There is the SalesForce package that can be installed locally on your desktop and then is the SalesForce that is on-demand.

What you really need to do is install SalesForce locally and then learn everything about it.

I have a few questions for you about your SalesForce career:

When you say that SalesForce courses / CRM courses are expensive, which SalesForce courses are you referring to?

When you say that you are studying salesforce on your own, what program of study are you following? How do you know what to study or what not to study?

In terms of learning salesforce, are you interested in SalesForce development or SalesForce implementation only or “what area of SalesForce are you planning to focus on?

I did speak to several IT recruiters and others and they indicated that being certified is an advantage but not an absolute in getting in and I have been studying on my own since the course are really expensive.

Any suggestions or ideas or comments you can give me an insight would be very valuable to me.

Networking is out of the question too since I don’t know anyone working in SalesForce so you can see my dilemma here.

Thank you !

Axel
San Mateo, California

An MA in Technology Management, an MBA, a Computer Science Degree or a Business Administration Degree will not teach you Business Analysis.

These are very good educational qualifications but don’t make the mistake of assuming that your educational qualifications meets teh requirements of learning business analysis … because they don’t!

Business Analysis is its own body of knowledge and it is separate from what you will learn from college. It is the same mis-conception that programmers have about getting a computer science degree which does not necessarily teach you programming in .NET Development or SQL Server Database Programming.

Start by actually listing out the skills, technologoies, techniques, Roles and Responsibilities of a Business Analyst.

After you have done that, next identify those business analysis skills or techniques that you have learned by virtue of your MA Program … this will in most likelihood be a fraction of what you need to learn,

Next, go ahead and close the skills gap by learning the missing business analysis skills or body of knowledge through self-study or through a business analysis training provider.

Only after you accomplish all these should you focus on getting business analysis experience

I have been interested in Business Analysis ever since i found out about the function of an Analysis.

I have geared my education around the ideal, I have a BS in Computers and Information Systems with Minor in Business Administration.

I have a MA in Information Technology Management and I’m 7 months away from my MBA.

I have been doing System Engineering and integration support for a big Defense program for the last five years and now i really want to follow my dream of being a BA consultant.

I feel like I haven’t been able to start a BA career because of the lack of experience with Peoplesoft, SAP, etc.

How do gain that hands-on domain experience without first getting a full-time job?

What other advice would you give me on becoming a BA?

Thanks

Sherrod

Evaluate by reviewing the market demand for the applications, their learning curve, and the number of job postings on places like Dice.com for these specific applications.

Then choose the CRM application that best suites your preferences.

Whatever you do, make sure that you learn Requirements Analysis as well … because you can’t get away from that as a business analyst!

I don’t have much experience in Requirement gathering, so I would like to go for CRM BA.

Please guide me on how can change my career.

I hold an an MCA (Master of Computer Application).

I would be glad to answer your questions … yes the business analyst job market is fragmented and at the moment, there are several domains available to business analysts.

There are career paths for business analysts:

1. The IT Business Analyst Career Path
2. The Domain Business Analyst Career Path

Before jumping into the Pharma / Healthcare domain question, let me ask you:

Why do you think that you’re best suited for a career in Pharma / Healthcare?

I have a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology And Chemical Sciences In USA…
Recently I underwent a Business Analyst Coaching…After attending the BA classes, I have learnt there are so many domains.I want to pursue BA career in a Pharmaceutical/healthcare domain

My question is
How do I go about mastering the BA with respect to pharma/healthcare domain?

I am strugging with the same problem of Sri, what we differ lies in the working experience as I have been working in the IT sales and business development roles for 10 years within which I spent 4 years focusing on the business application solutions such as Oracle ERP and Business Intelligence of other packages.

Leveraging by my undergraduate study in Marketing and being myself the user of of sales force automation, I believe CRM is the domain area I should further specialise. Here is my plain points,

- For the positions of junior CRM business analyst, will the employers prefer fresh graduates in computer science & IT to seasoned sales professionals without academic IT foundation?
- I can take the CRM certification course to enhance my knowledge yet it seems the employers only value candidates with field experience with certification but not certification only.

I am also very interested in the free coaching session on “How You Can Transition To A CRM Business Analyst Career” and wonder if I can join as well.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Suki