Education institutes ignore new-age professional courses

The days are gone when an off-beat professional career would raise eyebrows. The youngsters of the city are gradually warming up to new careers options that demand networking skills, creativity and communication and also offer good pay packages.

The certificate and diploma programmes in cyber security, social media consultancy, fund raising, image consultancy, website designing to blogging are in vogue.

Cyber security is an upcoming sector that not only provides jobs but has a potential for building start-ups. From a household to a big industrial house, all require cyber-security experts when every third financial fraud happens in the cyber world.

A short-term course on cyber laws, cybercrime consultancy, vulnerability assessment, penetration testing and malware analyzer are finding takers from engineering to humanities background students.

Mukesh Chaudhary, director of Hicube Infosec and a cybercrime expert, says, "It is purely for those who have passion for computers. For the next 2-3 years it is not possible to meet the growing demand of cyber security experts unless more universities introduce specific courses on this subject." A cyber security expert can earn from Rs 25, 000 to Rs 50,000 per month.

Another upcoming area which may not require the technical expertise but sharp networking skills is social media consultants.

The need for social media experts and image consultants has increased manifold with the popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Youtube etc. Most people who use social media platforms, require social media consultants who can upload their edited pictures, posts and strategically position them for followers.

This work can be done by tech savvy and social media freaks .

"The PR sector has seen transformational changes with clients asking for social media consultancy more than the conventional coverage in newspapers. Even a student, who is well versed in written communication can earn Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per month," Anuj Sharma, director of Musk Public Relations in Jaipur.

Now, with corporate houses, it has become compulsorily to spend a part of their profit in the development sector as corporate social responsibility (CSR). This has brought a landscape change in the social sector.

"It has generated a need for fund raisers who are good at communication and can present the proposals to the corporate houses in the effective manner. The profile of fund raisers include strategy planning for the market," said Kumar Manish, a communication consultant to NGOs based in Ahmedabad.

The remuneration is on the basis of commission per Rs 100 or fixed salary from the social development sector. The main task of fund raisers is to present the cause of NGOs before the corporate houses.

Perceived as a hobby of intellectuals or commentators on social, political, religious and economic scenario, blogging has become a profit-making venture.

A successful blog is determined by the number of likes and followers as these two components pulls advertisements from Google. A blog handler necessarily doesn't need to be writer but he/she can provide a platform for others i.e a website.

Even after the demand of these new age professions, no state varsity has introduced these courses. Students have to either head to Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore or Delhi for pursuing these courses or enroll for online courses provided by several universities.

-The Times of India