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Modern Analyst Forums Careers Getting Started Seeking Prof. Advice --Moving into more of a Business/Market Analyst Job

12/28/2009 10:21 AM

	eileen28
2 posts

Seeking Prof. Advice --Moving into more of a Business/Market Analyst Job

Hello,

I am posting a few questions that build on the PA to BA post. I have done a bit researching by reading past posts on this forum.

I'm also interested in any advice from people working in the field. Your experience and insights are really appreciated.

My BA is in Journalism, with additional courses in accounting, economics, marketing, management and anthropology. I've been working for the last 10+ years in the nonprofit sector doing marketing, data analyis, event and program management. Last title was as a marketing specialist.

I am experienced in using Crystal Reports for data mining and report writing, and for niche marketing and trend analysis.

Ok the questions:

I am interested in moving into a business/data/market analyst job. Based upon my education and experience, what are my chances of moving into an analyst job?

Would a certificate of business analysis help? What type of software, such as Cognos, is more popular today?

How is the job market?

As I mentioned, any other suggestions or insights is appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

1/5/2010 6:59 AM

	Tony Markos
493 posts

Re: Seeking Prof. Advice --Moving into more of a Business/Market Analyst Job

Eileen:

I once worked at a company that reguarly promoted administrative assistants into a BA position. Tech writers also commonly move into a BA postion. Of course there are BA jobs that pay $8.29 per hour (I actually saw this the other day), and there are BA jobs that pay well over $100K per year.

And then there are BA jobs that are largely implementation jobs (programmers and the like) that just use the BA tile because it is popular. I would say that these are the most avialable jobs. I talked to a project manager friend the other day and he said that, due to the present economic situation, there is a trend to save money by hiring a programmer and have hiim/her do: programming, BA, and project management.

Tony Markos

2/16/2010 4:49 PM

	[email protected]
22 posts

Re: Seeking Prof. Advice --Moving into more of a Business/Market Analyst Job

Eileen,

I feel that your qualification will be ok for you to make this shift, but before you make a shift ake sure that you prepare yourself well in terms of processes and techniques that a BA must know.There are a lot of basic jargons that you should understand .Ba job is just not talking to people and writing documents.There is a way to capture requirements effectively and learn various requirement types.

i work as a Program Manager/ BA leads for the BA's working in my company and have a total of 13 years of experience. I have been teaching Business analysis and Project Management courses for the past 8 years now.

  Some of the processes and techniques that a BA must know and I prepare them for are :


1. I start the course with basic Jargon's of IT industry
2. Give you an overview on what BA is and What are the roles & expectations from BA
3.Talk about the IT people and your role as a BA in supporting them
4.Understand Stakeholders,Client's
5Understand SDLC Methodologies
6.Undertsand Requirement phase and different requirement types: Business, user, functional requirements
7.Activities that are supported in requirement phase
8.How do you gather effective requirements and write them
9.Techniques like process modelling, UML, Use cases and Diagrams
10. Managing requirements
11.Various documents and case studies on the documents
12.Managing change control in projects
13.Deal with vendor, testers, developers
14. Challenges and how to overcome them

  Let me know if you havey other question

Thanks

Supriya

[email protected]

2/18/2010 3:59 AM

	KIERANC
22 posts

Re: Seeking Prof. Advice --Moving into more of a Business/Market Analyst Job

Hi Eileen,

I would think you would have an excellent chance to transtion into a Business Analyst role. Given your background you already have the communication skills (written & oral) that are fundemental to any analyst. They are the bedrock on which everything else is built.

You would probaly start by securing a Market Analyst role building on your marketing expertise and then move in Business Analysis proper. Certification might be one avenue to look at. It shows your intent and purpose. There are lots of accreditations around but you should look at one that fits with your lifestyle / needs / budget. Some course are entiurely online and some are in classroom situation. You can decide which one fits your needs. This can also mark you out from others in terms of securing a role.

Your data mining / report experience is something you can build on that every employer needs and builds on your existing strenghts. Good luck.

Regards,

Kieran