craigwbrown wrote In a comment on one of my blog posts David Longstreet suggests that industry specialisation is the way of the future for software developers.  He says the reason for this is so that developers (and analysts) gain a greater understanding of the business and industry.  This gives them a better understanding of the complexities and constraints inherent in the environment.  It's an interesting comment.  His view appears to be that a deeper understanding of the environment will lead to a better understanding of the requirements as they are deliverred to the dev team. His point of view is mainly directed to developers, but the same could be said for analysts. Does anyone have stories of changing industries as an analyst?

Industry specialization is even more important for business analysts than for developers. If developers are coding from functional specifications they are less dependent on vertical industry knowledge. For the business analyst - the case is exactly the opposite. The value of a business analyst is directly correlated to three main things: length of work experience, level of business analysis knowledge, and industry specialization.

At the beginning of my career I worked as a consultant for a small firm and was involved in doing analysis work in multiple vertical industries. However, my value as a BA increased rapidly only once I began to narrow my focus and specialize in a vertical industry. Even the business analysts/consultants working for the big consulting firms (PWC, E&Y, etc.) tend to be specialized.

- Adrian