_ladefense_officeview.jpg

Cyber security, football and macarons - Paris is a world

(by Oana)

"Oops!"

Bonjour la France!

Almost a month ago, life and Blind Applying brought me to the city of light!  I arrived like a force of nature only to find that here, nature was doing a bit of a brute force attack. The weather was pretty bad, raining 24/7, storms were taking over the city and the Seine eventually got a bit out of its banks. A small cold and several metro strikes didn’t manage to get my spirits low so I arrived to La Defense and was ready to start the internship at Engie!

“The “bad luck” went away and only interesting and exciting things have happened ever since”

The team I’m working with is just great! Besides answering any questions I have, they are also set on helping me improve my French to the max. We have a big lunch together every day and they are making sure I am integrating in the company culture and into the French way of life.

Actually my first task included spending a bit of time with each of the team members in order to see what their main tasks are and what tools they are using. The most exciting part was a trip in Paris to one of the company’s operation center, which is basically the front line when fighting with threat actors. Currently I am also testing some of the cyber threat intelligence tools in order to get a more practical insight and to be able to correctly cover the company’s needs with my market research. Moreover, my knowledge in cyber security is growing exponentially every day. I was very interested in the topic way before the internship but now I feel caught by the information, from the technical aspects to the strategic level of cyber crime.

“My knowledge in cyber security is growing every day!”

Another thing that I am very than excited about is the location of the internship. La Defense is a business district that reminds me a lot of Tokyo. Business people are roaming around all day long, skyscrapers are making your neck hurt and awesome shopping malls are there in case you want to relax after work. As you can see, my favorite after work activity is of course eating giant macarons between the skyscrapers. Yes, life outside work is a bit overwhelming. Following Euro 2016 and also visiting museums, cathedrals and palaces is not easy. I hope that soon I won’t be such a tourist buff (visited the Louvre 4 times and basically all the other major museum and tourist attraction) and I will start enjoying this amazing city more like a local. Indeed “Paris isn't a city, it's a world"!

All in all, I am holding to my initial thought about the whole experience (and maybe expand it a bit). Getting the internship at Engie was not only the best professional move at the moment, but also the best personal development move possible. The people I have met have already inspired me to do so much more and to evolve as much as possible. We will see in a few months how the world will look then! Until next time!

Bonne journée!
Oana

Meet Oana, The Blind Applying Champion Of ENGIE!

Oana, studying Business Informatics at the Vienna University of Technology, will be researching the cybersecurity market for ENGIE in Paris. Interested to know more? Oana will be sharing her stories on her blog. 

Have you wished to work for ENGIE before?
Working in the energy field was always something I seriously considered since it is running in the family (my father is an engineer in a local thermal power station). Getting an internship in cybersecurity at ENGIE exceeds my expectations. It's clearly an amazing opportunity and the best career move I could do at the moment. Until now I have only worked in institutes, start-ups or medium-sized companies, so you can imagine that I am very excited to learn and work in a company of such magnitude.

What is your favourite programming language and why?
I know that in such matters I should take into consideration a long list of pros and cons, but when it comes to the personal favourite, I will turn on the subjective side. Java was the first programming language I learned in a continuous and consistent way and it was the key in getting my first real job as a mobile developer. It helped me understand and learn major programming concepts and later on, allowed me to create a small personal portfolio by developing and publishing several Android apps.

Which social media channel will you be using most to communicate your adventures in Paris to your friends?
As expected I will probably do a lot of posting on Facebook. I create a photo album for every country I visit, so I predict a very large one for France. Also, I hope I will have some time to dust off my old travelling blog where I am gathering my lessons learned and highlights.

Follow the adventure...