To become certified as a Business Analyst, the most relevant qualifications are given by the IIBA. After roughly two and a half years of experience, you can be recognized as a BA practitioner by having a Certificate of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA). After roughly five years, you are considered a professional and duly receive Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) status.
While waiting, what can you do before achieving these certifications, or in between them? Continue reading
In the business analysis profession, skills, qualifications and an ability to represent one’s self is needed for success. Most professionals I’ve met demonstrate these abilities. However, meeting the above does not mean you are an all-rounder.
A BA is first and foremost a communicator. Therefore social skills must be a priority and they should be a strong characteristic of a BA. With all the interactions with stakeholders, it would be assumed that you will gradually develop social skills over time even without much effort. Continue reading
As many BAs can testify, this is a profession where you have to find your own way in. I think this will change with time as the BA profession becomes more common but for now this is the challenge that many aspiring BAs face.
Going to university and studying information systems is a good start but unfortunately it does not grant you an entry into the BA field right away (unless of course you are able to find a good graduate program).
There are many discussions online about the different paths one can take to end with the illustrious title of Business Analyst. Continue reading
I was chatting to a friend the other day who explained to me that his company does not have anyone working under a Business Analyst title. I thought to myself “that’s strange, how can an IT consulting firm negate the professional role of business analysis”. I was assured that the company has been around for more than two decades so they are obviously using a business recipe that works.
The reason why this company does not formally have any BAs is because business analysis is a process that is performed by various team members where it is needed. The solutions architect might do some business analysis. The product consultant will do some requirements gathering but he is not a BA, he is a product consultant. An enterprise architect is also responsible for some BA tasks. Continue reading
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