Thread by @wbm312

As an engineer and lawyer, I’m often asked by young aspiring individuals how they can be successful in privacy, and whether they should also become technical and learn to code.

Here are my thoughts on skills I think make the best privacy experts:

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1. Be infinitely curious. Ask a lot of questions. You’ll never know everything.

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2. Embed privacy in to your culture & judgment. Global privacy is changing so quickly and because it’s so grey—a lot of the field requires using your best judgement about what is best practice. For some this is a natural ability, others it’s a learned skill.

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3. Try to read the tea leaves. Look at the trends, and try to advise so that by the time the project or objective is finished, and the law/standards have changed, you don’t have to catch up again.

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4. Strive to do the right thing. It goes a long way. See #2 on how to know what the right thing is in many cases.

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5. Coding doesn’t necessarily help. Computer, network & systems architecture, UI/UX design, and a general understanding of security and developer vocabulary goes a long way. You’ll know when you’re asking engineers to solve a hard problem and how to ask the right questions.

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6. Want to know how things work. I cannot emphasize this one enough. If you understand how the technology works and you understand the data flows, you will give infinitely better advice. You’ll issue spot much better.

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7. Be aware of your weaknesses. Privacy is one of the most cross disciplinary/cross functional fields. You won’t be great at all of it. Know where you excel and where you struggle. Help find and hire people who have strengths where you have weaknesses.

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8. As you become more senior, don’t get too far from the work. Be able to speak to the details for the important things. You’ll want to be able to translate difficult concepts for executive teams and board members. Which leads me to #9.

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9. Be the translator. As you get good at all the things above, especially #3, 5 & 6, you’ll need to explain the concepts & the why behind what you’re doing to folks who either don’t care, don’t get why it’s important, or just aren’t as close to the work. Help them understand.
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10. Be empathetic and patient. You’re often asking someone to change the way they’re doing something. This may slow them down or create confusion. Along these lines- give A LOT of heads up about major changes needed (if you can). For major asks I try to give 6mts/1 year heads up.

11. Understand and drive data governance. Data governance is a key component of privacy. Privacy drives good data governance.
Care about it, understand it, do it. You can’t do privacy without it.

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12. Empower non privacy experts to be privacy champions. They’re your superpower. Build these relationships (don’t force it) and…They’ll see things you don’t, they’ll loop you into conversations you’re not in, and they’ll speak up when you’re not there.

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13. Be the calm during the storm. Incident response is part of the job. Sorry? Or congrats! Everyone will be panicking around you. People want to find someone or something to blame. Step back, be thoughtful, be blameless & don’t panic. See #7 if this is a struggle for you.

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14. Ask for help. You can’t do it alone. Building a culture of privacy, building a privacy program, or getting something privacy complaint isn’t something you can do alone. It doesn’t only sit on your shoulders.

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15. Incorporate diversity and advocate. You need to speak to & learn from diverse voices to understand the norms and harms against different minority, cultural, and regional groups. Technology affects these groups differently. Raise their voices. Incorporate what you learn.

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