I'm interested in making a move from IT to BA, and have spoken to other BA's at the company who say it's good to have the IT stuff down but I'll need to learn the "business side" of things. What does this entail? I'm at a financial company (securities) and am just not sure what I can do to prepare for this position. I already have good logic and people skills, as well as the technical jargon needes, but I want to have a full understanding of this position before making the plunge...
Thanks in advance for all of your help!
The term "the business side", in my experience, has always referred to how the company or industry does business. So for a securities company you will want to begin understanding how your company does business. What type of securities? Are there specific business rules (government, accounting, etc...) that apply to doing business with securities? Are there specific internal process the company uses to do business? Are there specific process the company uses to do business with other business? etc........
The key is to deeply understand the domain of "securities" as practiced by your company. This can be accomplished in many ways: internal company training (if it is offered), talking to existing domain experts within the business, outside training (courses, books, etc....). It usually takes time, but if you already understand much of the tech jargon, you may be a step ahead of another Business Analyst beginner that has no pre-existing knowledge.
Hope this helps.
Brad Botz
Business Analyst - Prime Proficiency
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