is there a business analyst in the house?

what skills, experience, qualification do you need to be a business analyst? is a bcomm Information System enough? is the entry level salary good? im graduating soon and business analysis is something i would like to get into.

xl

ask uncle riaan

mmhhh, at last!! A worthy adversary!

Well, a BCom IS is enough, I went further though to do Hons BSc IS. It wont help you do your job better, but it will just open more doors.

Entry level salary would be the same as entry level accountants, programmers etc. It is industry related to professional positions. You can grow quite a bit though, as you usually get involved with business optimisation, strategy etc. You also mingle with the important oaks a bit, which helps with the careers.

In terms of what you need to know, I am quite hectic, and my expectations very high of BA's. I believe you need to know things like design principles, OO, UML, MDA, etc etc so well, you need to be able to teach it. Also, choose one area of business expertise that you want to build a career in. The most important experience is the business experience. I chose the financial industry, and you get known in the market quite quickly if you do things well. You need to be able to teach business concepts to business people. You need to be good at project management and all the underlying theory of it. You also need to have enough knowledge of the different technologies that are used at the company you are employed at, java, swift etc...

In the end you sit in the middle of technical resources and business resources. Be an expert at BA concepts, and business and technical, and you will do well!

PS: a programming degree is just as good. The concepts you learn in a BCom is very broad, and programmers usually end up knowing the business better than the business people.....so they tend to make good analysts if they learn to not just jump into the details

and most importantly, you need to be an analytical thinker and a problem solver.

are you having fun riaan?

and another thing, dont be one of those BA's that just runs up and down armed by word and powerpoint jotting down word for word what people say. Ask lots and lots of questions, then think, think again, and then put forward a solution based on a solid understanding...

is that a rhetorical question???.....because this is....

...SPAAARTAA ?

hehehehe.....

Also, a good analyst refuses to have visio installed on his/her PC....a decent modeling tool is a must, such as magic draw.

and whatever you do....dont let programmers bully you....they are a useless species and should be ignored at all cost. Someday modeling would be at such a levle of abstraction that programming would fall away completely

Quote

so they tend to make good analysts if they learn to not just jump into the details

Translation: they make good analysts if they stop doing anything usefull

--
"Knowledge has much better uses than self-pity and superiority"

based on malcolms response here....also note that programmers will never like BA's because they are prettier and earn more money. So, expect them to be mean, and lower your expectations of them. Your disappointment is only as big as your expectation...

I wont involve myself in this war about programmers vs BAs except to say that its not true that BAs make more money. Either then that, you guys can continue the fight.

heheheh, but we appear to make more money because we dress well an comb our hair

Quite honestly though, I love programmers, use to be one. I also love business users, I used to be one. I believe each person in a team has a distinct tole to play, my job is tho get these role players to gel....


Except project managers, I dont like them so much!

thanks riaan!

pleasure....one thing that I also thought about, if an analyst understands the difference between modeling and documentation, he/she is halfway there! It seems over simplified, but you would be amazed....

rklopper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> based on malcolms response here....also note that
> programmers will never like BA's because they are
> prettier and earn more money. So, expect them to
> be mean, and lower your expectations of them. Your
> disappointment is only as big as your
> expectation...
>
>
>


Okay, I don't earn half as much as you do... but I think generally females are prettier than males, unless you are being gay again....

and from the looks of it, BAs absolutely love to brag. XL don't forget to brag alot.

Riaan, you didn't say anything about the ass kissing?

oh, no wait..


rklopper Wrote:
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> You also mingle with the important oaks a bit, which helps with the careers.

mingle = butt kissing

I dont have an issue, as long as it is a woman, and she showered