The growth of the tech-market is fuelled by data. The demand is high yet there are few professionals. Pursuing data and privacy is lucrative, says Atindriya Chakrobarty

When it comes to most careers, the old ways of doing things crumbled rapidly ever since the pandemic set in. However, newer avenues have emerged equally rapidly. A host of new-age, off the beaten track and yet promising and lucrative career-opportunities have sprung up.

The pandemic made sectors like e-commerce, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), artificial intelligence, ed-tech, agri-tech, Fintech, digital media, block chain achieve growth numbers in a year that was expected in a decade.

Success-stories of tech-giants during the pandemic are well known, as are stories of teenage crypto-millionaires. The start-up ecosystem is thriving and growing faster than ever.

Emerging technology is no doubt the most exciting area of work and career growth today. But what if you are not a techie? Do you have any future in these industries if you are a lawyer, administrator, corporate secretary or compliance expert? Here’s a new area of work —Data and privacy.

This stellar growth of the tech-market is fuelled by data. Hence the saying — Data is the new oil!

Opportunity-wise, data protection and privacy management professionals today are placed in a sweet spot. It is a time when the demand is high and growing massively, yet the supply is almost non-existent. This portends well for those who want to pursue data and privacy as a career.

How does one prepare themselves for a career in data and privacy management? What qualification will you need?

Until recently, there were no professional courses dedicated to focussed skill-building and knowledge-development on data protection and privacy management. This is the gap that the Swiss School of Management, a leading business school in Europe and LawSikho, a leading legal edtech company stepped in to plug.

The 15-month MBA degree with a specialisation in data protection and privacy management has the Quality Certification label accreditation of the Swiss Federal Government. It is also fully accredited by IACBE, CHEA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, USA.

The course provides 24/7 access to learning through a learning management system, provides live online classes and doubt-clearing sessions with convenient timings for professionals, practical simulation based training, industry-projects, case-studies and MCQ-based conceptual and scenario-oriented training.

To get the degree, a student must submit a project, thesis or business plan. The degree is granted to participants who achieve 90 European Credit Transfer System, where 25 learning hours correspond to 1 ECTS credit point.

Unlike the regular two-year MBA courses, this primarily-online MBA course is only 15 months long, though it can be completed within 30 months. The course is intensive and meets the highest standards of business studies as is evident from the various global accreditations.

For working professionals, the biggest advantage is that they can complete this MBA course without having to abandon other professional and personal responsibilities. At the end of this course, students will be able to work with teams like data protection & privacy, legal, regulatory, compliance, policy, business expansion, strategy, and operations. It would also be possible to pursue careers in marketing, sales and general management. They will also become able to handle data and privacy clients independently and remotely, on a freelance basis. Remote freelance work is an amazing opportunity for data & privacy professionals.

Empowering students through support on accessing client and recruitment opportunities with focus on tech, managerial, legal and business roles for start-ups and teaching how to secure remote freelance work is already embedded with the course plan. What’s more, there’s an opportunity to visit the SSM campus in Rome and interact with the industry in Italy and The Netherlands.

The course-fee is Euros 13,510. LawSikho and SSM has provided scholarships to 50 students so far and would offer more scholarships in the future based on a scholarship test.

The writer is Senior Associate, Marketing & Content, LawSikho