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Is there anyone reading this whose company has a DPO already? Is it an internal or external person? How technical are they? I'm a developer and I have a law deg

by roel_v 9y ago

Is there anyone reading this whose company has a DPO already? Is it an internal or external person? How technical are they? I'm a developer and I have a law degree; would that put me in an advantageous position to become one? Is there a market for 'consulting DPO's', like companies hire accountants, if that's allowed? Or do the big consultancy firms have the GDPR market cornered already? I wouldn't want to go in a direction where I would become what today's 'security auditors' do - go through a checklist of mostly irrelevant topics, drum up a list of 'recommendations' that usually aren't relevant or misunderstanding the situation but nobody cares anyway because it's all just busywork to get 'certified' for this or that (or insurance requires it). But if it would be actually working with technical teams on questions like this, that would be interesting.

jacquesm 9y ago
> Is there anyone reading this whose company has a DPO already? I've seen one in all of 2017 (out of ~20 companies). > Is it an internal or external person? In that case it was internal > How technical are they? More legal than technical, but that's a very small sample. > I'm a developer and I have a law degree; would that put me in an advantageous position to become one? Yes. In fact that's probably one of the most lucrative combinations of fields. > Is there a market for 'consulting DPO's', like companies hire accountants, if that's allowed? YES! In fact if you are halfway decent this would be an extremely lucrative thing to do, but it probably will become less so over time as the knowledge gets diffused.
outsideoflife 9y ago
Yes, but it was a token gesture to DPA and in reality 1) It was not their main role 2) It was a token gesture, someone to address post too! Every consulting firm I know is trying to sell GDPR services atm...
raptorcomp 9y ago
THe answer varies depending on the size of the company. However, I have seen many IT related professionals taking over the GDPR issues. In larger companies it is a more legal role. As to your career question: We are currently involved in many different and exciting project that push the boundaries of law and technology with respect to data protection. Currently, everyone is a GDPR consultant but quality and nature of the work differ substantially. For most part it is an exercise in producing documents and procedures to prove compliance. However, when it comes to implementing technical solutions you can really stand out. So if this is an area that you are interested in you should move fast. There is also a growing number of international opportunities as even non-EU companies require GDPR experts.
yread 9y ago
My employer (3000 employees, medical research) has an internal DPO. I only dealt with him once but was impressed with his technical as well as legal knowledge.

by roel_v 9y ago

jacquesm 9y ago

> Is there anyone reading this whose company has a DPO already? I've seen one in all of 2017 (out of ~20 companies). > Is it an internal or external person? In that case it was internal > How technical are they? More legal than technical, but that's a very small sample. > I'm a developer and I have a law degree; would that put me in an advantageous position to become one? Yes. In fact that's probably one of the most lucrative combinations of fields. > Is there a market for 'consulting DPO's', like companies hire accountants, if that's allowed? YES! In fact if you are halfway decent this would be an extremely lucrative thing to do, but it probably will become less so over time as the knowledge gets diffused.

outsideoflife 9y ago

Yes, but it was a token gesture to DPA and in reality 1) It was not their main role 2) It was a token gesture, someone to address post too! Every consulting firm I know is trying to sell GDPR services atm...

raptorcomp 9y ago

THe answer varies depending on the size of the company. However, I have seen many IT related professionals taking over the GDPR issues. In larger companies it is a more legal role. As to your career question: We are currently involved in many different and exciting project that push the boundaries of law and technology with respect to data protection. Currently, everyone is a GDPR consultant but quality and nature of the work differ substantially. For most part it is an exercise in producing documents and procedures to prove compliance. However, when it comes to implementing technical solutions you can really stand out. So if this is an area that you are interested in you should move fast. There is also a growing number of international opportunities as even non-EU companies require GDPR experts.

yread 9y ago

My employer (3000 employees, medical research) has an internal DPO. I only dealt with him once but was impressed with his technical as well as legal knowledge.