Hello all,
Just a quick note to say ' Hello ' and introduce myself.
I have been in IT for many years, mainly in the technical field (Programmer Analyst) and include some Analysis and Design work in the Mainframe realm.
Now, with most tech jobs outsourced, am thinking of making a career shift to BA exclusively.
I do have good communication skills and technical skills.
What other skills would one need to succeed in this field ?
Is there any advice or document one can recommend that talks about starting a career in BA ?
Thanks in advance,
Hi Engle,
You might find this article useful...?
Guy
Thanks Guy,
Read your article, it was very insightful and informative. Will read it again and digest.
May I brainstorm a few ideas swirling around my head ?
1. I spoke to an IT colleague of mine, who iis now a BA. He said he never took any formal course and is quite successful. He gained specialized BA experience in Investments. So my question is : Do BA's specialize ? i.e. BA in Investment systems, BA in healthcare systems ?.
2. There can be a natural progression from techie to BA. Programmer to Programmer/Analyst to xxxAnalyst to BA. The difference is that one is moving from predominantly hard-skills (computer) to more of the soft-skills (people). While techies tend to be abrupt and see things in black/white, yes/no, on/off; analysts tend to be approachable and deal well with ambiguity. Thoughts on transitioning ?
Once again, thanks for the article and advice. I'm in the process of gathering as much info and opinions. If I'm not doing so in the right forum, please let me know.
You said: "1. I spoke to an IT colleague of mine, who iis now a BA. He said he never took any formal course and is quite successful. He gained specialized BA experience in Investments. So my question is : Do BA's specialize ? i.e. BA in Investment systems, BA in healthcare systems ?."
The answer is that analysis is a completely transferable skill but most employers do not realise that so most BAs do end up specialising...but they don't need to!
You said "2. There can be a natural progression from techie to BA. Programmer to Programmer/Analyst to xxxAnalyst to BA. The difference is that one is moving from predominantly hard-skills (computer) to more of the soft-skills (people). While techies tend to be abrupt and see things in black/white, yes/no, on/off; analysts tend to be approachable and deal well with ambiguity. Thoughts on transitioning ?"
As an ex-assembler mainframe programmer I know what you mean! Techies may inhabit a binary yes/no world but in the real world fuzzy logic (check it out on Wikipedia) is the norm. Ambiguity is the analysts' enemy and our analytical tools exist largely to slay it. Analysis is a technical skill (albeit not in the IT sense) focusing on applied logic. Unfortunately we need people skills to work with end users and IT techies (I say unfortunately because it takes up a lot of time and effort on essentially massaging peoples' egos).
Thoughts on transitioning? It's a $%^&%^!!! The best technique seems to be to work out what you want to do, get working alongside a project and volunteer for the bits you want to do then formalise your volunteering as a change of role as soon as you can - or update your CV with the BA work you have been doing albeit as a volunteer and get another job.
Good luck and let me know how you get on!
Gosh, I used to be an assembler mainframe programmer as well. Real programmers only programmed in assembler, used to be the catchphrase.
While techies can transition from one technology to another quite well, I sense (in myself) and others on this board some hesitation in taking the BA plunge. Trying to put my finger to it, I suspect it is due to the fact that one will be working with others with different mindsets. There is much in common, but I've got to get this greater/equal/less than thinking out of my brain cells and accomodate other creative, fluid ' fuzzy' thinking.
Thanks again for the info, it's an excellent service you provide and will follow this board more closely.
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