Business Analyst Career Advice

[DezUk]

I am looking for advice regards my career as a Business Analyst. I have been a BA for 8 years now and I still feel as though I am not 100% confident with my trade. I work with other BA's who know more than me and it has a knock on affect on my confidence. Every day at work I have other BA's writing advanced VB script, querying databases for information or collating data in spreadsheets to present the data better either as a pivot table something similar.

I feel lost in my role in the environment I am in and I feel I have left it too long to try and learn new skills at the age of 33. After this length of time as a BA I should feel comfortable applying for a Senior BA role but due to the points above I don't. I want to learn how to become a better, more skilled BA but don't know where to start.

I sort of feel into the BA career path back in 2008 when my company was bought over and ever since I have just learnt on the job or managed to wing it. I would say I am pretty creative and have a good eye for design. So I find myself being assigned the role of wireframing a mobile UI where as the technical stories are written by other BAs which is demoralising in itself. I am able to write stories but I find my knowledge lacks when it comes to database solutions or mySQL for example.

I want to try and apply for other BA roles to get myself out of this crappy job I am in but before I do that I want to learn and better myself skill wise. Thinking mainly around subjects like:

• mySQL
• Coding (HTML/CSS/JavaScript)
• Excel
• Data Migration
• SoapUI (web services)

I assume there are other BA's on this forum or software devs who know what I am on about and can maybe point me in the direction of where I should be aiming my learning and what resources are out there. I mean I know enough about Scrum/Agile/Kanban and can get by but I always think I should know more. I also want to try and better my web design skills as I used to enjoy designing a website in HTML/CSS but now that's not enough as you need JS as well. I just feel in the past few years I have let myself down with not keeping up to date with the latest standards and technologies and I'm worried I am losing my professional skills.

Hoping other BA's can help me out?

 

[decmatt]

A BA does not need the skills that you list out, yes they might be advantageous but are more suited for a Systems Analyst role. A business analyst is an internal consultant where you build up industry knowledge (to some extent) and know about IT. You are a middle man.

You help the business unlock their ideas, shape them into workable ideas (with business cases), and after a lot of effort, create user stories / requirements. You are completely impartial to IT's yes and nos, you are impartial to the business we must and we could.

Have a look at other BA job specs / I would expect BAs to have more of these skills; Workshop facilitation, Agile and Waterfall methodology techniques, negotiation, industry knowledge (or for a new hire to relate to the industry), light PM skills and a personality that can keep people talking...

 

[HangTime]

Of the subjects you have listed, I would say that Coding (web) and SoapUI are not really that important for a BA. If you enjoy web design and want to pursue that then it may be a path worth following, but generally speaking it is not expected for a BA to have that level of knowledge.

Excel is a good generic skill to have, and SQL dependent on the type of project. If you start by learning process modelling with an element of data modelling that may help you feel more comfortable creating technical user stories.

 

[randomshenans]

Yea, echo the above. They're not BA related skills at all. The whole point of an analyst is to analyze... ha
You want to be the As is - to be person making sure you understand the prospective change from all aspects and technical skills really shouldn't come in to it. You're not there to deliver a solution but to consult on the bigger picture of what you're trying to achieve overall.
If you want to be more technical, I think you're moving into a different role altogether.

 

[dowie]

OP you can rectify some of these quite quickly - excel/VBA is easy to pick up as is SQL and these are two things that can make you much more productive in plenty of roles. There are a bunch of resources out there so I'd take the time to study a bit in the evenings/weekends.

I don't think you necessarily need to concentrate too much on coding or learning some specific package in general (but maybe if it is useful to your job).

Alternatively maybe take another career direction - business analytics, data analyst... will require some further study but could be a logical move for you depending on your quantitative skill set.

 

[dowie]

A BA does not need the skills that you list out, yes they might be advantageous but are more suited for a Systems Analyst role. A business analyst is an internal consultant where you build up industry knowledge (to some extent) and know about IT. You are a middle man.

You help the business unlock their ideas, shape them into workable ideas (with business cases), and after a lot of effort, create user stories / requirements. You are completely impartial to IT's yes and nos, you are impartial to the business we must and we could.

Have a look at other BA job specs / I would expect BAs to have more of these skills; Workshop facilitation, Agile and Waterfall methodology techniques, negotiation, industry knowledge (or for a new hire to relate to the industry), light PM skills and a personality that can keep people talking...

those are the worst kind of BAs IMO

frankly someone stating they know [insert buzzword]... isn't particularly valuable, dev methodologies aren't too hard to pick up and change to - I've had whole teams change from waterfall to scrum and pick it up very rapidly so whether someone knows a methodology isn't important when hiring so long as they're comfortable adapting. It really isn't a drama when a new individual joins if they have to pick up a new methodology especially as plenty of companies seem to use the named ones differently anyway.

Domain knowledge is important however if someone can't get the information they require in order to perform their role then that is a problem, even though it isn't strictly a technical role (if you're a business analyst that liaises with or sits within IT then this ought to be seen as a subset of your domain knowledge too). For example basic SQL, competent use of excel/VBA, basic unix commands and a general understanding of software, hardware networking. This doesn't necessarily make one a 'systems analyst' a rather deeper technical skill set is usually required to that. Some ability to read code is also potentially useful though only in a nice to have sense.

without the basics above you often can't operate independently and are dependent on requesting trivial things from others which in turn will make you look like an e-mail forwarding pleb - a dev manager doesn't want to waste his time fetching you things that you could have sought out yourself with a simple SQL query. And if you're wasting his time with trivial stuff then he's going to have less time to answer serious questions regarding the limitations of what can and can't be implemented.

BAs aren't generally in positions of authority over the people they've got to work with but rather are supposed to 'manage relationships' etc.. rather hard to do if half of dev things you're a muppet. It is rare that a BA is a legit domain expert either I mean if you're a qualified accountant with 20 years experience in auditing and you're now a BA working on some accountancy IT project then you can perhaps take the risk. However a BA on an accountancy IT project is more likely at best to be a failed accountant or perhaps just someone with a business degree who knows a bit about accountancy.

 

[OspreyO]

I have moved between pure software development roles and also BA within the IT sphere. But if I'm doing development I'm generally not going BA work and when I'm doing BA work I'm not doing development. I have worked as a developer on one project, while BA on another. I can go quite deep in the development side and talk code with the developer, or the DB with the DBA. I would write a moderate amount of code, either application code, or the database.

I think the OP is really talking specifically about a BA (IT) and this is quite different to a BA (business). The BA (IT) is not a IT system analyst either thought they may have some overlap. You do get BA (Business) who work with IT, but as long as they stay in the business side there is no problem.

A while back worked on a project where the the BA had minimal IT background and it was a nightmare. We had to keep bypassing the BA and talk to the developer as the BA just couldn't the relationships in the database, and thus the business. They made every meeting torture.

 

[OspreyO]

I am looking for advice regards my career as a Business Analyst. I have been a BA for 8 years now and I still feel as though I am not 100% confident with my trade. I work with other BA's who know more than me and it has a knock on affect on my confidence. Every day at work I have other BA's writing advanced VB script, querying databases for information or collating data in spreadsheets to present the data better either as a pivot table something similar. ...

I don't get a sense of what you want to do. I fell into development because I'm naturally curious and like to fix problems. I got into BA (IT) because at the time, I had the business and IT knowledge that the project required. I also have a knack of simplifying things. What do you have passion for.

 

[Wink]

those are the worst kind of BAs IMO

frankly someone stating they know [insert buzzword]... isn't particularly valuable, dev methodologies aren't too hard to pick up and change to - I've had whole teams change from waterfall to scrum and pick it up very rapidly so whether someone knows a methodology isn't important when hiring so long as they're comfortable adapting. It really isn't a drama when a new individual joins if they have to pick up a new methodology especially as plenty of companies seem to use the named ones differently anyway.

Domain knowledge is important however if someone can't get the information they require in order to perform their role then that is a problem, even though it isn't strictly a technical role (if you're a business analyst that liaises with or sits within IT then this ought to be seen as a subset of your domain knowledge too). For example basic SQL, competent use of excel/VBA, basic unix commands and a general understanding of software, hardware networking. This doesn't necessarily make one a 'systems analyst' a rather deeper technical skill set is usually required to that. Some ability to read code is also potentially useful though only in a nice to have sense.

without the basics above you often can't operate independently and are dependent on requesting trivial things from others which in turn will make you look like an e-mail forwarding pleb - a dev manager doesn't want to waste his time fetching you things that you could have sought out yourself with a simple SQL query. And if you're wasting his time with trivial stuff then he's going to have less time to answer serious questions regarding the limitations of what can and can't be implemented.

BAs aren't generally in positions of authority over the people they've got to work with but rather are supposed to 'manage relationships' etc.. rather hard to do if half of dev things you're a muppet. It is rare that a BA is a legit domain expert either I mean if you're a qualified accountant with 20 years experience in auditing and you're now a BA working on some accountancy IT project then you can perhaps take the risk. However a BA on an accountancy IT project is more likely at best to be a failed accountant or perhaps just someone with a business degree who knows a bit about accountancy.

You could an effective BA without all of the technical skills you've just described.

What do you think a BA is there to do? Sounds like you've got quite a different view to the majority of people and industry.

To the OP - What do you actually want to do career wise? What you've described doesn't sound like a typical BA role.

 

[OspreyO]

You could an effective BA without all of the technical skills you've just described.

What do you think a BA is there to do? Sounds like you've got quite a different view to the majority of people and industry..

You could be a good ba without those skills but in IT that would be unusual. Almost all I know who are good have some development experience.

Im not sure the industry wants people with development experience in non development roles.

 

[Wink]

You could be a good ba without those skills but in IT that would be unusual. Almost all I know who are good have some development experience.

Im not sure the industry wants people with development experience in non development roles.

I don't nderstand that last sentence I'm not sure what you are trying to say? A BA is not a development role.

I agree a BA would ideally have some technical experience however I would not expect them to be doing hands not technical work or need those skills to be effective.

Looks like there are varying views here as to the role of a BA

 

[dowie]

You could an effective BA without all of the technical skills you've just described.

What do you think a BA is there to do? Sounds like you've got quite a different view to the majority of people and industry.

How could you be effective if you lack some basic skills that ought to be part of your domain. It is like claiming you could be an FX BA without knowing anything about FX... you'll be very ineffective without domain knowledge, just another e-mail forwarder who can make a few noises in meetings and send round neat diagrams and specs that are fundamentally flawed.

Sure you might be a good BA if you're one of the few that don't have anything to do with IT (say strategy related) but most BAs act between the business and IT and so ought to have some domain knowledge re: the business and some domain knowledge re: technical skills.

 

[HangTime]

The role of a BA will vary between organisation and even between projects. There is talk here of Business BAs, IT BAs and doubtless some will argue that a true BA should not have such a prefix and rather be a perfect conduit across all disciplines.

A good IT BA doesn't necessarily *need* to have development experience IMO, they need an understanding of development processes and the ability to discuss/understand technical subjects (which can come from experience working on projects and education, not necessarily direct experience as a developer) but they don't need to write large volumes of performant code for example.

A good example is with SQL, in the vast majority of cases a BA will not need to write production strength SQL, just enough (perhaps with some help from google) to get the output they require. It may not conform to standards, it may perform terribly, but those factors may not matter relative to if they had to fill a development position.

I still think based on the OP it doesn't sound that much like they want to be a 'classic' BA.

 

[OspreyO]

I think there's an idea that with the right methodology and process, a BA (in IT projects) doesn't need the technical skills, or the business knowledge. That true for a very capable person, (and many are) but often its a problem. I've notice a new trend of a BA ramming a project into a methodology that's just not appropriate. Also when outsourcing, the BA using a methodology that extends the time line and the cost of a project. I've seen that with some very large tenders.

 

[OspreyO]

...A good example is with SQL, in the vast majority of cases a BA will not need to write production strength SQL, just enough (perhaps with some help from google) to get the output they require. It may not conform to standards, it may perform terribly, but those factors may not matter...

Its interesting you should say that, on one project we ran in to huge issues with the BA not knowing basic SQL, or basic databases. The project was to integrate with existing systems, so the BA had to know how the existing data relationships worked. This guy confused UID's with Data, confused unions with Joins as a result the application they delivered was a mess. This guy never touch code, but was writing the spec and passing business knowledge to the developers. He must have added a year to that project, and ultimately that meant the application never went live.

 

[HangTime]

If they didn't understand basic SQL / databases then it sounds like they lacked the requisite knowledge and were on the wrong type of project to begin with. You can have people who understand those concepts, and know the difference between unions and joins etc who are not from a development background - it just sounds like this person wasn't one of them

 

[dowie]

I think there's an idea that with the right methodology and process, a BA (in IT projects) doesn't need the technical skills, or the business knowledge. That true for a very capable person, (and many are) but often its a problem. I've notice a new trend of a BA ramming a project into a methodology that's just not appropriate. Also when outsourcing, the BA using a methodology that extends the time line and the cost of a project. I've seen that with some very large tenders.

Without domain knowledge or technical knowledge what value does the BA (working on an IT project) add? Some pretty diagrams that are at risk of being rather flawed due to the lack of the previously mentioned areas?

Do they just become pseudo project managers?

 

[dowie]

this thread does remind me of this scene from office space

oh and as this is a serious forum, in order to ensure this post has some serious content too, take a look at any books by this guy OP:

http://spreadsheetpage.com/

 

[Gzero]

/snip

Can't give you any specific advice except: please don't join the group of blaggarts that like to walk the walk and talk the talk, but to their co-workers are nothing but a pain in the rear because they really don't know what they are talking about.

• Do you need SQL?
  Sounds like BI to me which usually requires a good understanding of some sort of product that processes large volumes of transactions with a database back end.
  
• Coding website languages?
  Whilst basic front end languages are easy, I don't see how it helps you, there is already an army of (really bad) html/css/javascript monkeys out there. JQuery pretty much covers everything, and there are plenty of examples so you don't need to write much from scratch to get clever effects.
  
• Excel?
  This is incredibly easy to use, you don't need a course to get good with it. Yes you could save yourself a bit of time with good sql and VBA but outwith that, using pivot tables and even normal charts/tables can deliver your report effectively.
  
• Data migration?
  Err, do you often have projects of moving from one system to another, most businesses tend to find their feet then NEVER change that system as change usually costs more.
  
• SoapUI?
  Meaningless tool for you, it is aimed at developers to test their web end points, you aren't a web developer?

Sorry to break it to you, but you will be sitting right at the bottom rung with if you try to change tracks so get stuck in to Excel as a lot of it can be done without coding.

Ignoring what those around you are doing (they are coders, don't compare yourself to them), what is it that you do or even know that no one else has to offer in your office?

Maybe as a hobby you could take up template design for popular CMS products like Wordpress/Joomla/Drupal/Magento?

 

[Wink]

Without domain knowledge or technical knowledge what value does the BA (working on an IT project) add? Some pretty diagrams that are at risk of being rather flawed due to the lack of the previously mentioned areas?

Do they just become pseudo project managers?

No, it's nothing to do with Project Management.

I didn't say they shouldn't have domain or technical knowledge, but there's a difference between understanding some basic IT concepts and having hands on technical skills.

The role of a BA in a complex Project is to establish the business problem, requirements and often the as-is and to-be processes. This can and should be done independently of the IT Solution. The BA also needs to establish requirements which can then be validated and tested later in the life-cycle.

This is when an architect/solutions expert would get involved in translating those business requirements into the technical solution so it can be built.

A lot of what people are talking about here is more towards the solution design end rather than actually establishing true business requirements.

This is often done poorly and people jump straight into the technical detail meaning it's difficult to demonstrate if you've actually delivered something that meets the business requirements and you struggle with business adoption.