Your current financial background / experience will help you as a financial business analyst, but not as an IT Business Analyst

Verbal Communication Skills
You need to be skilled in all forms of verbal communication including presentation skills, meeting facilitation skills, negotiation skills, conflict resolution skills, etc.

Written Communication Skills
Report writing skills, technical writing skills, document writing skills, UML and Use Case documentation skills, etc.

Requirement Analysis Skills
Requirements elicitation skills, requirements documentation skills, requirements management skills, requirements validation skills, requirements analysis skills .

Technical Skills
Other technical skills besides UML and Use Case skills

lve seven year experience in finacial products ( Stock Broking , MF , Insurance , IPO, etc ) and before that 2 year work in IT field .

Course done C-Dac , PGDCA , MBA , PGDFS And all certifications of Exchange ( NSE , BSE , AMFI , CURRENCY )

Right now lm looking to Business Analyst Profile in IT Sector .

Or suggest me What opportunities are there for me in IT sector as a Finance domain expert ?.

What are the key ingredients a person should have to become a business analyst?

I would advice that you try internships in different industries (business analysis, network administration, etc.) that way you will be better informed as to the suitability of those careers.

Don’t be one of those people who assume that they have to do what they studied in school or who assume that just because they studied something in school, they will enjoy doing it for the rest of their careers.

Assume that the time you spend in school is an opportunity to investigate and experience different careers, find the career that you will really enjoy and then get a headstart in that career before graduating!

Start by identifying the careers that map to your 20+ years of skills and experience as a medical representative. For example, identify where you spend your time (Customer Support, Sales and Marketing, Analytics, data.) and then identify similar roles that you can transfer your skills into in Information Technology (IT) or Pharma.

You may come up with an analysis that suggests that a lot of your skills can be transfered to similar jobs in IT (Data Analytics, Business Intelligence, etc.) but not necessarily Pharma or some other industry.

The goal is to find new roles or responsibilities in the new industry (pharma, IT, etc.) similar to the roles that you have been performing or doing

In addition I have the experience of Functional support to a DW BI project- 8 months.

What opportunities are there for me in IT sector as a pharma domain expert or a Business analyst?.

lve done comptia A+,Network + and Server + and lm about to start a bach in business administration degree.

right now lm stuck and lm not realy sure whats the next step in doing something related in IT whilst lm working and doing a degree.

please help me?

I would like to encourage you in your quest to transition to a business analyst career.

Putting the title “Business Analyst – Developer” would not make you more attractive to hiring managers or make your resume stand out because hiring managers are usually either seeking to hire a business analyst or they are seeking to hire a software developer.

However, if you want to transition to a business analyst career because you feel like that is a better career for you, then you may be in for some good news.

IT Managers do need business analysts with a good understanding of the software development life cycle.

I would say that you should use that as a your selling point over someone who doesn’t have first hand knowledge of the software development process … on the other hand, just changing the title of your resume is not enough to get you a job. You have to do much more than that!

I have been a programmer/web developer and now changing to be a business analyst. So in my resume I thought to put “Business Analyst – Developer” as the title. Would this stand out and attract more places for interview? Or its not good to put my “Developer” as part of the title?

It actually solvable.

Here is an example of one good way to solve it:
http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/21/become-a-leader-and-get-the-job-you-want/

Please read the article and let me know what you think about the approach.

Please review the comments on the page and leave or post yours as well.

Also, I will be releasing a SWOT Training module that addresses the same situation using SWOT Analysis.

Those are the 2 points I listed under weaknesses section. I have now tackled point 1 and I am awaiting/observing the outcome before I make further amendments. As for point 2, how best do I get more BA experience?

I read the article entitled “How Important Is Domain Knowledge For A Business Analyst?” and I am sure I fit into the Specialist BA (for SCM, ERP and CRM). However, like the article pointed out, potential employers look at BA who can give them immediate results. How can I then work my way to get my foot in?

It seems like a chicken-and-egg cycle….

You are quite right in youe analysis. Yes, you are probably not being short listed into any category and the reason is that your Resume doesn’t match that the profile of a BA for the job in question.

As this has happened more than once, it means that your resume is not stacking up again that of other BA’s (the competition).

Taking the analysis further, you have to ask yourself why:

1. Is a cosmetic problem that just requires a resume re-write
2. Is it a deeper problem that may only be solved my getting more hands-on BA experience?

So, these are possible weaknesses;

1. weak resume
2. insufficient hands-on BA experience

So, was my answer helpful?

Thanks

As I was doing the SWOT analysis as you suggested, I have no problem adding points to Strengths and Opportunities. But I realized that I don’t really know what my weaknesses and threats are because each time my application is unsuccessful, I am not able to get any answers/feedback as to why I am not suitable other than “my background does not match the client’s requirements”.

This means that when they process the applications, I usually don’t get into the “probably” or “short-listed” category. The only weakness that I could think of is that I have never had any title/designation as a BA but as software engineer, analyst programmer, support analyst. However, in reality at work, I do play the hat of a BA, in fact, this happens most of the time.

I have been spending time researching what a BA’s CV should be and at the moment, I am not sure if I’ve nailed it. I also wonder if this is an Australian thing or it is common everywhere else.

Do you have some pointers for me in regards to this?

Thanks in advanced.

I have just repackaged my CV last night to emphasize my success as a BA than a developer. I have more than 5 years of solid technical experience in Oracle but I want to progress to business and functional area more than technical.

Will let you know how I go

Thanks again!

I would be glad to help you achieve your career goals.

1. I recommend that you start with a SWOT Analysis. I will be releasing the full SWOT Analysis Training in a short time but we can do an impromptu one for you. For the SWOT Analysis, your Objective is “Transitioning into a Full-Time Business Analysis Role’

2. List all your known strengths and weaknesses based on the feedback you’ve been getting from Interviewers.

3. Identify all the BA opportunities that you’re pursuing or hope to pursue as well as the threats to your success

4. Prepare a strategic step-by-step plan that helps you achieve your objective.

Regards