The Lift episode 12: from SOC Engineer to Cybersecurity Consultant with Ellinor Bergfeldt
TLTR
The essentials from “The Lift”: building your career at Orange Cyberdefense
- Career progression built internally: Ellinor Bergfeldt moved from SOC Engineer to Cybersecurity Consultant at Orange Cyberdefense.
- A career path shaped by learning: client onboarding, service activation and new responsibilities have enabled her to keep developing her skills.
- Tangible skills development: with eight to ten certifications gained since she started, Ellinor has strengthened her expertise and taken on new challenges.
- To develop your career, she recommends staying curious, building your network and getting to know other teams.
“The Lift”: Ellinor Bergfeldt’s professional development from SOC Engineer to Cybersecurity Consultant at Orange Cyberdefense
Ellinor Bergfeldt’s career path shows how a cybersecurity career can evolve through experience, learning and internal opportunities. From SOC engineering to a Cybersecurity Consultant role, she has gradually broadened her scope and strengthened her expertise. Her story also highlights the importance of progression opportunities, curiosity and support when developing your career.
The Lift: The floor is yours
At Orange Cyberdefense, you vcan broaden your scope and strengthened your expertise.
Ellinor Bergfeldt, Cybersecurity Consultant, Orange Cyberdefense Sweden.
When did your paths cross? In what context?
Ellinor Bergfeldt, Cybersecurity Consultant, Sweden: “I remember that even before I officially joined Orange Cyberdefense, I had been invited to a frisbee activity. That’s where I met Alexander for the first time. We had an informal conversation.”
Alexander Thore, Technical Lead Managed Services, Security Operations Center, Sweden: “Ellinor joined the same department I was working in and, as she says, she came to some team-building activities before officially starting. I quickly saw that she was already senior when she joined: she liked taking responsibility and having an overview of the bigger picture. Only about one person in ten has that kind of ability. In my own career, my managers also quickly realised that I could do more than just resolve tickets.”
When you joined Orange Cyberdefense, what skills did you already have, and what did you learn?
Ellinor: “I asked Alexander everything, all the time! I learned as I went along, through my day-to-day work and in a stimulating environment. Alexander trained me on the Delivery Client platform, then supported me with client onboarding and service activation.”
Alexander: “Client service activation projects are always demanding, even for someone senior. You are dropped into a situation and the client immediately asks: how can you solve this problem? How do we fix this? You have to adapt very quickly and give relevant answers. When we closed our SOC department in Norway, Sweden took over all the existing clients. There must have been eight or ten, and Ellinor took on at least half of them. It must have been a significant challenge because the cases were handed over to us from more of a consulting perspective than an operations approach. All the documentation was outdated and some things had not been fully delivered. Ellinor immersed herself in the work and put everything back in order. The clients were delighted.”
What advice would you give to the person you were when you first joined Orange Cyberdefense?
Ellinor: “No advice! I’m perfect. I’m joking. I think I found it difficult to accept criticism. I took comments too personally and judged myself too harshly when I made mistakes. So my advice would be to be less hard on myself.”
Alexander: “Not to try to steamroller everything in my path! I came from a world where everyone barked orders and shouted, so I had to adapt.”
What has been your career evolution at Orange Cyberdefense?
Ellinor: “I started in 2023 as a SOC Engineer working on firewall support and our managed firewall services. This winter, I applied to become a Cybersecurity Consultant without really expecting much. I had already spent three years in my role and had started thinking about my prospects and what I wanted next. I wanted more freedom and to work more closely with clients instead of being limited to an operational service or a contract. A week after speaking to the Consulting Manager, he wanted me to join the team. The decision was made within 24 hours.”
Alexander: “I was surprised by the move because I wasn’t expecting it. But I’m always pleased when someone takes on a new challenge and finds that opportunity internally rather than elsewhere. Wanting to progress internally is a sign that you feel good in the company.”
What technical skills or certifications have you gained to strengthen your senior expertise at Orange Cyberdefense?
Ellinor: “Since I started, I’ve gained eight or ten certifications. Developing your skills is important. Some training was encouraged by my manager because he wanted me to progress in specific areas. Other courses were ones I requested myself, with the option to enrol free of charge. The training that helped me develop the most was the Check Point Certified Troubleshooting Expert (CCTE) course. It’s probably the certification I’m proudest of.”
What role did Alexander play in your professional development?
Ellinor: “When I joined, Alexander helped me find the right information and documentation, and he often pointed me towards the right people who could help me explore a topic in more depth. He also trained me on new areas, particularly service activation. He helped me with the technical side, finding information and building a network of contacts. Alexander also encouraged me to change things when I wasn’t happy with them. He inspired me a lot, I wanted to be as skilled as he was!”
How do you breathe Orange Cyberdefense's Hacking spirit?
Taking initiative is strongly encouraged, and we are given the means to do it says Ellinor.
What qualities in terms of skills and interpersonal skills did you quickly notice in Ellinor?
Alexander: “Beyond her proven technical skills, Ellinor has a lot of soft skills. I noticed her leadership qualities and strong desire to learn. I would also say that Ellinor is very direct with her feedback, which is quite unusual for technical profiles. They generally tend to avoid conflict! Ellinor is very good at giving feedback.”
What is your shared vision regarding career development opportunities at Orange Cyberdefense?
Ellinor: “There are all kinds of career opportunities at Orange Cyberdefense, including internal mobility. I’m a concrete example of that. I would advise people to stay curious, talk to others and find out what other departments are doing. We are a community of 3,300 experts! Taking initiative is strongly encouraged, and we are given the means to do it.”
Alexander: “Of course, there are opportunities and a lot of benefits. In Sweden, the package is very attractive for many people. It is also exciting to work with major companies, public-sector organisations and banks. There are opportunities to train either during working hours or in your own time. Here in Sweden, we have been working for five years on an innovative autonomous employee model that is now being replicated across Orange Cyberdefense. Being an autonomous employee means that everyone should be able to make all the decisions they need in order to do their job. For day-to-day activities, we should not need a manager. That is the idea behind the model, with as little micromanagement as possible. It is both very rewarding and demanding.”
An anecdote to share? A piece of advice that left an impression? Something you’ve never dared to say before?
Alexander: “I think if Ellinor were an animal, she would be a bee because she is intelligent and hardworking, and because she really wants to be part of a group.”
Ellinor: “Alexander would be more of an owl, for his intelligence and wisdom!”
Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing in cybersecurity: is it already impacting your work?
Ellinor: “I use AI occasionally to generate text, rewrite an email or help with certain tasks. I don’t use it for anything else at the moment.”
Alexander: “I’m a bit old-school and don’t use AI in my personal life. At work, I use it occasionally. I’m currently involved in a pilot for a new AI tool designed to assist us and train AI agents to take some of the day-to-day workload off us. As part of that, I received a list of the things AI is not good at. They are all the things that make up my job! So I’m not at risk of being replaced just yet. I think AI is very good at automating repetitive tasks. The area where we could save the most money, and where AI could be genuinely useful, is software development.”
Explore the other episodes of our series "The Lift: the floor is yours" at Orange Cyberdefense, by clicking below.
