Becoming a business analyst
Becoming a business analyst
Can I become a business Analyst, I am working as a sales professional or I am not from IT or Technical background? How can I plan becoming a business analyst?
If you have this question on your mind, you will find this article useful. In this post, we are going to answer some of the commonly asked questions regarding becoming a business analyst from diverse backgrounds?
Business analyst is a much sought after career option and deciding to get into this profession, is a good choice. If you don’t find answers to your specific questions, please write to me and I will definitely try and answer that.
Commonly asked questions regarding Business analyst career
Let me start by saying, Business analysts are the must needed role in the IT industry. The industry has been grappling with the high percentage of failed or delayed projects. This has led to the emergence and significance of the business analyst role. Almost every software project needs a business analyst (if not more).
Let’s now look at the questions.
I am from a non-technical background, can I become a business analyst?
Answer to this question is applicable for everyone, who is currently not working in the IT industry. First of all, let me know tell you that – business analysts can come from diverse backgrounds. In fact, business analysts with diverse background and business understand can perform better than IT professionals.
Having said that, there are a few important aspects which must be kept in mind?
Fact 1: You are aspiring to become a business analyst because of better opportunities.
So you must be ready for a 9-12 months of learning business analysis skills on the job. These on-the-job skills are critical for your career. So during this period, you should not be bothered about the remunerations, you will getting when you start as a business analyst. Getting into a business analyst career is a wise decision and is good for your career but you need to be prepared for one year of struggle.
Fact 2: If you are not from IT background, you can’t become a business analyst
That’s absolutely incorrect. Business analyst role does not require you to be technical or know coding. But you definitely need to learn new skills to become a business analyst. These skills are not very difficult to learn.
We, at Techcanvass, have defined the skills of a business analyst using CRAFT framework
For becoming a business analyst, you need to possess at least 3 skills of the CRAFT framework. Functional or domain knowledge is not mandatory but a good to have skill for new business analysts.
Let me give a list of specific skills, which are based on CRAFT framework, which you need to acquire to be able to become a business analyst:
You need to acquire these skills. Another aspect is to go for a certification suitable for new business analyst. Entry Certificate in business Analysis (ECBA) from IIBA is a good choice. You can learn more about these certifications below:
Business Analyst Certification for beginners – ECBA Certification
I am a tester or into manual testing, can I become a business analyst?
Manual testing professionals can also become business analysts. Being in the IT industry is an advantage. As you understand the software development process, it makes your transition easier.
As a business analyst, two of the most important responsibilities are requirements development and functional testing. As you are already familiar with the functional testing, your learning cycle is shorter.
You need to learn the following skills to become a business analyst:
- Requirement elicitation skills
- Process modelling like UML, DFD etc
- Data Modelling like ER and class diagrams
- SQL basics
We have created a business analyst fundamentals tutorials for beginners. You will find it useful to get started, this tutorial provides is a great way to start learning business analyst skills:
When should I start as a BA? Can a fresher be a BA?
There is no pre-requisite of having industry experience for becoming a business analyst. You can start as an intern or a junior business analyst, but it is completely possible to become a business analyst, even if you are a fresher. But please note that you still need to acquire the BA skills. You can find the following videos and article useful:
Everything about Business Analyst – Role, Career and growth path
What is the career path for a BA?
The career path of a BA is shown in the diagram below. Please note, at some point in your career, you can choose to become a Project Manager. As many would feel that Project management is more lucrative at that stage of their career.
With 3.5 years of experience in retail industry, can I become a business analyst?
This question can be generalized to answer questions for professional from any other industry. So if you re coming from retail industry or from sales background or from travel industry, this question is applicable. Any non-IT industry background professional, will find this answer useful.
We have a published post on the same subject:
Hope these questions help, in case you have a specific question, do write to us.
About Techcanvass
Techcanvass offers IT certification courses for professionals. We are an IIBA endorsed education provider (EEP), iSQI ATP (for Certified Agile Business Analyst Training) as well as Agile Testing alliance partner for CP-SAT certification training in Selenium.
We have a Business analyst training course with domain training in-built into it. This training program offers you the opportunity to get certified with ECBA certification as well as have banking domain understanding.
Business Analyst Course | ECBA Certification training
Business Analyst Training with Banking Domain
Business Analyst Short Courses
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Moving from developer to business analyst
Moving from developer to business analyst
Moving from developer to business analyst role is a commonly considered career move for IT professionals. It is a natural progression for many just like getting into technical architect roles. It depends on aptitude and interest.
Considering the career prospects of a business analyst, transition to a business analyst role is a good idea. In this article, we are going to discuss the steps involved in the transition.
Conducting skills gap analysis
The first step towards transitioning to the business analyst career is to understand the skills needed to become a business analyst. Since you are already working as a business analyst, you must have already acquired some of the skills. So, you might need to acquire and work for incremental skills. We will discuss that part little later in this article.
First of all, let’s look at the key skills of a business analyst, as defined by Techcanvass CRAFT framework.
The CRAFT framework defines the top 4 skills of a business analyst, as listed below:
a) Good Communication skills as you will have to communicate effectively with the business as well as the IT team
b) Requirement analysis and modelling skills: This is probably most used and important skill for a business analyst. If you have to transition to a business analyst role, you must learn these. In essence, this translate to following:
- Requirements elicitation techniques
- Process Modelling (UML Modelling and/or DFD Modelling)
- Data Modelling (E-R diagrams and/or Class diagrams)
- Writing requirements specifications (User stories/Backlog, SRS/FS, Use case specifications)
c) Functional Knowledge: Functional knowledge refers to the business domain knowledge. It is not a must to switch to a business analyst role. But it’s an important skill for succeeding as a business analyst.
d) Functional testing: As a business analyst, you will be responsible for validating the developed software, before it is delivered to the customer for UAT. Functional testing, most probably, you will be familiar with. Just brush up the scenario testing concepts.
Techcanvass has developed mini courses specially for IT professionals, who wish to transition to a business analyst role. These mini courses are in the following skills areas:
Process Modelling Training
Data Modelling
The next step in your transition is to consider the certification.
Do you need a certification?
Having understood the skills needed to move to a business analyst career, you also need to consider the business analyst certification. Do you need a certification? The certifications are the only means for an employer to be assured of a minimal level of skills. Certifications alone may not be able to get you a job, but it plays the role of an enabler. So which are the business analyst certifications and which is the right certification for you?
When should you make a switch?
When should you think about making a switch to business analyst role? Is there a right stage or is there is a minimum level experience you should have? There may not a perfect answer to this question, but in my view, you should ideally have couple of years of experience before making a switch. That provides you a good platform to start your BA career because of your understanding of the software development aspects.
This article is written to provide you simple steps and answers to relevant questions, so that your move to a business analyst career is easier.
I have been working in a company as a Jr. business analyst. What are the career paths & opportunities as a business analyst?
The career path of a business analyst is very impressive. With right skills and hard work, one can reach up to the CXO level. The diagram below shows the career path:
