The business analyst career path is not so cut and dry, however, getting a business analysis certification (CCBA or CBAP) really does help put your role and career into perspective. The MetaBusinessAnalyst.com has a great article that explains the different paths, or rather directions, a business analyst can go, and I'll try my best to summarize here. First, your job as a business analyst is to become great at analyzing the business. While doing that you may find yourself moving in one of three directions...
1. If you focus on the analysis skills, your path might take you into being a solutions or enterprise architect. These folks are responsible for determining the strategic direction of how IT will meet business needs. If you want to take this path, you should probably pursue business analyst certification. Depending on you skill set, and your tolerance for managing people, you may also get into high level IT positions like Director, VP, and even CIO.
2. If you focus on the business knowledge, and really become a subject matter expert in say HR systems, Sales Enablement, Marketing Automations... the list goes on, then you may find yourself moving more towards the business, maybe even migrating to the business side as a business technologist for a particular department or functional area in a business strategist type of position.
3. Some business analyst choose to focus on a particular BA skill or area, and become experts in that. For example, you can become a business process analyst, who focuses on helping businesses document and re-engineer process, or maybe you choose to focus on user experience and become a user experience analyst who basically focuses heavily on user needs over business needs.
At the end of the day, the path you take will be based on your passions as an individual. You and others will see where you are strong and where you are passionate, and if your lucky, you'll learn quickly which direction is right for you, and start focusing your efforts.
Summarized from: MetaBusinessAnalyst.Com