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Hi there! Considering a career in business analysis? Great choice! As an experienced technology professional, let me walk you through everything involved in this fast-growing and lucrative field.
Whether you’re just starting out in your career or looking to switch into the BA role, you’ll find this comprehensive guide helpful to learn the skills, responsibilities, salaries, and growth opportunities.
Let’s get right into it!
What Does a Business Analyst Actually Do?
As a business analyst (BA), you act as the bridge between business stakeholders and technical teams.
You are responsible for understanding business problems, requirements, processes and data to come up with technology solutions.
On a daily basis, you would:
- Meet with managers and end-users to understand their pain points
- Document detailed requirements and specifications
- Create process flows, data models, and prototypes
- Perform gap analysis between current vs desired state
- Research solutions and estimate costs/benefits
- Support development teams with timely inputs and changes
- Conduct user acceptance testing before solutions go live
You would work closely with employees across product, UX, technology, testing and implementation teams.
In a nutshell, your key contributions would be:
- Digging into the business context
- Detailing what solutions must achieve for success
- Enabling development teams to build solutions correctly
This requires sharp analytical abilities coupled with communication skills to interact with a variety of stakeholders.
Skills Needed to Excel as a BA
Business analysis relies heavily on your technical knowledge just as much as soft skills.
Here are the key skills that companies look for when hiring BAs:
Technical Skills
- Process modeling and analysis
- Structured problem solving
- Requirements elicitation, analysis and documentation
- Developing use cases, user stories, process flows etc.
- Microsoft Office tools – Word, Excel, Visio, PowerPoint
- SQL queries
- Business and data modeling
Soft Skills
- Stakeholder engagement
- Influencing and consensus building
- Collaboration – working with cross-functional teams
- Storytelling – translating complex concepts simply
- Presentation abilities
- Initiative and proactive learning
Here are examples ofdeliverables business analysts regularly develop:
1. Business Requirements Document (BRD)
The BRD captures functional, non-functional, and transitional requirements in detail after conducting workshops and stakeholder interviews.
2. Use Cases
Use cases specify system behavior under various conditions focusing on the end-user perspective.
3. Process Flows
Process flows using swim lanes diagram the inputs, outputs, decision points and sequence of business activities.
4. Data Models
Data models help visualize information used and created by systems in terms of entities, attributes, relationships, flows etc.
5. Solution Scope Documents
The solution scope documents tie together – current challenges, proposed solutions, timelines, costs/benefits analysis and recommendations.
Understanding the SDLC from a BA Lens
To provide complete context, here is an overview of the standard Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) that BAs actively participate in:
1. Requirements Gathering
BAs hold stakeholder workshops and interviews to gather, analyze and document detailed business and technical requirements.
2. Design Phase
BAs review system architecture and provide inputs to support detailed technical design. This helps ensure all business needs will be fulfilled.
3. Development Phase
BAs communicate regularly with developers to clarify requirements upfront and review progress.
4. Testing Phase
BAs define test scenarios, perform end-to-end functional testing, analyze test results and support bug resolution by providing prompt answers from users.
5. Implementation
BAs prepare end user support documentation like user manuals and conduct training programs to ensure smooth system adoption.
6. Operations & Support
BAs continue to gather feedback from end-users and recommend enhancements or process changes for incremental improvement.
This end-to-end involvement makes business analysts a pivotal glue holding together business expectations and technical delivery – making them so valuable.
What Kind of Salary Can You Expect?
According to the 2022 Robert Half Salary Guide, average starting salaries for business analysts based on experience level are:
| Years of Experience | Average Salary | Hourly Rate Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 years | $62,500 | $30.05 |
| 1-3 years | $72,750 | $34.98 |
| 5-7 years | $94,250 | $45.30 |
| 7 – 10 years | $103,750 | $49.88 |
| 10 – 15 years | $121,000 | $58.17 |
As you gain broader experience delivering large, complex initiatives expect your salary to rise further.
Location, company size, industry niche and specialized BA certifications also positively impact compensation.
For example, the average salary can range from $85,000 in Atlanta to $122,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area according to PayScale data.
Huge Projected Job Growth
The business analyst career path offers incredible stability and job security looking at market demand.
Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for business operations specialists (including management analysts, BAs and organizational development roles) will grow 25% over 2020-2030.
That is much higher than the average job growth rate of 8% for all occupations!
Companies rely heavily on BAs during expansion phases, digital transformation initiatives or when upgrading legacy enterprise systems like ERPs.
Shortage of skilled talent also pushes salaries higher. So it is definitely a great time to get into the BA career track!
Sounds Appealing and Rewarding? Here’s How to Start
I get asked constantly by new entrants on the best path forward to switch careers into business analysis successfully.
Hopefully the points above got you excited enough to seriously consider this career option!
Now, let’s explore top strategies to set yourself up for success:
1. Assess Your Current Skills
Compare your competencies honestly against the BA skills listed previously. Make a list of strengths and skill gaps. Filling those gaps is vital so have a learning plan.
Luckily, most skills can be developed with effort over time.
2. Understand the Industry
Research the outlook for business analyst jobs in your geographical area and industry verticals you want to target.
Identify 2 to 3 firms you would like to work at so you can tailor your career journey accordingly. Reach out to people in those organizations through your network for insider perspectives that prove useful.
3. Consider Getting Certified
Entry-level certifications like ECBA (Entry Level Business Analyst) require no experience and help you stand out. CCBA and CBAP require 2 to 5 years of experience but are highly valued.
4. Update Your Resume
Carefully go through business analyst job descriptions and incorporate related keywords to describe your experience. Quantify your contributions using metrics – budgets managed, improvements achieved etc.
Make sure to highlight analytical projects, process enhancements, solution implementation and stakeholder engagement from your work history even if not an official BA role.
5. Start Applying
Don’t wait until you check every box before applying. Leverage sites like LinkedIn, Indeed.com etc. to identify and tailor your resume to open roles.
Aim to submit at least 8 to 10 applications weekly. Follow up consistently with networks and connections at your target companies.
I hope you found the insider tips helpful to launch your BA career. Let me know if any other questions come up!