About Beyond the Login

A note from Chris

Welcome to Beyond the Login, a training website built specifically for identity and access management (IAM).

My name is Christopher Carter and I’ve worked in IT for the last 8 years or so, with 7 years focused directly on IAM where I currently work as an IAM Architect responsible for a global Ping Identity deployment serving millions of users daily.

I’m joined by my good friend and product designer, Timothy Smith-Yusef, who will be leading the charge to deliver first-class user interfaces and experiences.

I wanted to build Beyond the Login to deliver on one primary belief: that we never stop learning. For me, creating this website is my next step in that journey. Hopefully you’re able to find content here that helps you find your next step. I absolutely love this field and want to help others develop skills that will improve their IT toolkit.

Beyond the Login is an entirely custom service built to work like the ones you’d use at work, but specifically for training. We focus on driving home broad identity understanding, not specific product knowledge. At this time the service is in a beta phase, and the website will be entirely free to use. This includes access to over 200 lessons and related labs that walk through interactive IAM experiences that reach across all aspects of IAM.

When the beta is complete, all beta users will be given extended paid access for free as a thank you. The initial launch aims to provide fully text-based training with paired interactive labs. As time goes on, we’ll start adding things like group workshops, training videos via YouTube, and much more.

If you have any questions, feedback, or just want to chat, feel free to reach out via Discord or e-mail me directly at [email protected].

-Chris

Why this exists

Beyond the Login explores identity and access management from the foundations to the details that make real systems work. We cover how identities are established, how trust is built, how authentication works, and how access is granted and enforced.

Our scope spans the identity lifecycle, from creating accounts and managing credentials to reviewing permissions and retiring access. We’ll explore the standards, architecture, and operational decisions behind identity for people, applications, devices, and agents, including how those choices hold up when something goes wrong. Coverage will grow over time, connecting established approaches with emerging challenges across the field.