Hi Chris,
I am benefiting from this thread so thank you for your post! I am curious to getting your opinion. I left IT as a BSA 4 years ago for family reasons. In the meantime, I did real estate to be close to family. I am now in a position to getting back into what I loved to do - IT. However, this time around, I would like to get into Healthcare IT because as you mentioned - it is poised to grow in the future. You say industry knowledge is not most relevant - would you still feel the same if someone with my situation came to you for an interview/job?
Lastly, what would you recommend I do to get my foot in the door; since my current(past) employment had nothing to do with the true sense of a Business Systems Analyst?
I know it's a lot but I need to know:)
Zach
Zach,
The answer to your question is yes. When I interview people for analyst positions, industry experience is more of a nice to have. They must first have strong analysis skills. If the analysis skills are there, they will learn the industry knowledge fairly fast.
I agree with what Adrian has recommended. I think the biggest concern and interviewer would have when interviewing someone in your position would be your commitment to business analysis. The real estate market was pretty hot up until late 2006 and many might questions if you were just looking for something besides analysis. With that said you can show them that you are serious by taking a course to brush up on those analysis skills. I don't know many companies that used Use Cases, UML, or an Agile Process 4 years ago. These types of things and more have gained more steam in recent year. So take some time to brush up on them.
Hope this helps!
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