Tag Archives: business analysis

Why business analysis?

Posted on by

When I was growing up I had a few ideas of what I wanted to become in the future but none of them were about business analysis. In the early nineties, not everyone had a computer. I remember our family first got a computer in 1996.

From what I can remember, these are a few of things I wanted to be when older:
An ironman triathlete
A writer
A politician (prime minister of Australia to be completely truthful)

As a teenager, I had to revisit what I would become as it was becoming more urgent. By then, I at least knew I had to attend University to get ahead – I thank my parents for instilling this thought into my head. The things I realised by year nine (ninth grade) was that I liked solving problems and I could figure out how to use a computer relatively quickly. Little did I know that this would be influential in my decision to become a business analyst later on. Back then, I didn’t know what business analysis was but I was confident that the IT industry would provide a career that would utilise my interest in computers and pay well – the late 90s was a great time for IT professionals. Continue reading →

Business Analysis – my introduction

Posted on by

For the past few years I’ve been working towards my career aspiration of becoming a business analysis.

The purpose of this blog was to document the concepts I was learning towards the end of my University degree.

Obviously this hasn’t happened but it’s never too late to get things started. As I have other internet profiles of a more social nature, I’d like to turn this blog into a repository of the topics that are of a more professional nature.

Without further ado, I’d like to kick off a series of BA related posts by starting with my enthusiasm for the job title.

So at University, I was first introduced to the position of Business Analyst. “You’ll tell the IT programmers what to do”. This is what some of the lecturers would tell us. There was a gap between the business and IT areas of an organisation. This barrier was perhaps a communication issue or even a cultural issue.

We were told we’d be the problem solvers in the organisation. Understanding the business needs while also being familiar with the technology and its limitations. It was a good fit for me at the time. I was very interested in IT yet I struggled with programming and preferred learning about business. That’s when it all made sense. I didn’t need to be a programmer to work in the ICT field. I could also study business related units whilst having a specific target industry.

So here I am. Graduated from the Bachelor of Business Informatics. Along the way I’ve acquired an interest for Disaster Recovery Planning, information systems, IT project management and Information Security. I’ve also realised there are areas that I didn’t develop so well such as accounting and cost benefit analysis. I have a few skills, a few interests, the desire to learn more still.

Despite my education, I feel that there is a lot for me to figure out. The career path of Business Analyst isn’t clearly defined. While we have thousands of BAs in Australia, the position hasn’t been around long enough to really understand what the specific streams are and what qualifies you to enter this field.

As I attempt to become a business analyst, I look forward to sharing what I learn along the way.