Data management skills key to ‘eventful’ careers

The term Data Science, which was coined by Google, is a new discipline aimed at understanding and analysing data. It is built around statistics and big data to manage large data sets for generating business insights. 

Many firms now rely on data for deriving business strategies. Data management technologies help companies tackle data management and analytics to stay competitive in the market. Organisations focusing on utilising data for business benefits need human resources with data management and analytics skills and knowledge in the relevant tools and technologies. 

There is a wide range of job profiles associated with Data Management. These specialists play a major role across verticals like banking, finance, insurance, manufacturing, security and education, among others. General consensus across the verticals demand programming and statistical expertise as the foundation of big data. The skills required for a few of such roles with reference to cyber security are discussed here: 

This role demands skills to manage data flow and pick unusual events from the flow to identify hacking attempts. Data Engineers are expected to have knowledge of the security domain with clarity on the various types of events and their interpretations. They are expected to diagnose the status of machine and firm network based on data that travels through the network. All companies require a Data Engineer to handle security incidents and events for creating meaningful interpretations. The study of such events is called as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). 

This role demands the skills to graphically visualise each unfamiliar event based on entry paths and provide drill down for analysis. Data Visualiser should also provide facility to consolidate the events that will be used for interpretation. 

This role requires knowledge to understand and interpret the event and provide a solution. The analyst is expected to create insights from the free event flow data. Insights and predictions derived from events data are used as the basis for security decisions and strategy by the organisations that are data driven.

This role demands skills to store the security events for later retrieval and analysis as required. Based on an individual’s interest levels, it is essential to identify the requisite skills and map them to one or more courses to progress through the career path. 

An aspirant must select the right domain level course that matches the job needs like Cyber Security, Cyber Investigation, Cyber Forensics coupled with courses on big data. 

Choose the appropriate courses, where business knowledge is transferred into practical skills, as practical skills are essential to manage the industries’ needs. To shine in this career, one must have the right blend of analytical skills and the knowledge of the relevant tools.