Growing the Digital Identity Community with DIAF

The Digital Identity community is as strong as it is unique. We stretch across verticals and functional spaces – product, cybersecurity, audit & risk, engineering, etc. – and yet we are united by common purpose. If you identify with “Digital Identity,” then chances are you identify with the mission to realize a better, safer internet. For that reason, this community has a unique sense of camaraderie: we are just as interested in how your kids and families are doing as we are in your most recent hot takes on passkeys.

If you identify with ‘Digital Identity,’ then chances are you identify with the mission to realize a better, safer internet

Arynn Crow, Co-Founder of DIAF

This is an amazing quality in an industry and in a community, but it does come with certain challenges. At the Digital Identity Advancement Foundation (DIAF), we are preoccupied with the question of how to welcome new people into the community and set them up for success. 

This is a real problem: globally, we know that the growth in organizations’ NEED for cybersecurity and digital identity expertise is far outpacing supply. This skill-set is still a specialty learned on-the-job and from the community, rather than on any major degree program. Organizations like IDPro help with the availability of knowledge through the openly available Body of Knowledge, but there is still that challenge of individuals finding their path into this community in the first place.

IAM Imposter Syndrome

According to IDPro’s 2024 Skills Survey, 78% of respondents had been working in IAM for 6 years or more. However, more than a quarter of those people – those in this highly tenured group – still reported feeling as if they lack proficiency in identity. In this highly complex field, it is so easy to feel as if you are lacking. Imagine being new!

Figures like this tell us we still have a lot more work to do to bring new voices to the table, to help them feel confident that their skills will equip them to build the knowledge, and then help them learn. They need to know that this community is here, eagerly waiting to greet them.

We called an IIW session with IDPro and summarized the practical steps to build a practitioner pipeline here.

Removing Barriers to Entry

DIAF is on a mission to unlock barriers to participation – especially financial barriers – and enable new people to start building ties in this community. One of the main ways that we do this is by helping them gain access (pun totally intended) to premier events where they can expand their knowledge and meet mentors. Getting there is not always easy; corporations are not always able to sponsor this kind of development opportunity. DIAF has two award programs that provide access through merit and need-based awards.

How to Get Involved

• Apply. You can apply for the Kim Cameron Award now until January 21, 2025. We will open the Vittorio Bertocci Award later this year.
• Share. Please encourage young, aspiring, and developing Digital Identity practitioners to apply for our programs. You can keep up to date by following us on Linkedin and Twitter.
• Contribute. You can donate directly to DIAF or contact us to discuss in-kind offers that might benefit our awardees (conference attendance, tickets, meal vouchers, etc.) and the sustainability of our programs.
• Mentor & Advocate. Seek out the aspiring, emerging, developing identity professionals in your life and, in the spirit of Kim and Vittorio, offer them your support.