Announcing Payment Plans – Limited Time Offer

Announcing Payment Plans

Our readers have been asking if they can get a payment plan on the Software Developer Boot Camp or the Business Analyst Boot Camp. I am happy to announce that the answer is yes.
In addition the new payment plans include a 50% discount if you sign up right away. This offer expires Midnight, February 2, 2009. So hurry to take advantage of the limited time discount. Click here for more information

Recession Proof Your Career – How to Survive In 2009

It’s not news anymore. We are officially in a recession and people are being laid off everywhere. At first, it looked like the IT sector was going to come through this relatively unscathed, but that is no longer the case. Microsoft, IBM and Intel all announced job cuts this week.

In 2008, the US economy shed 1.2 million jobs. 10% of those jobs were Information Technology jobs. As of December, over 100,000 IT jobs had been lost and it doesn’t look like the situation is going to get better any time soon.

Recession Proof Your Career – Eat Lunch With Co-Workers

The current economy makes it a bad time to be isolated at work. Many job cuts are being announced every single day, making it critical that you build your network of co-workers, colleagues and acquaintances up to provide a safety net if your job situation is ever in jeopardy.

You Need People and You Need Information

Are you missing out in information at the office that could be critical to your career? You may be a hard working employee who eats lunch at your desk and prefers reading another IT book to attending company parties.

However, knowledge is power. Networking within your company prevents you from being the one who is always the last to know about major changes that may impact you, your team or the organization.

Good Note Taking Means More Efficient Requirements Elicitation

The discussion of requirements elicitation tools and techniques rarely seems to include a discussion of the best way to document your findings.

Lifehack has written an insightful post on How to Take Notes like Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison’s diary contains five million pages and is maintained as an important part of the United States historical record. Two of the criteria for Edison’s record system are crucial to the Business Analyst:

Item #3 -The Records must be Rearward-looking. Basically, you should always keep requirements traceability in mind as you take notes.

Recession Proof Your Career – 7 Signs a Pink Slip is Coming

Being laid off usually comes as a shock to most people that it happens to. This is even more the case if your company does not make a public announcement of its intentions to cut jobs.

However, the layoff decision is rarely made the morning you get your pink slip. Managers are often given weeks within which to select the people who will be laid off from their teams.

How To Beat The 2009 Recession By Improving Your Skills – Top Predictions

2009 is proving to be a big year for online learning as more tech professionals enroll in web based, video based, distance learning programs to improve their skills and employment prospects.

I have compiled some predictions from learning experts, coaches, trainers, educators and training providers published in the eLearn Magazine

• Allison Rossett, San Diego State University, USA: … today, in these harsh economic times, there is pressure to reduce costs. Technology is favored over registrations in hotels and hours in classrooms away from customers and clients …

How to Write Use Cases – A Tutorial

Use cases can be used to document any type of system. They can be used to document a software system or to document a company’s business processes. Use cases are useful because they quickly and early clarify how the system will behave when the users interact with it. Use cases are easy for users to understand. In addition, use cases are helpful for brainstorming conditions under which the system may fail and working out solutions to the problems that fulfill the stakeholders’ interests. How to Write Use Cases Develop a list of usage goals from your stake holders. This is your initial list of use cases. Develop a short paragraph describing each use case this will be your summary or description.

What is a Use Case?

A use case is a description of how a system’s behavior in response to a request from a stakeholder known as an actor. The actor could be a person or an external system that interacts with the system being described.

The actor initiates an action with the system with the purpose of accomplishing a goal. The system responds to the actor’s action in a way that fulfills the interests of all of its stakeholders. A use case summarizes a complete series of related scenarios that may unfold.

IT Career Coach Named A 50 Best Career Coaching Site

It is official. We (IT Career Coach) has been selected as one of the best 50 career coaching or job hunting sites on the web by Online University Review.

This selection is important because with the predictions of US unemployment approaching 10% by the end of 2008, there is no more important time than now to take interest in your career prospects and professional marketability.

The 50 best job hunting sites cover interview tips, resume writing, employee workplace experiences, personal, pertinent and honest advice on very personal experiences encountered while job hunting.

How to Elicit, Capture or Gather Requirements Effectively

Requirements Elicitation is a crucial aspect of Requirements Gathering and Analysis. There are many tools and techniques available to business analysts to succeed at gathering the right requirements for a software development project. These tools and techniques include Interviewing, Observation, Brainstorming, Focus Groups, Prototyping and Surveys

What is Requirements Elicitation?

Requirements elicitation is the process of identifying the sources of requirements for a new system and obtaining those requirements from those sources.

Potential sources of requirements include users, documents, regulators and even legacy software code.

Requirements elicitation is a crucial part of the Requirements Gathering, Documentation and Analysis Process.

It is a critical business activity that requires the focus of a skilled business analyst.

Regardless of the elicitation techniques you choose or how you implement those techniques, you need to do whatever it takes to understand the real needs of your customers.

How To Get Computer Programming Experience

In the computer programming industry, experience is King.

Real world, hands on, practical programming experience is valued more than computer programming certifications, software development diplomas or even programming job titles.

What you know is much more important than how you obtained the knowledge!

The next time you read a computer programming job description and you feel overwhelmed by the list of degrees or certifications required, just remember that the job market for computer programmers is not really that formal.

SQL Interview Questions Part 1

If you want to master working with SQL or are preparing for a SQL Interview, you already know that answering SQL interview questions is key to getting hired for a SQL job.

What you may not know is that the importance of learning SQL Interview Questions goes beyond just getting a job!

Believe it or not, getting a SQL job is not as hard as keeping the job after you get it!

In this article I will share the most effective strategies for acing SQL interview questions, getting a job or keeping a SQL job after you get it!

Deciphering the Business Analyst Job Description

Learning and improving your business analysis skills is a must. Sometimes you can get so caught up in your current business analyst job that you miss the boat on new skills in the industry. Browsing and reading job descriptions can help you create a career development plan that keeps you on the leading edge of the business analysis industry.

You can find out “what employers look for in a job candidate” by browsing business analyst job descriptions.

However, you will notice that some business analyst job descriptions are poorly written!

A weak business analyst job description does not provide enough information for you to compare your skill set against the requirements posted on the job posting.

A Well Written Business Analyst Job Description Is An Effective Hiring Tool!

Here is an example of a weak or ineffective business analyst job description:

How to Get an Entry Level Business Analyst Job Part 2

This article is in two parts. You are currently reading part two and you may click here to read part one of the article

Once you’ve determined that Business Analysis is your dream job your next steps will be to get trained, get networked and get your entry level business analyst job.

SigningUp For The Business Analyst Boot Camp

The next thing you will need to achieve your goal of becoming a business analyst and at the minimum, getting an entry level job, is to get trained.

How To Become A Rockstar In Your Industry

Top performers, rockstars or successful professionals have a mindset or a way of thinking.

They practice a code or follow a set of principles that helps them achieve the best results in their industry.

Read the rest of this post to learn more about their philosophy and other actionable strategies for becoming the best at what you do.

Always Be Learning

According to the Japanese Kaizen philosophy, consistence and commitment to studying, getting more information or improving your skills is better than sudden bursts of efforts.

How To Get An Entry Level Business Analyst Job Part 1

What do you do when you are considering a switch to a career in Business Analysis? You need to evaluate your suitability for the job and begin to set goals and timelines to achieve training and mentoring to become a business analyst.

This article is in two parts. You are currently reading part one and you may click here to read part two of the article.

What should you do when you decide you want to become an IT Business Analyst?

You may have been a software developer, data analyst or even someone who has never worked in the Information Technology industry at all.

Perhaps you have an MBA or other business degree, but you have an interest in technology and you think IT Business Analysis is something you’d like to try your hand at.

Save 50% On A Boot Camp

You Have Less Than 24 Hours to Save 50% On the SQL Boot Camp or Business Analyst Boot Camp or Software Developer Boot Camp.

This special one-time offer expires 11:59 PM on Thursday, January 15, 2009

Special 50% Discount

To place your order now, simply enter the discount code: EarlyBirdCoupon in the Shopping Cart and you are done. This offer is valid only for a few more hours … so, act now before the offer expires!

About The 2009 IT Professional Boot Camps

The online, hands-on, instructor-led, training covers the beginner to advanced, end to end training requirements for Business Analysts, Computer Programmers, SQL Query Writers, Database Developers, Data Analysts and other Software Development professionals

Business Analysts Don’t Really “Gather” Requirements

This article is a discussion of the many Requirements Elicitation tools and techniques that are available to Business Analysts and project management team. A mastery of these tools and techniques help the business analyst have more success in the requirements gathering process.

It is common knowledge that the biggest reason for IT project failure is poor requirements. If the requirements that the developers are working from are wrong, incomplete or otherwise inadequate, that project is doomed to join the 70% of IT projects that fail every year.

So why not simply gather good (SMART) requirements? Ask any business analyst and they will tell you that the biggest problem they face is getting users to tell them what they really want out of a new system or process. Why? The reasons are varied. Sometimes it appears that users simply won’t communicate what they really want. Sometimes it appears that the business analyst is asking all the wrong questions. Sometimes it appears that the users change their minds all the time.

Become an Expert Business Analyst or Increase your BA Salary

If You Are Alive, You Want More Money! or you’ve been thinking of ways to increase your salary as a business analyst … yes, you have.

If you’re human and still breathing, what you get paid and how to make more money crosses your mind ever so often.

For good or bad, it is human nature to always want more.

We want more money, more love, more space, more friends and more fun.

This can be a bad thing, if it becomes an obsession that overtakes the desire to do a good job.

3 Day Early Bird Registration Discount Begins Now

The early bird registration for SQL Boot Camp Training, Business Analyst Boot Camp Training and Software Developer Boot Camp Training begins now and ends on Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time (CST).

Use the early bird coupon EarlyBirdCoupon on the shopping cart now to get a substantial discount on the training packages immediately.

Beginner To Advanced SQL Skills In Hot Demand

Beginner to Advanced SQL Skills are among the top-paying, hottest, in-demand tech skills.

The demand for SQL skills is strongest across the breadth of Information Technology careers that includes the business analyst, web developer, data analyst, report writer, computer programmer or IT manager.

This article explains the reason why IT professionals at different stages in their careers (beginners, intermediate or senior) experience a consistently high demand for beginner to advanced SQL Query Writing skills.

Tech Predictions for 2009

In 2009, there will be technology changes that business analysts, software developers and database developers should note for the purpose of advancing their careers. Social Media and Agile Development are two of the major trends that IT workers would do well to utilize in the year 2009.

Happy New Year!! Here are some technology predictions for 2009 that are worth a read for software developers, business analysts and database developers who want to position themselves for success in 2009:

1. Pay attention to Social Media says CapGemini:

“2009 will be the year when use of social networking tools within companies will be the talk of the town. Yes, it has been around for a while but to be honest, nothing much has really happened apart from that Serena Software uses Facebook internally.

How To Build Your Online Social Media Networks

President Elect Barack Obama won the US Presidential Elections by making effective use of Social Media Networking. This free course presents how you can use the "power of online social networks" to get a job, advance your career or become known as an expert in your industry.

Happy New Year to you. I am starting off the new year with a bonus gift in the form of a series of articles on “how to build or promote your professional network online, using the power of social media“

The Conversational Age Is Here:

You have heard about the digital age or the information age. However you may not have heard the latest. We are now in a Conversational Age! The conversational age is an era of human development, where the sharing of conversations, information and social interactions between humans becomes the hallmark of human civilization.