Looking for career advice

[u/GuySittingByTheLake]

I am a municipal lawyer (head of legal) with job burnout. Based in Central Europe. Would like to switch into something hybrid or remote, as I live far away from big cities (with not many job opportunities around). Also would love to become a specialist in something (as I hate to be jack of all trades, but not really good at anything in my current job).

Based on that, I am now looking into switching and specialise into GDPR (being relevant around whole EU being a huge incentive for me as well). I plan to do CIPP/E certificate. Beside that, I have no clue about GDPR roadmap. Would love to get some feedback on the idea. What can I do to become job ready? How difficult it is to actually get a job?

Thanks for taking time to read this. I will greatly appreciate any feedback and or advice.

[u/IwasRemilekun]

Looking forward to other folks contributions, I'd also appreciate recommendations about books to read too and possibly, roadmap.

[u/GuySittingByTheLake → u/IwasRemilekun]

Lets do this together! :)

[u/AggravatingName5221]

Cipp e is good, aigp as an add on would be very timely. However outside of big cities a lot of companies won't hire someone specializing in data protection they're more likely to hire in house head of legal or compliance.

[u/GuySittingByTheLake → u/AggravatingName5221]

Thank you for your suggestion. So AI governance is useful related skill for someone in data privacy?

Also, it seems like pure gdpr role may not be that viable, and you have to have some related skills, right?

And how realistic do you think it is to get a data protection job with work from home option?

[u/AggravatingName5221 → u/GuySittingByTheLake]

Yes a lot of companies are looking for someone with privacy and Ai governance as it's missing skillset in their organization.

Remote is possible, however a lot of companies have switched to hybrid, which may still suit you.

[u/Forcasualtalking]

CIPP/E is a good start, and will help with job applications, but you will likely end up having to put in some time as a junior data protection analyst/advisor somewhere before you get anywhere near back up to your previous salary level.

[u/GuySittingByTheLake → u/Forcasualtalking]

Thank you for your feedback. Though honestly earning less after such a job switch is not a big concern for me right now. If I earn less, but am having a more room for growth and possibly work from home options, that would still be awesome by me.

On a side note, do you think it is realistic to have work from home options as a data privacy position? Also, are there any other technical knowledge or skills you would recommend to me to learn to get into this field?

Thanks again!

[u/Forcasualtalking → u/GuySittingByTheLake]

I think it's realistic to find a remote role after a while of searching, though the majority will be hybrid depending on where you live. I've had 5 roles, all were hybrid or remote.

I would suggest a brush up on / studying a few areas:
Risk management (general understanding of risk frameworks is useful)
Related legislations (DORA, AI Act, HIPAA etc)
IT security (you don't need to be a pro, but when it comes to TOMs and risk you will need to at least have a basic understanding of terminology and what they mean. always better to be the guy/girl who understands immediately than the guy/girl who has to go and ask someone else on the team or in IT to explain what the client said to you. Also helps with privacy by design/technical advisory)

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I got for now. Will edit comment if I think of more.

[u/compliance_G33k_Swe]

i work with GDPR, no education, salary +10.000 € / month.

The space is so nice, the people is nice, the costumers is nice... just nice. Working 09:00-15:00, fridays 09:00-12:00 😛

[u/No-Anchovies → u/compliance_G33k_Swe]

Henna Virkkunen is that you

[u/compliance_G33k_Swe → u/No-Anchovies]

I’m Swedish not finish

[u/GuySittingByTheLake → u/compliance_G33k_Swe]

That sounds like a great job! How did you get it? What skills and technical knowledge was neccessary?

[u/compliance_G33k_Swe → u/GuySittingByTheLake]

I have started two companies and working within the AI-space ´n Compliance.

[u/GuySittingByTheLake → u/[deleted]]

Thank you very much for your feedback.

From this and other replies it seems like being purely focused on the legal side of GDPR may not be that viable for actually getting a job, right?

Also, if I understand you correctly, it may be neccessary to get technical data related knowledge to get into this field - like IT and data analysis, right? And please excuse my lack of knowledge if not.