Business Analyst — The Buzz!
Learnings for a fresh Business Analyst…
Needless to say, just as the overwhelming majority of fresh graduates, landing off to a decent job to help with the household, and to begin the journey to ‘shoot at the stars’ was shadowing Daniyal’s latter undergraduate life.
Just getting ‘lucky’ as he says - Daniyal was able to land on an Associate Business Analyst (Associate BA) position, knowing about the vacancy through a colleague- working part-time at a startup software firm ( Still employed there….).
Mostly with theoretical knowledge on how a Business Analyst functions at a Software firm, Daniyal knew for a fact he had to have a lot up his sleeve.
With nothing to lose, he stepped up his game and joined the firm.
Time passed by- Daniyal had work stacking up his desk and little did he know was on the ‘total package’ of being an Associate Business Analyst.
So, he had the following concerns recurring in his mind:
- What should the ideal Scope of Work (SOW) for a fresh Business Analyst be?
- How knowledgeable should a Business Analyst be of the technical implication of a project, despite the domain and project he was being involved in?
- What skills should Daniyal improve over time, to quickly catch-up with the work environment as a BA?
- Where could he direct himself in his professional life, starting off as a Business Analyst? — OK, an Associate in his case... (Or in lament terms, “where should he see himself in 5–10 years time?” )
This was a just a glance at a question-paper’s worth list of questions. Clueless as to finding accurate answers, he was speaking to his colleagues, researching about- all while continuing his work.
It sounded well it will take a while for his ‘enlightenment’ process to complete, because Daniyal is not the most-outgoing employee at his workplace.
Believe me when I say, it is not easy to be the quickest learner in an office environment when you are not outgoing!
He gradually started finding answers to his most resounding questions…
What should the ideal Scope of Work (SOW) be for a fresh Business Analyst?
Daniyal, the confused newbie figured — as a Business Analyst, he should be completing duties:
Defining project requirements, documenting the requirements following the most preferred documentation methods already in use, or do the documentation with a ‘touch-up’ to what process already is used.
So, he knew this one for sure, but wait…
Creating a vivid analysis on the business functions, opportunities to grab and providing solutions for the business was a take-home responsibility for sure. Also, this had a mandatory research component added to his work — he kind of liked it.
Some other duties he was already exposed to and would be, as in the near-future, were conducting User Acceptance Tests, financial modelling, pricing and multiple analysis.
This was the creamed top, he knew.
At least, he would know what work should he be responsible for, and what not , when he is thrown at the “next big project.”
How well should a Business Analyst be aware of the technical jargon, despite the domain and project he/she is involved in?
Daniyal, with less to say, was not grasping much of technical knowledge — down from university-days itself — It simply was not his forte of academics. And with such contradiction and limited knowledge on software development, he figured, it is not a demanding necessity to know the real insides of development, hence, knowing all of the the technical jargon would be more of a cool-feature to the role of a Business Analyst.
Then he understood, he might as well study the A-B-C of software development languages, tools and environments — A Sound idea!
What skills should Daniyal improve over time, to quickly catch-up with the work environment, as a Business Analyst?
As you may guess, the list of skills for Daniyal to improve was quite long. The key point to improve for him were on analytical skills, knowledge on the business environment and the business domain and as he figured before, a bit on technical knowledge- the cool feature for a Business Analyst.
The hard skills to improve on sounded a little off charts to Daniyal — especially on the fact it consumes a considerable amount of time to make progress.
In contrary, soft skills he understood he should improve could take lesser time, but needed practice: Communication skills, Negotiation skills and Problem solving skills topped the list. Daniyal also realized, he better be presentable and smartly dressed to meetings.
Daniyal also learnt:
Dressing well has an impact on the mood as it stabilizes, reduces risks of anxiety and improves quality of happiness- Facts.
Where could he direct himself in his professional life, starting off as a Business Analyst? — OK, an associate in his case.. (Or “where should he see himself in 5–10 years time?” )
“If there is a will, there is a way!”
Daniyal was clear on this popular saying— just that he wanted to relate it to himself. He just started his career as an Associate Business Analyst and he wants to know where he can be headed to; sooner nor later.
He read and understood, there are a lot more things a Business Analyst can do and much roles he can take up along the ladder: IT Business Analyst, Project Manager, Quantitative Analyst, Management Analyst, Information Security Analyst and so forth…
Basically, with a sound knowledge on the domain, any analyst role would fit a Business Analyst. Realizing this, he felt enlightened, passionate all the while a little confused too! While surveys suggest a Business Analyst could earn an average of more than $70K, globally. Also, with experience he knew this could have slight changes, but with a few years experience it was not a bad pay.
Along the ladder, he understood he could become a Senior Business Analyst, Product Owner and senior roles that followed and based on how well he performed he could soon be a Chief Executive Officer, a Chief Technical Officer or even establish his own business!
Daniyal does understand his role in the organization fair better than his first week.
He is focused and confident!