I just found out that a former colleague recommended me for a Business Analyst position. For many years I've been an exec admin in the IT field. I have no college degree. We spoke briefly about getting together to speak about the position further, and I'd like to show up having done some homework. Can anyone point me in the right direction to at least get an overview of the field? And why someone might find a person w/admin skills to be a good fit?
Exec Admin to analyst
The differences are;
ÿ You are no longer working for one person, you are looking after the interests of multiple stakeholders, who may have different and conflicting agendas. You are the one who usually has to get them to come together
ÿ The BA roles requires a high level of conceptual thinking. While working as the exec assistant you are aware of the business initiatives and priorities, in this role you need to stretch that into how do solutions to problems fit into the systems and process
ÿ The above point also reminds me that you need to analyse problems before you start assuming the solution (see this article http://jonathanbabcock.com/2007/11/02/thought-problems-and-business-analysts/ )
ÿ You often have to lead workshops and interviews rather than just be a part of the team
The similarities are;
ÿ High degree of skill in creating written communications, often through diagrams
ÿ Some degree of IT literacy is required, but you can possibly develop that as you go, especially if you are working in a company where you know several of the existing systems and what they do.
Resources
ÿ The heavyweight resource is the IIBA’s BO body of knowledge at www.theiiba.org
ÿ Try googling the verbs and nouns in the job description for other answers – and let us know what you find!
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