ITCareerCoach Training - Coaching » business analyst interview questions http://www.it-career-coach.net How To Take Your Career To The Next Level Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:09:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 What Software Do I Learn to Become A Business Analyst? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/10/20/what-software-do-i-learn-to-become-a-business-analyst/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/10/20/what-software-do-i-learn-to-become-a-business-analyst/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:16:47 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3323

what software should you-learn to become a business analyst?

what software should you-learn to become a business analyst?

[Ask IT Career Coach] is a Career Advice Newsletter for Information Technology (IT) professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, data analysts, database developers, technical writers, project managers and software testers.

If you, have a challenging question about your career, submit it here and we will answer yours just as we are answering this question submitted by a technical writer titled: What Software Do I Learn to Become A Business Analyst? …

Question

How do I learn or get the software knowledge that would make me a business analyst?

What types of software programs will I have to use on the job; and how do I learn these programs in a visual manner without having to refer to textbooks?

Answer:

You do not understand what a business analyst does and because of that you are mixing software jobs (like that of a computer programmer’s) with the business analyst’s job.

This mix-up is quite common because software oriented jobs are more common and better understood than business analyst jobs.

When you think of a computer programmer’s job, the picture that comes to mind is that of a highly skilled technology savvy professional who spends a lot of time building software programs, creating data entry forms and screens, designing websites or even installing desktop applications.

Unfortunately, when you think of business analysts, you also imagine that their duties or tasks are similar to those of computer programmers!

Because of this, you are wrongly associating the business analyst’s career with more software / technology careers like software testing, technical writing or computer programming.

So, in TODAY'S POST, I will contrast the role of a software tester, computer programmer, technical writer and business analyst to bring the point home.

What Does A Business Analyst Really Do?

The primary skills that business analysts use on the job are communication skills
(both written and verbal) unlike computer programmers, whose primary skills are tied to expertise in specific technologies like C#, Visual Basic, Java, PHP.

Business Analysts are highly-skilled or expert at communicating technology requirements with stakeholders, customer, power users or even technical teams (think software developers, software testers, web designers).

The primary communication tools used by business analysts while facilitating the requirements engineering process are Office productivity tools including Microsoft Word (for documenting requirements), Microsoft PowerPoint (for making presentations) and Microsoft Excel.

However, unlike computer programmer jobs, business analyst jobs are not required to be software or technology centered.

Don’t get me wrong!

Some job postings for business analysts require knowledge of software development languages like C# or Java or a software development background.

The business analysts that apply for these job postings are more accurately classified as Technical Business Analysts.

There are several domains or specializations available to business analysts (mortgage, financial, telecommunications / telco, automotive, healthcare, insurance) and technical business analysis is just one of these domains.

Read more about domain business analysts here:

However, the requirements for domain business analysts are not the same as the requirement for becoming a business analyst.

You are a business analyst first before you become a technical / domain business analyst.

So, don’t apply the role, responsibilities and requirements for the technical business analysis domain to all business analyst domains.

Competence or mastery of Microsoft Office Productivity software (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is a requirement for business analyst jobs even when it is not stated on the job posting.

A business analyst who uses Office Productivity software can document requirements with Microsoft Word, make PowerPoint presentations and run what-if analysis using Microsoft Excel.

Focusing on software skills beyond Microsoft Office software makes you more of a computer programmer than a business analyst.

For your information, here are some of the differences between computer programmer jobs and business analyst jobs.

Business Analysts Compared To Computer Programmers

  • Business Analysts gather requirements while computer programmers build to specifications.

  • Business Analysts document work flows and business processes while computer programmers model and build software programs that follow those workflows or business processes.

  • Business analyst are hired for their written and verbal communication skills while computer programmers are hired for their expertise or skills in specific programming languages or technology platforms.

  • A computer programmer's work is deeply invested in learning or using technology while a business analyst’s work is deeply invested in understanding, documenting and communicating business requirements.

  • A business analyst’s primary software tool is Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint while a computer programmer’s primary software skill is knowledge of Java or C# or Visual Basic or PHP or other programming languages.

  • Business Analysts document the requirements or features of software programs while computer programmers build software programs.

  • Both the business analyst and software developer are involved with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for different reasons. While the business analyst owns the analysis and documentation of software requirements, the computer programmers owns the building of software programs.

  • Read more about the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) here:

I am also going to contrast the role of business analysts with that of software testers and technical writers to bring this home.

Business Analysts Compared To Software Testers

  • Software Testers are more hands-on with programming than business analysts.

    Software Testers are more skilled in programming because they sometimes have to write automated tests using scripting programming languages.

    A business analyst should not be required to write scripts or learn programming languages except in instances where they are applying for technical business analyst jobs.

    So, you cannot project the hands-on software skills requirements for software testers onto the hands-on skill requirements for business analysts.

  • Software Testers write manual or automated tests that verify that software programs developed by computer programmers were written according to the specifications or requirements documented by business analysts.
  • Software Testers have to test or inspect the procedures or functions written by computer programmers.

    For that reason, they may have to learn the basics of the programming language used in creating the software program.

    There is almost no value in business analysts inspecting a programmer’s code or even messing with it because Business Analysts do not have those competencies!

  • Read more about Software Tester Careers here:

Business Analysts Compared To Technical Writers

  • The skills exercised by technical writers are similar to that of business analysts in some respects.

    Both technical writers and business analysts exercise strong written communication skills.

    However, while a technical writer’s skill is useful for documenting the features of a software program after it is built, a business analyst’s skill is useful for documenting the features of a software program before it is built!

  • A technical writer’s primary role is the documenting of existing software features, business processes, etc.

    Because of this, a technical writer may have to learn specific software programs (apart from MS Word or PowerPoint) to help them with create technical documentation like Help Files, Software Manuals, etc.

    The technical writing industry is such that job postings require knowledge of specific software documentation tools.

    However, this must not be confused with the software requirements for business analysts.

    Business Analysts are not technical writers and the business analyst’s job does not require knowledge of specific software programs apart from the ubiquitous (Microsoft Office, MS Word, MS Excel or MS PowerPoint).

  • While the technical writing industry is componentized along the lines of software documentation tools (Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Frame Maker, Adobe Acrobat, Quark Xpress, Corel Ventura), the business analyst industry is segmented along the lines of domain specialization (financial, utilities, web / user interface (UI) business analysts, etc.).

  • Read More about Technical Writer Careers:

What Does It Really Take To Become A Business Analyst?

The requirements for business analysts’ jobs are primarily documentation, requirements analysis and communication (both written and verbal).

While it is common for a business analyst to spend his / her time, preparing PowerPoint presentations, taking meeting notes using Microsoft Word or writing Use Cases in plain-old Microsoft Word, it is common for a computer programmer / software tester / technical writer to spend the same amount of time coding new program features / documenting bugs / documenting the features of a software program.

A business analyst must be 100% comfortable in his / her role as a communicator, presenter, leader, facilitator or analyzer without feeling the need to learn more software tools!

How To Get Hired For A Business Analyst Job – Case Study

Some time ago, I was hired to help an Information Technology (IT) director put together a software development team for a financial software project in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.

In that role, we posted a senior business analyst job opening and then started interviewing qualified business analysts.

The business analyst I interviewed and recommended got the job because she did something different from the other business analysts who applied for the same job.

She walked into the interview with a bound, spiral document that showcased the comprehensiveness, thoroughness and versatility of several business documents she had created for one automotive client in the Greater Saint Louis region.

She did not get hired because of what she said at the business analyst job interview or because of the software experience listed on her resume.

She got the business analyst job, by showcasing her hands-on business analysis skills.

What differentiated her was a compilation of various types of business analysis documents she had worked on for an automotive client in the Greater Saint Louis area.

The financial client hired her as an Information Technology (IT) business analyst for a financial software project because they connected with the hands-on, visual depiction of her business analysis skills exemplified by her Microsoft Word based portfolio.

My final advice?

Don’t approach the business analyst industry based on how the software testing, technical writing or computer programmer industries work.

Remove false associations between the business analyst’s role (primarily written and verbal analysis or communication of requirements) and the hands-on skill requirements for software testers, technical writers or computer programmers.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/10/20/what-software-do-i-learn-to-become-a-business-analyst/feed/ 1 What Do You Study To Become A Business Analyst? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/08/15/what-do-you-study-to-become-a-business-analyst/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/08/15/what-do-you-study-to-become-a-business-analyst/#comments Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:37:26 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3260

What Courses Do You Study To Become A Business Analyst?

What Courses Do You Study To Become A Business Analyst?


You may start a business analysts career by taking some of the courses discussed in this post.

Keep in mind that for business analysis careers, soft skills count as much or in some cases even more than hard skills.

So, don’t make the classical rookie mistake of focusing on the hard skill requirements to the detriment of your soft skills!

The list of formal, informal or college courses that you may study for a business analyst career include:

  1. Study computer science & information technology courses in college because that will help you relate to the coding or testing that takes place on information technology / software development projects.

  2. Study Systems Analysis courses as they may help you get a better idea of how different networking, hardware & software systems are integrated into one functional Information Technology (IT) department.

  3. Take Technical Writing and Business Communication courses because a key part of the work that you perform as a business analyst is communicating business problems or solutions.

  4. Study business management courses as they will help you understand understand strategic and tactical business goals and objectives or see things from a management, stakeholder or business perspective.

    Keep in mind that not only do business analysts work in Information Technology (IT) departments, they also work in specialized business domains like Accounting, Finance, Sales and Marketing, so taking business courses can be helpful.

  5. Take conflict resolution, interpersonal, communication, verbal, presentation, negotiation, public speaking and leadership courses.

    While these sort of skills are not traditionally taught as part a formal college class, you can gain the required information from textbooks and audio material on bookstores like Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

The courses that you may take to become a business analyst may be divided into formal (business / technical) or informal (interpersonal, communication and leadership) skills.

So my friend, now you know what you may study to succeed as a business analyst … do do something with this information :-)

Thanks and Best Wishes


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/08/15/what-do-you-study-to-become-a-business-analyst/feed/ 0 Bridging the Gap between Business and IT: The Case for Business Analysts http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/07/03/bridging-the-gap-between-business-experience-ba-training/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/07/03/bridging-the-gap-between-business-experience-ba-training/#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:33:25 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2940

bridging the gap for business analysts

business analysts build bridges

In some organizations, the technical lead or senior software developer is also asked to gather, analyze or document the software development requirements.

This may be the case when:

  • Cowboy Coding -The Organization has not fully embraced any formal software development methodology
  • Cost Cutting -The manager wants to cut costs by not hiring for full-time business analysts
  • Role Differentiation – The IT / Software Development manager combines the business analyst role into the software development role

But, does combining the business analyst and software development role work or is it better to hire full-time business analysts for your team?

Making A Case For Business Analysts

The traditional or core business analysis skills including software requirements documentation, systems modeling, UML and Use Cases are also required for senior software developer or architect positions.

While business analysts are not computer programmers, their skills have roots in traditional systems analysis or software development career paths.

For example, Skills like UML or Use Cases in particular are also used by software architects in modeling and solution architecture.

With this in mind, some managers are taking the position that traditional software developers are also suited for business analysis duties. And because of this position, they do not see the need for hiring business analysts.

This article examines the case for hiring full-time business analysts for your projects.

Computer Programmers Are Not Business Analysts

While software developers sometimes take on some business analyst roles, they are still not business analysts.

Because there are fundamental differences between the mindset of computer programmers and that of business analysts.

Computer programmers spend most of their time designing computer algorithms or coding software routines while business analysts spend most of their time talking to customers, stakeholders and developers.

In other words, while computer programmers are competent at talking to machines, business analysts are skilled at talking to people!

Let’s look at more justifications for hiring full-time business analysts for your organization.

Bridging The Gap Between Business And IT

There is a fundamental gap between business and IT which often leads to project failure.

Software development teams often miss, drift away or ignore business demands, needs and requirements because they spend most of their working time studying or solving technical / information technology problems.

And business units (marketing, operations, sales, customer service, etc.) often do not care enough about or take the time to understand the constraints of technology.

Because they are like polar opposites, there is a fundamental gap between business and technology which requires the intervention of a third-party … the business analyst.

Most IT Projects Fail, Will Yours?

Statistics suggest that more than 50% of software development / IT projects fail. They fail because of poor communication, cost / budget overruns and poor requirements or a weak business case.

While these statistics make a depressing study, they also point that most I.T. projects are at a risk of failing from inception if they are not planned or executed properly.

That is perhaps the best case for hiring full-time business analyst resources for your IT / software project … business analysts can help mitigate or reduce the risk of project failure.

Can Business Analysts Reduce IT Project Failure Rates?

Hiring full-time business analysts can help mitigate or reduce the risk of project failure by:

  1. Creating a clear or convincing business case for your project management or stakeholder team

  2. Creating a clear, concise, complete set of business requirements which can be used by project managers for estimation and budgeting or by quality assurance and software development teams

  3. Bridging the business to IT gap by improving the communication between the two business units through effective written and oral communication skills

There is a significant risk that your IT Project would fail due to a weak business case, poorly defined requirements, lack of stakeholder engagement etc.

So do your project a favor and hire full-time consulting or permanent business analysts for your IT projects.

How To Find Or Hire Good Business Analysts

The options for finding full-time business analysts are limited to re-training existing staff in business analysis or hiring full-time business analysts from recruiters and job portals like LinkedIn and Dice.com.

One benefit of retraining existing team members in business analysis is to avoid costs of hiring additional staff. On the other hand, one advantage of hiring new business analysts is that they are guaranteed to hit the ground running.

If you decide to keep costs low by using or retraining your current IT team (quality assurance analysts, software developers or technical writers) in business analysis, do this:

Focus on re-training team members who have demonstrated some talent or interest in meeting or working with stakeholders, customers and users or in documenting requirements

Then retrain or sharpen your team’s business analysis skills using this resource … that way, your team can hit the ground running or bring new business analysis skills to bear on your project.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/07/03/bridging-the-gap-between-business-experience-ba-training/feed/ 1 What Does It Take To Learn Business Analysis? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/05/21/what-does-it-take-to-learn-business-analysis/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/05/21/what-does-it-take-to-learn-business-analysis/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 12:55:42 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2918

Highly Paid Business Analyst

Highly Paid Business Analyst

You are reading this post because you are interested in learning or mastering business analysis for a number of reasons like

  • You may have read the US Bureau of Statistics report which predicts that the business analyst role will be one of the fastest growing occupations through 2012

  • You are a computer programmer or software tester who is getting burned out on the monotony of coding or testing

  • You may be interested in learning business analyst because you will gain more visibility by interacting with users and managers

  • You feel that gathering requirements for software projects would be a better fit for you than your current IT position

What Does It Take To Become A Successful Business Analyst?

You may also have read a few business analyst job descriptions or observed successful business analysts at work and because of that, you feel that you can easily succeed at business analysis.

What do you assume that business analysts do or what do you think that it takes to become a business analyst?

Do you assume that business analysts just gather requirements, or that business analysts are essentially MBA graduates or that knowledge of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) or even Quality Assurance makes you a business analyst?

There is more to business analysis than having a knowledge of the software development lifecyle (SDLC) or a college degree like an MBA, or even learning how to gather software requirements.

Business Analysis is really not like computer programming and it is not equivalent to project management or having an MBA.

Business Analysis is a specialized profession just like Law, Medicine or Engineering.

Here is more information on what it takes to become a successful business analyst:

So, What Does A Business Analyst Do?

Computer programming and business analysis while being related, are still worlds apart.

Programming is a wholly technical discipline while business analysis focuses on the business side of managing software or project requirements.

A business analyst does more than just ask users what they want from a software system, type up the requirements in a pretty document and hand it off to the developers.

Business analysts liaise between stakeholders to understand business problems and the requirements for a successful solution using strategic thinking and excellent communication skills.

The business analyst also has to follow best practices for planning, gathering/eliciting, managing, modeling and validating user requirements.

So, you need to thoroughly understand the business analysis profession if you want to make the leap from programming (or any other career) to business analysis.

Business Analysts Don’t Just Gather Requirements!

You do not need an MBA to become a business analyst and getting an MBA is not the same thing as learning business analysts … the two disciplines are separate!

To start learning business analysis, you will need technical skills, business skills, industry knowledge / domain skills and analysis skills.

In addition to the following: Requirements Elicitation, UML, Use Cases, Requirements Modeling and Facilitation skills.

How Do You Demonstrate Business Analysis Skills?

There is no such thing as a new IT career without new IT skills. In the same way, you can’t become a successful business analyst without learning business analysis skills through training and hands-on experience.

If you have been applying to business analyst jobs without any response from potential employers, here is the reason: Your resume does not show that you have real-world business analysis skills.

Many project managers or business managers have been in the situations where they hired persuasive candidates only to regret the lack of understanding of the business analysis role or the lack of BA skills needed to get the job done.

  • The bad news is that too many managers have been burned, so the chances of getting hired without real business analysis skills are not as high as one may assume.

  • The good news is that as we head out of the recession, there is a demand for professionals who have the business analysis skills required to successfully take an IT project to completion.

So, the first and most important step towards a successful business analyst career, is making sure that you have the required business analysis skills.

Yes, there is a real shortage of good business analysts. If you will simply take the time to get trained and get hands-on experience, you can go places in your career!

How Do You Gain Business Analysis Skills?

The traditional way to gain skills in other careers is to get a college degree. But does having a business degree qualify you for a business analyst career?

What if you have a family and can’t take the time off work to go through another two to four years of college?

The problem with traditional college degrees is that they keep you on the theoretical path of learning, where you may spend two to four years in college and still lack the skills, experience or insight needed for a successful business analyst career.

In addition, traditional college degrees are extremely costly. If you’ve worked in the IT industry for any length of time, you would have met successful business analysts or computer programmers who couldn’t afford to go to college and yet succeeded at each of their professional careers.

What Are Your Options For Learning Business Analysis?

There are several alternatives to traditional business colleges. For example, many training companies squeeze the business analyst training program into a few (three to five) days.

You fly or drive in to the location, sit for a few days and then get back to work the next day!

The problem with these three to five day training programs is that you simply will not retain or understand new technical information that is crammed in a short period because real life professional skills are not learned in a hurry!

If you’ve ever crammed for an examination, you know that once the exam is over, most of the information is gone from you because you only studied to pass the examination!

The challenge with short term business analyst training is that you will not retain, understand or apply the information effectively on your job.

You need to learn business analysis concepts in a way that helps you retain it or use it to advance your career.

Learn Business Analysis – The Effective Way

This is how you learn business analysis at the Business Analyst Boot Camp

  1. Mentoring / Coaching: The Business Analyst Boot Camp is designed more like a mentoring / coaching program.

    You get case studies that allow you to practice the real-world business analysis skills before using them on the job.

  2. Skill Building / Career Focused: The Business Analyst Boot Camp is designed like a series of examinations.

    You are quizzed or examined on concepts, skills or ideas so that you are able to think creatively / of the box.

  3. Natural Learning Pace: The Business Analyst Boot Camp is designed to walk you through beginner to advanced business analysis topics in a series of steps.

    You are not expected to learn or master business analysis in three days but over weeks, so that you have time to internalize, understand, appreciate or learn business analysis material in a paced, natural or productive way

The Business Analyst Boot Camp is designed to provide practical training or real-world skills for the IT Business Analyst role and it can be accessed through our online Learning Management System (LMS) from any location and at any time by registered business analysts!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/05/21/what-does-it-take-to-learn-business-analysis/feed/ 26 Getting Back Into The Job Market: How To Start A Business Analyst Career http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/16/getting-back-into-the-job-market-how-to-start-a-business-analyst-career/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/16/getting-back-into-the-job-market-how-to-start-a-business-analyst-career/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:56:46 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2900

starting a new business analyst career

starting a new business analyst career


The good news is that the economy is adding on jobs because it is the time of year when budgets have been approved and employers traditionally post more jobs and because the economy is also beginning to recover.

This is as good a time as any to dust off your resume, polish your act and start the career you have always wanted.

This article tells you how to do that … get back into the job market and start the business analyst career you’ve always wanted!

What Are Employers Hiring For?

Let’s start by reviewing what employers are hiring for, so that you can give them what they want.

  1. Employers are hiring educated business analysts

    I would like to emphasize that having an MBA or a college degree while being helpful, does not make you an educated business analyst.

    Having a degree like an MBA, MIS or computer science degree is considered to be a general educational qualification.

    And the job market requires more specific, business analysis oriented education on topics like UML, Use Cases, Requirements Management, etc.

  2. Employers are hiring skilled business analysts

    These are considered to be business analysts with cutting-edge skills who can hit the ground running, provide timely, focused and relevant business solutions or provide expert business guidance or solutions to the employer.

    At the job interview, a candidate is perceived to be sharp if he or she can answer questions in a comprehensive, correct, detailed, factual and timely manner.

    So, this is a question of how well you can recall, retain or re-use your business analysis knowledge.

  3. Employers are looking for hands-on business analysis experience

    However, your hands-on experience is not always the same as how long you have been working as a business analyst.

    Employers are more interested in how prepared you are to provide solutions to challenging business problems than in your length of years in the industry!

    So, do not focus on how many years you have or have not been working as a business analyst. Instead, focus on the depth, richness or breadth of your experience!

So, with these points in mind, I will show you how to get back into the business analysis job market.

How To Start A Business Analysis Career

The first step to getting back into the BA job market is to recognize what employers are looking or hiring for.

The next step after figuring out the needs of employers in the current job market is to give them what they want.

I recommend that you start by attending the business analyst boot camp and here is why:

  1. Becoming a Better Business Analyst

    2. Your first task towards getting back into the job market is to become the most knowledgable business analyst you can be.

    The business analyst boot camp helps you with that by training you on the concepts, skills, methodologies, tools or techniques used by business analysis in an online learning environment.

    Through online training videos, presented in a step by step manner, you learn or master beginner to advanced level topics in UML, Use Cases, Requirements Analysis, Elicitation, Modeling and more …

  2. Become A Skilled Business Analyst

    3. Research has shown that one of the best ways to sharpen your skills is to practice answering questions like you are in a job interview.

    The business analyst boot camp uses the same technique for sharpening your skills or preparing you for the job market.

    You are presented with single/multiple-choice practice tests or quizzes that sharpen your skills by helping improve the correctness, promptness and comprehensiveness of your answers to business analysis questions.

  3. Shortening The BA Experience Gap

    4. One of the key features of the business analysis boot camp is the incorporation of hands-on business analysis tasks as part of you training.

    With the help of our learning management system (LMS), you are challenged to master your material through practical, skill-building, hands-on exercises, problems, case studies, tasks or projects.

Here is a quick review of what the business analyst boot camp online training class offers:

Review Of Online Business Analysis Training

  • The Business Analyst Boot Camp learning management system presents you with foundational business analysis concepts to start with.

  • Once you are through with the foundational concepts, more advanced concepts are introduced or presented step by step.

  • All your assignments, quizzes, hands-on tasks or projects are graded and the results instantly displayed in your real-time, online progress monitoring tool!

  • All the courses are offered online and your videos are retained as part of your account. What this means is that you can go back or refer to any lecture, refresh your mind or re-train yourself at will!

The goal of the business analyst boot camp is to help you become an expert or highly skilled business analyst.

Achieving the goal of becoming an expert or highly skilled business analyst is critical to career success because it addresses the key concerns that employers have when hiring new business analysts or promoting their existing internal business analysts to a new position.

This post helps you understand the key reasons why employers hire or retain business analysts and it shows you how to start your business analysis career or get back into the job market by addressing the employers concerns.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/16/getting-back-into-the-job-market-how-to-start-a-business-analyst-career/feed/ 3 A Day In The Life Of An Agile Business Analyst http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-agile-business-analyst/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-agile-business-analyst/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:44:19 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2896

Questions for Agile Business Analysts

Questions for Agile Business Analysts

In response to the post: Is a Project Manager or a Business Analyst Career, a Better Fit for You?, a reader sent in the following comments about his experience as an agile business analyst.

In both Iterative and Agile methods, the BA is (or should be) involved with requirements gathering, project communication and facilitation, translating technical and business jargon, holding development to the business needs during the execution phase through Alpha Testing, demos, walk-throughs and issues management.

  • BAs often write the Test Cases and, surprise the Test Scripts when the project doesn’t have QA resources.

  • In the implementation phase, the BA acts as a Level Two Support contact to triage user issues.

  • Then the BA and the PM begin negotiating the features/repairs list for the next spring or iteration.

My question to you is, what has been your experience as a business analyst working on an agile or iterative project?

  • Do you have all your requirements ready before you start development?

  • Do you have to write test cases or test scripts?

  • How do you collaborate or work with testers?

  • How do you collaborate or work with project managers?

  • What are your challenges or pitfalls?

  • Which project or requirements management tools do you use?

  • What are your best practices?


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-agile-business-analyst/feed/ 0 The Agile Business Analyst, A Customer Advocate? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/22/the-agile-business-analyst-a-customer-advocate/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/22/the-agile-business-analyst-a-customer-advocate/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:13:22 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2846

The Agile Business Analyst

The Agile Business Analyst

The Agile Business Analyst plays a key role in facilitating conversations between stakeholders, quality assurance / testing teams, customers, subject matter experts (SMEs) and software developers in an incremental, iterative fast-paced product development environment.

So, who is the Agile Business Analyst and why should business analysts who are already comfortable with the process of eliciting requirements in a traditional product development environment be concerned about becoming more agile?

Introducing The Agile Business Analyst Role

The Agile Business Analyst’s role includes facilitating communication, reducing the reliance on extensive documentation and reducing the length of the feedback loop in product development projects.

  1. Collaborative - The Agile Business Analyst works closely with software developers, stakeholders, project managers and software testers and relies less on comprehensive requirements documentation at the inception of the project.

  2. Flexible and Adaptable - Unlike a more traditional software development project, an agile business analyst expects and welcomes changes in requirements. Being Agile means that changing requirements is not made difficult because of extensive documentation, communication cycles or change management processes.

  3. Just In Time Requirements – An Agile Business Analyst knows what is the right amount of requirements documentation to gather for a development cycle or iteration.

  4. More Face to Face Meetings – Because the Agile Business Analyst focuses on less documentation and more face to face meetings or interviews with stakeholders, software developers or testers, Agile Business Analysts make use of more User Stories and less Use Cases for documenting requirements.

  5. Iterative Development – And unlike requirements management practiced in a traditional waterfall software development life cycle, the agile business analyst only focuses on gathering, analyzing or validating the requirements needed in each iteration.

Between The Agile Business Analyst and Traditional BA

So, the Agile Business Analyst focuses on the deliverables for each iteration to o facilitate a faster development process.

Another key difference with agile business analysts is that they work with software testers or quality assurance professionals to elicit Test Cases directly from User Stories instead of from Use Cases.

Because Agile Business Analysts rely on face to face meetings and in-person communication, they work better in teams where the developers, stakeholders, project managers and testers are located in the same place and are committed to being involved on a continuous basis through the life time of the project.

The Agile Business Analyst gathers just-in-time (JIT) requirements through intense collaboration with customers, customer advocates, software architects, stakeholders and software testers.

Why Are We Not More Agile?

Traditionally, a business analyst is expected to gather all the requirements for a project at the beginning. These requirements are then shared with the Project Manager and Stakeholders as a static, fixed or immutable set of requirements.

This type of requirements gathering is common in product or software development project that make any or all of the following assumptions:

  1. Business Analyst – The business analyst can gather, analyze, validate and specify all the requirements at the beginning of the project and before a single line of code is written.

  2. Project Manager – The project manager needs to have a complete set of requirements to facilitate accurate project planning.

  3. Software Tester / QA – The software tester needs to have a complete set of requirements before creating a test plan and user acceptance or QA tests.

  4. Software Architect – The software architect needs to design the entire software system at the beginning of the project befor e a line of code is written.

  5. Computer Programmers – That computer programmers need to receive an extensive and complete set of requirements preferably in Use Cases format before they start coding.

    Traditional software or product development projects also assume that for developers to create a working product, they need to be told in detail, every basic, alternate path and exception flow through the system.

  6. Customers – That customers have a mind, wants, needs and desires that can be completely known at the beginning of the project through extensive requirements gathering and documentation.

    This also means that once the customer’s requirements is gathered or documented, it will not change during the life cycle of the product or software development cycle … at least not without extensive negotiation, documentation and signing-off.

The Role of The Customer Advocate

But is this true? Can the customer’s mind, needs, wants or desires be known and documented completely at the beginning of the project?

Does setting the customer’s requirements in stone assure a better product, a more satisfied customer and increase the chances of project success?

  1. The needs of today’s customers are not set in stone. Far from it, the very process of gathering customers requirements can change what the customer wants.

  2. The marketplace is always changing and product features become less important or even irrelevant in short periods of time.

  3. The practice of planning projects or designing entire software systems completely, at the inception of a project is fraught with risks, estimates and guesses.

    This practice often leads to more software features that are out of touch with the customer’s needs and more project failures.

    Considering that so many projects planned this way fail, Business Analysts need to consider utilizing more agile communication skills to supply requirements when they are needed.

Unlike the traditional business analyst who works from the assumption that requirements once signed off on are fixed in stone or immutable, the agile business analyst plays the role of a customer advocate by assuming that requirements can and will change during the life cycle of the product development effort.

The agile business analyst welcomes changes in the customer’s requirements because they reflect what the customer really wants and not what was documented.

In doing this, the agile business analyst elevates the customer’s needs above the needs for more documentation.

The agile business analyst understands that there is always some uncertainty in the marketplace, so the planned features of a product or software application cannot be set in stone!

The agile business analyst understand that software developers do not need to have 100% of a product or project’s requirements extensively documented using Use Cases before they begin coding.

So the Agile Business Analyst relies more on communication, presentation and facilitation skills than written documentation in communicating with software / product developers.

Today’s constantly changing marketplace requires the Agile Business Analyst A customer advocate who elevates the customer’s needs above that of extensive requirements documentation!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/22/the-agile-business-analyst-a-customer-advocate/feed/ 6 Can a Developer Make a Good Business Analyst? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/02/can-developers-make-good-business-analysts/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/02/can-developers-make-good-business-analysts/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:59:37 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2774

Computer Programmers Learning Business Analysis

Computer Programmers Learning Business Analysis

I have been talking to a number of software developers, interested in changing roles to business analysis. If you are one of those software developers, then this post is written to show you how to switch careers from software development :-)

There seems to be some bias against switching roles to business analysis from software development. It’s a subtle form of discrimination from folks who stereotype all software developers as nerds with poor presentation and communication skills!

But is that really true? Are you poorly suited for a business analysis role just because you’re a software developer?

On the contrary, software developers can make good business analysts and I will dedicate the rest of this post to debunking this myth … just as I have done with several urban legends on this blog :-)

There are several reasons why a software developer like you would be interested in changing careers to business analysis and some of these could be:

  1. The Junior Programmer: you are new to computer programming and you are not enjoying it. Hence you wonder if you will be better suited for business analysis

  2. The Experienced Software Developer: you have learned all you can about software development and would like to start a new, challenging career in business analysis.

  3. The Accidental Business Analyst: you take on the roles of a business analyst at your company and you want to get formal recognition as a business analyst for your efforts.

  4. The Soft Skilled Developer: based on your communication, presentation or analysis skills, you feel that you will make a good business analyst.

  5. The Competent Developer: you are seen as being highly competent or responsible by your manager and because of that, you have been tasked with additional business analysis responsibilities..

Whatever the reasons for changing roles to business analysis, you are in for some good news … you are wanted by the job market!

Contrary to what you may think, having a formal software development background can actually prove to be a bonus or an advantage and here are some of the reasons why:

  • Right Background: IT business analysts are required to have a good understanding of the software development life cycle.

    Your background in software development can be used to fulfill that requirement easily.

  • Better Fit: IT managers need business analysts who can understand developers and talk with them at the system level.

    That means having enough technical knowledge to create UML diagrams or entity relationship models or even help translate business requirements into technical specifications.

  • Reduce Risk: IT shops need business analysts with a technical or systems background so that they won’t be at a lost in a challenging or complex software development project.

    When managers undertake a complex software development process, they want to reduce risk by hiring business analysts who can bridge the gap between the software development team and business because of their software developer background.

So, having a software development background puts you at an advantage in such situations.

Can you Market Yourself: The good news is that your software developer background does not have to count against you at the job interview and that is where this article becomes quite helpful!

First, you have to be sure of the value you will bring to your job if you are hired as a business analyst. Next, you have to convey that value clearly to the hiring manager!

So, using this article as reference, elicit all the reasons why hiring you will be helpful and then work on how to convey that to your hiring manager.

Now you’ve learnt how to switch from a traditional software developer role to a business analyst role … it is time to take action!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/02/can-developers-make-good-business-analysts/feed/ 7 How To Answer Business Analyst Job Interview Questions http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/28/how-to-answer-business-analyst-job-interview-questions/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/28/how-to-answer-business-analyst-job-interview-questions/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:50:12 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2565

How To Answer Business Analyst Job Interview Questions

How To Answer Business Analyst Job Interview Questions

I’ve taken dozens of IT job interviews with various IT departments ranging from small IT shops to Fortune 500 IT departments to non-profits to consulting firms to staffing or recruitment agencies!

I’ve been interviewed and hired for both management and non-management IT positions. I’ve personally interviewed, hired and also coached IT Professionals who’ve gone on to wow their interviewers or ace the IT positions they wanted.

I’ve been in several situations where to get the next consulting assignment, I interviewed with several firms and also received multiple, competing job offers!

I’ve been in situations where firms competed for my services by trying to hire me away or by going out of their way to impress me with pretty good offers.

I’ve been hired for high visibility IT jobs in large organizations with just one single phone interview … and without going through a face to face interview.

I’ve taken more IT interviews than I care to count … closing and getting job offers 9 times out of ten.

I’ve even taken and aced phone interviews while driving and while on vacation.

I’ve been interviewed by a team of not one single person but a team of professionals several times during my career and sometimes without any warning and still wowed the team of interviewers without any additional notice or preparation!

As far as IT job interviews are concerned, I’ve been there and I have been there and I’ve done it.

I Have Something To Say

I have a lot to say about job interviews and I’m asking you to learn from me, so that you can truly be the master of your own fortune.

Are you are ready to be all you can be, break out of your personal limitations and experience the success you want?

Begin by learning how to your business analyst job interviews”.

Are you teachable and open to learning? If you are, read the rest of this article on How To Ace Business Analyst Job Interviews.

Boost your Business Analyst Job Interviews Using The Scientific Method

If you are looking for a scientific way to boost your Business analysis skills or ace your Business Analyst job interviews, start using practice tests.

Research has shown that practice tests or quizzes improve retention, recall or understanding.

Research has also proven that workers who study and take quizzes have better long-term recall than their colleagues who study without taking quizzes.

Don’t use practice tests only in preparation for certification exams because they are useful for much more than that!

Practice tests or quizzes are effective for improving Business Analyst skills, retention or recall which helps you ace your Business Analyst job interviews!

Let’s go ahead and review how you may used practice tests to improve your skills or advance your Business Analyst Career or get a Business Analyst job.

Use Quizzes to Ace Business Analyst Job Interviews

Quizzes or practice tests are effective because they mimic the question and answer format of Business Analyst job interviews.

In Practice Tests, the Quiz software usually presents random questions to you, rates your answers as correct or incorrect and then displays correct answers for your benefit!

Practice Tests simulate Business Analyst job interviews by presenting the different types of questions interviewers ask including Single Choice, Multiple Choice or Open-ended interview questions.

In a Business Analyst job interview, the potential employer will ask a question and then review your answers for correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness.

Lack of correctness (wrong answers), promptness (slow responses) and comprehensiveness (not enough details) may cause you to lose your Business Analyst job interview or give you a bad rating!

So, how would you prepare for your next job interview using this new information?

Start by using practice tests which can;

  • Present potential Business Analyst job interview questions in random order

  • Rate answers to single-choice, multiple-choice and open-ended interview questions … so you get used to answering them in interviews

  • Present the correct Business Analyst job interview answer with additional explanations so you familiarize yourself with the correct answers

Use Quizzes to Sharpen Your Business Analyst Job Interviewing Skills

Practice tests actually improve your ability to remember or recall correct answers in your interviews.

Use them extensively to prepare for your interviews weeks or months before you need a job!

Practice tests are effective because you answer a set of questions multiple times until they sink in and become second nature!

How Sharp Are Your Business Analyst Skills?

During your Business Analyst interviews, you are evaluated based on the correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness of your answers.

Correctness:

Your answers are evaluated based on how precise or correct they are. Even when the Business Analyst interview questions are open ended, your answers are still evaluated as correct or incorrect.

You impress your interviewer when you can answer most or all of the questions you’re asked correctly. Not getting your facts straight or not knowing your material will certainly cost you the interview!

Promptness:

You are evaluated based on how quickly you respond to Business Analyst interview questions.

The quicker you are in responding to Business Analyst interview questions, the sharper your skills are perceived to be.

So, you lose points when you take too long to answer a Business Analyst question and you gain points or credibility, when your answers are quick or instinctive.

Comprehensiveness:

Your interviewer evaluates your Business analysis level of knowledge when you answer a Business Analyst question.

So, a comprehensive, detailed or factual answer will score more points than a sketchy, skimpy answer.

When you are asked a Business Analyst question, you really need to wow your interviewer by demonstrating that you have more than a superficial understanding of the topic.

You need to do this by giving the correct answer promptly and comprehensively (with as much detail as the time you are given permits).

How To Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Correctly

Business Analyst Testing Software programs present a list of Business Analyst interview questions and then evaluates your answer to each question as either true of false … which helps you identify the correct answers.

You need to study each answer’s explanation, understand why it is correct and why the other answers are not correct.

You also need to attempt the same question several times until your answers are consistently correct.

Practicing with Business Analyst Testing Software will help you respond back promptly, correctly, comprehensively in a live Business Analyst interview.

How to Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Promptly

Because practice questions are presented in a quiz software, you have a reliable way of recording, tracking or monitoring your training sessions and improvement.

Your ability to answer Business Analyst interview questions promptly is a function of your familiarity with the question or topic.

As your level of familiarity with Business Analyst questions increases, your promptness in answering also increases. So, practice taking Business analyst interviews using Business Analysis Testing software

In this article, we discussed how to boost your skills and ace your Business job interview using a proven scientific technique.

Sign-up for our Business Analysts Newsletter to get more information Like This


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/28/how-to-answer-business-analyst-job-interview-questions/feed/ 0 How Important Is Domain Knowledge For A Business Analyst? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/19/how-important-is-domain-knowledge-for-a-business-analyst/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/19/how-important-is-domain-knowledge-for-a-business-analyst/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:38:38 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2089

The Domain Business Analyst Career Path

The Domain Business Analyst Career Path

Is a business analyst with domain knowledge more valuable than a business analyst without domain knowledge?

By looking at how business analyst job descriptions are written, you may be tempted to say yes!

Business Analyst job descriptions are written as if there is a distinction between IT oriented business analysts with skills in UML, Use Cases, Requirements Elicitation, Requirements Modeling and domain oriented business analysts with knowledge in specific domains like sales, marketing, customer relationship management, insurance, finance!

For some reasons, hiring managers, staffing agencies and employers behave as if there is a difference between domain oriented business analyst job descriptions and IT business analyst job descriptions.

So, the question is How important is domain knowledge for a Business Analyst? and Is a Domain Oriented Business Analyst worth more than an IT Business Analyst?

A Question About The Value Of Business Analyst Domain Knowledge

I am a bored corporate research professional working at a big services company and wish to move to a different domain.

The ones I have identified are pre-sales, business analysis or marketing communications …

I think BA could be a good step forward from where I stand. But doesn’t a BA require domain specific knowledge?

Most of the job ads I see prefer a BA in (say) the finance domain to be from that background …

How important is domain knowledge for a BA? Can it be built on-the-job or is it an absolute pre-requisite?

Why Do Business Analyst Job Ads Specify Domain Knowledge?

In the rest of this article, I will discuss why hiring managers, staffing agencies and employers specify domain specific knowledge in business analyst job descriptions.

I will answer this question by looking at “who is better positioned to increase productivity when hired”.

  1. Who Costs More To Train? Companies that hire business analysts without domain knowledge resort to training the new BA hires by enlisting the help of senior business analysts, subject matter experts or training vendors.

    Even when employers use internal resources for training new BA hires, they incur costs of lost revenue, reduced productivity and increased administrative expenses .

  2. Who Is Positioned To Help The Business Now? Business Analysts lacking industry insight or domain knowledge needs more time on the job to learn and understand their domains before tackling any business problems.

    This may be unacceptable to stakeholders or business managers who can’t wait to get results now!

    A business analyst with domain experience who can start troubleshooting business problems is seen as being worth more than another business analyst (lacking domain expertise) who may only observe, learn or ask questions!

  3. Who Can Lead The Business? Senior Managers, IT Directors, Business Owners and other high level executives place more value on business analysts who can be trusted to lead the business.

    Business analysts unlike their counterparts in computer programming are expected to provide leadership for business-line units and organizations for which they are hired!

    Because of how business is done , managers, directors or business executives place less value on the judgment of business analysts without domain knowledge or industry experience!

    The perception which may be unfounded is that; a business analyst with domain knowledge has more potential to lead than another who lacks domain experience!

So hiring managers or employers tend to write business analyst job descriptions as if there are two business analyst career paths:

  • The business analyst with IT business analyst training and specialized domain knowledge. This is the Specialist Business Analyst.

  • The business analyst with IT business analyst training only! This is the Generalist Business Analyst.

Are You A Specialist Or Generalist Business Analyst?

So, are specialist business analysts worth more than generalist business analysts?

The answer doesn’t depend on “how you feel about the fairness of business analyst job postings” but on plain common sense which is always hiding in plain sight :-)

If you’re applying only to IT Business Analyst Jobs, then don’t worry about your lack of domain knowledge.

If you’re applying to domain specific business analyst job postings like those for healthcare, finance, insurance, marketing, sales, customer relationship management (CRM) domains, then you had better do something about your lack of domain knowledge!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/19/how-important-is-domain-knowledge-for-a-business-analyst/feed/ 0 Did I Mess Up My Career? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/16/did-i-mess-up-my-career/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/16/did-i-mess-up-my-career/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:40:21 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2064

Ask IT Career Coach

Ask IT Career Coach

This question was posted by a reader who needs advice on “what to do about making wrong career choices”.

If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask it as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader’s question below!

Please, send this post to your friends using the “Tell a Friend” Button button below. You earn points or cash each time you refer an article to your friends using the Tell a Friend Button.

Here is the Reader’s Question:

I think I did myself well careerwise by reading for a degree that bears no inclination to what I am trying to aspire to in life.

The programme entitled: Degree in Computing with Management Studies is embeded with C++, COBOL and Report Programme Generator (RPG) courses.

The final year I underwent a gruelling course in Artificial Intelligence that I haven’t started to utilise in anyway in my career path.

What I strongly desire is a competence in database management and its integration with records management and design.

Regards

Here is my Answer

Hello,

I feel your pain because I have been in your shoes – in a similar situation.

I’ve had to transition career several times from Chemical Engineering to IT Sales to IT Consulting to IT Career Coaching!

I’m reasonably sure that my last transitiion is permanent … but that doesn’t mean much because I expect my IT Career Coaching skills to change so much that I would literally be re-inventing myself every year!

Think about it for a moment. The world around us is constantly changing and we have to remain flexible and adaptable or we become as dead as the DoDo!

Fact is … “career transitions are a part of life“!

What I’ve learnt that I would like to share with you is this: “march boldly in the direction of your dreams!“

Start by forgiving yourself thoroughly.

Forgiving yourself is really not as easy as it sounds … put some effort into giving yourself a break because you did the best that you could based on the information you had.

Don’t be too hard on yourself, make sure you take out some time to love on yourself before you do the next big thing.

Now, having done that, “follow your call wherever it leads without any hesitation“!

Since your heart is saying that you need to become a database professional, do exactly that!

“Jump into the water with both feet and don’t be afraid of getting your feet wet. “

What I mean is: “pursue your dreams fearlessly, follow your heart wherever it leads and don’t be afraid of making mistakes”.

You owe yourself the pursuit of “life, liberty and love”.

Let me know if I can do anything to help.

Regards,

Kingsley Tagbo – Your IT Career Coach

This post answers a question posted by a reader who needs advice on “what to do about making wrong career choices”!

If you have any Question about your career, Post IT as a comment on this page and I will be sure to answer it for you!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/16/did-i-mess-up-my-career/feed/ 9 Why Can’t I Find A Job? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/13/why-cant-i-find-a-job/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/13/why-cant-i-find-a-job/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:21:11 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2002

Beat the Recession

Beat the Recession

You’ve got a college degree, a good looking resume and an impressive listing of Information Technology (IT) skills but can’t seem to find an IT job.

Finding a Job doesn’t have to be a traumatic, nerve racking or frustrating experience filled with rejection, fear and pain!

Just follow this article series to find out what’s wrong or get back in control of YOUR job search.

  1. Do You Have a Marketable Skill? Did you assume that because your skills were in-demand a few years ago, they are relevant today?

    The market doesn’t lie! … If your phone isn’t ringing or you aren’t getting job interviews then your skills need to be updated!

    What looks like a minor skill gap to you is a major skill gap to hiring managers because that’s what they’re paying for!

  2. Is Your Resume Killing Your Career? Your resume screams “hire me because I need this job” and says little about what you can do for the employer!

    Get a clue, no-one cares about you until you prove that you care about them!

    Put yourself in the employer’s shoes by re-writing your resume to say: “here is what I can do for you” and you’ll get a job paying surprisingly more than you asked for!

  3. Are You Flying by the Seat of Your Pants? Your failure to plan your job search is the reason why your job search is falling apart!

    Start your job search with a competitive analysis of your strengths and weaknesses in the current job market (SWOT Analysis) and then create a strategic job search plan that addresses your findings!

    Applying for every online job doesn’t work because everyone else is doing the same thing and you must differentiate yourself to succeed.

  4. Do You Suck at Job Interviews? You need to learn “how to interview properly” because something you’re doing is freaking out potential employers!

    Face-to-face or phone interviews are make or break opportunities that can’t be treated casually or left to chance.

    So learn “how to slam dunk job interviews” to improve your job search or get hired fast!

  5. Can You Perform? Prove It! Performers get hired wherever they go!

    Everything about your resume, job interviews or attitude must prove that you’re a performer because that’s what potential employers wants to hear!

    Remember that IT Managers view: your past performance as the best indicator of your future performance.

    So, get your act together and differentiate yourself from the competition. Prove that you’re a job candidate worthy of hire!

Remember that Employers are still hiring for Information Technology (IT) jobs despite the economy … so, if you can’t find an IT Job, you’re doing something wrong!

Finding a job doesn’t have to be an emotionally demanding, long-drawn out process. Just learn the process outlined in this series of articles and you will be in-charge of your job search.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/13/why-cant-i-find-a-job/feed/ 6 How To Succeed at Business Analyst Job Interviews http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/12/how-to-succeed-at-business-analyst-job-interviews/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/12/how-to-succeed-at-business-analyst-job-interviews/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:34:06 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=1372

How To Succeed at Business Analyst Job Interviews

How To Succeed at Business Analyst Job Interviews

Do you wish to know how to succeed at business analyst job interviews? Here is the secret.

Business analyst interviews are designed to evaluate two things:

  • Your business analyst skills
  • Your business analyst experience

How Sharp Are Your Business Analyst Skills?

At your business analyst interview, you are evaluated based on the correctness, promptness or comprehensiveness of your answers.

Give the correct answers

Your answers are evaluated based on how precise or correct they are.

Even when the business analyst interview questions are open ended, your answers are still evaluated as correct or incorrect.

Be prompt in your replies

You are evaluated based on how quickly you respond to business analyst interview questions.

The quicker you are in responding to business analyst interview questions, the sharper your skills are perceived to be.

So, you lose points when you take too long to answer a business analyst question and you gain points or credibility, when your answers are quick or instinctive.

Provide comprehensive answers

Your interviewer evaluates your business analysis level of knowledge when you answer a business analyst question.

So, a comprehensive, detailed or factual answer will score more points than a sketchy, skimpy answer.

When you are asked a business analyst question, you really need to wow your interviewer by demonstrating that you have more than a superficial understanding of the topic.

You need to do this by giving the correct answer promptly and comprehensively or by providing as much detail as the time you are given permits.

How Do You Sharpen Your Business Analyst Interviewing Skills?

If you want to succeed at business analyst interviews, you must sharpen your business analyst skills to the point where you can wow any interviewer.

This is the strategy that will get you through your business analyst job interviews … sharpen your skills to the point where you stand out at any business analyst job interview!

You sharpen or improve your business analysis skills by using business analyst quizzes or practice tests to prepare for your business analyst interviews ahead of time.

Quizzes are scientific tools that are proven to boost recall, retention and understanding.

The scientific principle of using quizzes to improve your understanding of a material was covered here: Use Practice Tests Or Quizzes To Boost Your Skills Rapidly

The way to sharpen your business analyst interviewing skills is by using a Quiz software such as included with the Business Analyst Boot Camp.

How To Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Correctly

The business analyst practice test software mentioned above present a list of business analyst interview questions and then evaluates your answer to each question as either true of false … which helps you identify the correct answers.

How to Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Promptly

Because the questions are presented using a software program, you have a reliable way of recording, tracking or monitoring the time it takes you to answer the interview questions.

You also need to know that your ability to answer interview questions promptly is a function of your familiarity with the question or topic.

As your level of familiarity with a business analyst topic increases, your promptness in answering questions based on it also increases!

How to Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Comprehensively

After each Business Analyst Interview Question is presented in the Business Analyst Boot Camp, you are also presented with the correct answer and an explanation to go along with it.

You need to study each explanation, understand why it is correct and why the other answers are incorrect.

You also need to attempt the same question several times until your answers are consistently correct.

This type of practice test / quiz software which is incorporated into the business analyst boot camp prepares you for real-world interviews so that you can respond back promptly, correctly or comprehensively and succeed at your business analyst job interview!

How To Demonstrate Hands-On Business Analyst Experience

The other important section of your business analyst job interview … that may decide if you get hired or not is how you demonstrate hands-on business analysis experience.

It is not enough to say that you have six months or six years of hands-on business analysis experience, you must demonstrate that convincingly to your interviewer.

When you attend the Business Analyst Boot Camp, you gain additional hands-on experience because you receive different types of business analysis work as you watch the training videos and work your way through the course at your own pace.

Because you are working on practical assignments, you also gain additional hands-on business analysis experience!

Note that the Business Analyst Boot Camp provides you with a Quiz module for sharpening or improving your business analysis skills and practical tasks that help you develop hands-on business analysis experience!


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/12/how-to-succeed-at-business-analyst-job-interviews/feed/ 8 How To Ace Job Interviews Using Practice Tests http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/10/ace-job-interviews-using-practice-tests/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/10/ace-job-interviews-using-practice-tests/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:38:28 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=1348

How To Boost IT Skills Rapidly Or Get Hired Fast

How To Boost IT Skills Rapidly Or Get Hired Fast

I discovered the power of practice tests in 1999 after I aced a job interview test with a score in the mid-nineties and got hired fast!

Over the next few months, I mastered how to boost my skills rapidly using the technique that I will share with you in the rest of this article.

Research has shown that practice tests or quizzes improve your retention, recall or understanding.

Research that studies how people learn skills effectively also demonstrates that students who study and take quizzes have better long-term recall than their colleagues who study without taking quizzes.

Perhaps, you have been using practice tests only when preparing for certification exams.

However, practice tests are useful for much more than that.

Quizzes have proven effective for improving IT skills, retention, recall of information and for acing technical job interviews!

That is why we use the Quiz Module in our online, video-based training programs to sharpen the skills, improve memory, retention, recall and understanding of our students after they watch our training videos.

We’ve also incorporated a practice testing software into the Business Analyst Book – Business Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Let’s go ahead and review how you may used practice tests to improve your skills or advance your IT career or get an IT job.

Use Quizzes to Ace IT Job Interviews Or Get An IT Job:

The more effective preparation for IT job interviews includes using quizzes or practice tests to ask Single Choice, Multiple Choice or Essay Type interview questions.

This technique is effective for acing IT job interviews because the Quiz software presents the questions to you, rates your answers as correct or incorrect and then displays the correct answer for feedback or correction

Quizzes or practice tests are also effective for acing job interviews because they closely mimic the question and answer format of IT job interviews.

In IT job interviews, the interviewer asks a questions and then reviews your answer for correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness. Not displaying these three traits are among the top reasons why IT workers fail to ace their job interviews. The interviewer rated their answers and felt that they where wrong (correctness), slow in coming, (promptness) or not detailed enough (comprehensiveness).

The good news is that our online video-based training programs include a Quiz Module which helps students prepare for job interviews at no additional costs.

The Quiz Module asks technical questions in a random order, rates the answer to Single Choice, Multiple Choice or Essay Type Questions, presents the correct answer with an explanation and then grades the student for the entire quiz.

Use Quizzes to Sharpen Your IT Skills Or Advance Your Career:

The other major benefit of using practice tests or quizzes in our online training programs, is that practice tests actually improve your ability to remember, recall or understand the information you gain from watching our training videos.

Repetition in training is the key to skill mastery. To master any new skill you repeat the same set of tasks multiple times until it sinks in and becomes second nature … and that is exactly what our Quiz modules does for you!

At designated periods in your online, video training program, you will get an invitation to take a Quiz for a number of days.

While taking the quiz, you will be presented with a number of questions or scenarios repeatedly until the learning concept becomes second nature.

This feature … only available at select Quiz training programs … is included with your online, video-based training boot camps at no additional cost!

So, if you are looking for a scientific way to boost your career or advance your skills or ace your job interviews, get our online, video-based training courses or web-based training courses now.

References

  1. Chan, J.C., McDermott, K.B., & Roediger, H.L. (2007). Retrieval-induced facilitation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(4), 553-571

  2. How to Become a More Effective Learner in Tips from Psychology to Improve Learning Effectiveness & Efficiency By Kendra Van Wagner


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/10/ace-job-interviews-using-practice-tests/feed/ 4 Start A New Business Analyst Job In 4 Steps! http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/07/start-a-new-business-analyst-job-in-4-steps/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/07/start-a-new-business-analyst-job-in-4-steps/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:38:39 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=1326

how to start your business analyst job in 4 steps

how to start your business analyst job in 4 steps

How is your business analyst job search going?

If you are finding it hard to get a business analyst job, then you need to update your business analysis skills, hands-on experience, cover letter, resume or interviewing skills.

  1. If you are not getting any phone calls, call backs or invitations for BA job interviews, then your business analyst resume or cover letter is weak.

  2. If you are getting business analyst interviews but not getting job offers, then your BA job interviewing skills are weak.

This post discusses how business analysis skills, hands-on experience, resume or job interviews interact while starting a new business analyst job.

Step 1 – Start With An Effective BA Cover Letter

If you are sending out resumes for business analyst jobs and you are getting little feedback, phone calls or job interviews, then you have to stop and do something different.

Start by looking at your resume and cover letter and then endeavor to answer this question honestly:

“Do I have sufficient business analysis skills and experience for the jobs I am submitting to?“

The challenge facing business analysts is that the business analyst job market is highly competitive and there are no clearly defined or widely accepted standards of excellence.

Since anyone can apply a business analyst job with or without the requisite business analysis skills and experience, you will need to go the extra mile to distinguish yourself from the pool of job applicants.

That is why you may have to follow the plan that I will share in the rest of this article …

Step 2 – Make Your Business Analyst Resume Standout

Think about this, if you live in Washington, DC and you are looking for a business analyst job without a strong business analysis background, you may end up sending your resume to hundreds of employers in the Washington, DC area.

The problem is that everyone else within Washington, DC who likes the idea of becoming a business analyst will also be sending their resume to the same employers!

Now most of these well-intentioned folks will be saying the same thing on each of their resumes, which will be something like this:

  • I can do this job
  • Give me the job please
  • I need this job to pay my bills
  • I want to become a business analyst
  • I like the idea of becoming a business analyst

Though these job applicants are well-intentioned, they are all making the same mistake of selling good intentions instead of their professional expertise!

Don’t make the same mistake of selling good intentions! Differentiate yourself by focusing on the results that you can achieve. Say something along these lines:

  • I have a lot of skills or experience in this domain or industry …
  • I have gained a lot of skills through training and real-world jobs in this domain …
  • I have done excellent work for others in this industry and I will do excellent work for you too!
  • My skills are sharp and I have been keeping up with the changes in this industry or domain …

The Hiring Manager is going to trash everyone whose resume is screaming “give me a business analysis job, please!” and only invite, interview or hire those whose resumes are saying: “I am a very capable, talented, skilled, experienced, trained, professional business analyst“.

So, before you start sending out your resume out again, first take a minute to answer the question: “does my resume demonstrate strong, up-to-date or effective business analysis skills“.

If you answered yes, then you are on well on your way to starting a business analyst job.

There are several ways of building up your business analysis resume to the level where it clearly demonstrates skill, capability, handson domain experience or professional expertise.

One of these is by getting hands-on business analysis training and the other is by getting hands-on business analysis coaching.

Step 3 – Prove Your Competency As A Business Analyst

The following is an e-mail that I received from a business analyst looking for a business analyst job in London. It has been edited for brevity and it demonstrates the point I’m making in this article:

Hi Kingsley,

I’ve recently applied for around 15 Business Analysis jobs in London and have had absolutely no feedback at all.

I have an excellent CV (as many agencies have commented) …

So I decided that I would use the covering letter which accompanies my applications as a vehicle to showcase why I would be suitable for the Business Analysis role. A ‘killer’ covering letter, if you like.

Except that 15 applications later with no feedback at all (not even a ‘thanks but no thanks’), I’m finding myself not knowing what my next step should be…

Also I now doubt very much that my Cover letter is ‘killer’, I have attached this and was wondering if its possible for you to have a look and advise me on this…

Thanks in advance Kingsley for your time and help

The business analyst cover letter discussed here demonstrates the candidate’s strong interest in the business analysis job, which is good.

However hiring managers, won’t interview or hire because of your good intentions or interest in becoming a business analyst.

They will only interview or hire when you demonstrate that you currently have the relevant business analysis skills needed to get the job done.

There is a big difference between proof and intention

Hiring managers want to interview or hire business analysts that demonstrate or prove via their cover letter, resume and business analyst job interviews; the skills needed to do the job and not business analysts who intend to learn on the job, train on the job or get mentored after they are hired!

In other words, Hiring Managers do not care about your potential to become a good business analyst or your interest in the business analyst career or your past successes in other professions.

They only care about your current business analysis skills, experience or education, period!

If you are not getting business analyst interviews or phone calls, it is because your resume demonstrates fewer business analysis skills or hands-on experience than that of other job applicants.

The only way to remedy that situation is to get more business analysis skills and hands-on experience!

Step 4 – Take Lots Of Business Analyst Job Interviews!

You need to solve the business analysis skills and hands-on experience problem before you can solve the problem of getting business analyst job interviews.

If all you are doing is just sending out resumes with the hope that someone will hire you because of your desire or interest in business analysis, change your strategy.

Your business analyst resume must stand out from the piles of resumes on interviewer’s desk.

First, increase your business analysis skills significantly, then get a lot of hands-on experience and then finally send out your resume to hiring managers … in that order.

If you follow the plan in this article, your resume will stand-out because it will demonstrate that you are actually capable of doing the job.

So, my advise is “get way from selling your intentions of starting a business analyst job” and first learn business analysis through training or coaching, then search or apply to the jobs you are qualified for do.

Practice these principles when you are in the market for a job and you will find yourself ahead of the game.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/04/07/start-a-new-business-analyst-job-in-4-steps/feed/ 3 How To Slam Dunk Job Interviews http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/05/how-to-slam-dunk-job-interviews/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/05/how-to-slam-dunk-job-interviews/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:30:13 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=841

How To Slam Dunk Your Next Job Interview

How To Slam Dunk Your Next Job Interview

This post is an answer to a question asked by Chris who is attending his tenth (10) job interview. You may click here to read the original question or add your own question or comment to the discussion.

The original post is a No Holds Barred Discussion on challenges, problems or issues facing my readers. If you have a Burning Question or Challenge you need help with, be sure to add your question to that page and i will answer it fully just as I am answering Tom’s question below!

The definition of the word “slam dunk” below is from Wikipedia and the rest of the article is my anwer to Chris’s challenge with Job Interviews!

A slam dunk (or simply a dunk) is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim.

The term “slam dunk” was coined by Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn and is one of the highest percentage shots one can attempt in basketball.

50 Ways To Slam Dunk Any Job Interview

  1. Dress appropriately for your job interviews

  2. Never be late for your job interviews

  3. Verify the interviewer’s timezone ahead of your job interview

  4. Verify the location of the interview ahead of time

  5. Print a mapquest or step by step driving direction to the interview location

  6. Before going for the interview, find out more about the culture of the company, what they like in employees or consultants or why they are hiring

  7. Greet the receptionist and other people in the lounge or interview room courteously and with a smile

  8. Research your potential employer using the internet before the interview

  9. Research your potential employer by finding out about their products, services, industry and corporate history

  10. Take samples or proof of your expertise to the interview

  11. Demonstrate to the interviewer how portions or sections of the job posting relate to your resume and skills

  12. Do not negotiate compensation before you get an offer

  13. Do not talk down your current or previous positions

  14. Be prepared to answer the “what are your strengths?” question

  15. Be prepared to answer the “what is your weakness?” question

  16. Be prepared to answer the “do you prefer working in teams or alone?” question

  17. Give the appropriate level of technical detail for each interviewer. A senior business analyst or a tech lead will need detailed technical answers while managers or directors may need concise summaries.

  18. Be prepared to answer the “what is your greatest accomplishment?” question

  19. Be prepared to answer the “why are you looking for a position?” question

  20. Be prepared to answer the “how do you handle stress?” question

  21. Answer each interview question with specifics, examples and illustrations from your career

  22. Answer each interview question quickly, completely and to the point

  23. Answer each interview question and ask your interviewer if you provided enough information

  24. Answer each interview question with confidence, command and authority

  25. Answer each interview question by looking the interviewer in the eye

  26. Answer each interview question by looking briefly at each interviewer in the room and returning back to the originator of the question

  27. Answer each interview question with a smile and a relaxed, calm demeanor

  28. Say you don’t know on interview questions, that you don’t have any idea about

  29. If you interviewer corrects you on your answers, be courteous and thank the interviewer for taking the time to correct your response

  30. Take the phone interview as seriously as a face to face interview because may even get hired on the phone without another face to face

  31. Take you phone interviews in a quiet, distraction free room

  32. Give an alternate phone number to the employer as a backup ahead of your phone interviews

  33. Practice taking phone interviews while standing up or sitting down and then choose the style that works for you

  34. Start your interview preparation a month or more before you take the interview

  35. When preparing for a job interview, first prepare a list of frequently asked questions and answers

  36. Prepare the questions to ask the interviewer about the job position before your interview date

  37. When preparing for job interview, rehearse or practice answering the questions 10 or more times beforehand

  38. When preparing for job interview, rehearse or practice before an audience that will give you immediate feedback

  39. After taking a job interview, let the interviewer know that you really want and care about landing the job

  40. After taking a job interview, ask the interviewer what are the issues that must be tackled immediately and effectively by you, if you are hired

  41. After taking a job interview, ask the interviewer what personal attributes or traits are common among the sucessful employees or consultants

  42. After taking a job interview, ask the interviewer who you will be reporting to if you are hired

  43. After taking a job interview, thank the interviewer for their time and interest in hiring you before leaving the room

  44. After taking a job interview, ask the interviewer for their contact information

  45. After taking a job interview, send a thank you email to your job interviewers when you get home

  46. After taking a job interview, decline to discuss your pay until you get a job offer

  47. After taking a job interview, let the interviewer know that you are flexible when it comes to pay

  48. After taking a job interview, ask the interviewer how long you it will take for them to get back to you

  49. After taking a job interview, prepare a list of the challenging questions you had to answer

  50. After taking a job interview, research, document and rehearse the answers to all the challenging questions you answered


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/02/05/how-to-slam-dunk-job-interviews/feed/ 8 How to Elicit, Capture or Gather Requirements Effectively http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/22/how-to-elicit-capture-gather-requirements-effectively/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/22/how-to-elicit-capture-gather-requirements-effectively/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:25:39 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=565

Effective Requirements Elicitation Techniques

Effective Requirements Elicitation Techniques


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.

There are several requirements elicitation techniques available to you as a business analyst.

Keep in mind that your choice of techniques will depend on your comfort level or familiarity, the complexity or nature of your project as well as the stakeholders you are talking to.

Be advised that each requirements elicitation technique has its advantages and disadvantages and that there is no one technique that works for every situation.

With this in mind, you may want to consider gaining mastery of several different elicitation techniques so that you can successfully draw out your stakeholder needs.

Plan your Requirements Elicitation

Create a plan first before starting out on your requirements elicitation activities. Planning your elicitation activities ensures that you:

  1. Understand your stakeholders.
  2. Use the right elicitation techniques for each stakeholder or stakeholder group.
  3. Accurately prioritize the stakeholders and assign the right level of involvement.
  4. Allocate adequate time and resources to the requirements gathering activities.
  5. Adequately prepare the stakeholders for the elicitation sessions.
  6. Gain the trust and cooperation of your stakeholders.

Here is a list of Requirements Elicitation Techniques

Brainstorming

Brainstorming sessions are used to let the stakeholders come up with creative ideas or new approaches to a problem

Workshops

Workshops are facilitated meetings with multiple stakeholders.

Interviewing

Interviews are in-person, one-on-one meetings where the business analyst asks questions so he or she can draw ut more information from the stakeholder.

With an interview you can quickly obtain a lot of requirements from one person. However, you still need to examine those requirements to make sure they do not conflict with other stakeholder needs.

Surveys

Surveys are used to gather information anonymously from the stakeholders.

Documentation Review

This is the process of obtaining requirements from written documentation such as manuals.

Prototyping

This is the use of partially finished versions of the software that have been created to help validate requirements.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups are group interviews with potential and / or actual users where the business analyst discusses issues or questions or obtain information from the stakeholders.

Focus groups are a collaborative technique that lets you gather a lot of information. It includes a measure of brainstorming which is good when the users don’t know what they really want or need from the system.

Observation

Observation is when the business analyst watches the users performing their daily tasks and asks questions about their tasks or work.

This technique gives you the advantage of actually seeing what users are doing at their work as opposed to what they tell you they are doing.

Observation helps the analyst develop a real understanding of the user’s on the job issues.

A skilled business analyst should be comfortable or conversant with choosing using the right elicitation technique for each situation.

If you are not familiar with using some of these elicitation techniques, consider signing-uo for the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training and increase the value you bring to your organization by learning how to elicit complete, correct, consistent, clear, concise and feasible requirements.


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/22/how-to-elicit-capture-gather-requirements-effectively/feed/ 1 How To Get An Entry Level Business Analyst Job Part 1 http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/15/how-to-get-an-entry-level-business-analyst-job-part-1/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/15/how-to-get-an-entry-level-business-analyst-job-part-1/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:26:27 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=472

Entry Level Business Analyst Job

Entry Level Business Analyst Job

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.

Here are the steps that you can take from where you are to becoming a business analyst without taking a lifetime to switch your career.

First, Determine That Business Analysis is Your Dream Job

The first step is to make an informed decision that Business Analysis is your dream job. Ask yourself why you want to become a business analyst.

What is it about the career that you like?

What are the personal traits that you will be free to express as a business analyst?

Don’t choose to become a business analyst because of the money or the lack thereof.

Some people never go after their dream job because they think it won’t make them wealthy.

Being fulfilled in your career and fairly comfortable financially is much better than being wealthy and unhappy.

In addition, when you pursue a career that is in alignment with your passions, values and personal goals, you are more likely to become financially secure.

Going for your dream will require your commitment and investment of time and money, so you need to be sure that you are ready financially and mentally to pay the price.

If you are thinking about becoming a business analyst, evaluate the characteristics and skills that are necessary for being a good one.

You can always get training for your technical skills, but here are a few personal traits and skills to consider:

  • A good business analyst is good at and enjoys communicating.

  • You’ll need to be organized and able to manage large amounts of input and information coming to you from lots of different sources.

  • Are you curious and flexible? Do you enjoy learning new things on a continuous basis?

  • Do you handle conflict well? Can you be calm when others are not?

  • Can you handle conflict on behalf of others? On the job as a business analyst, you will have to be arbitrator, negotiator and peacemaker all rolled into one.

  • Are you willing to learn new technical skills such as gaining a good understanding of the software development process?

  • Do you enjoy learning new business concepts?

  • Do you enjoy research?

  • Can you help people understand new concepts? If they don’t understand it one way, do you have the skills to reword your explanation?

Take Action Now

Once you’ve decided that Business Analysis is the dream job for you, you need to laser-focus your time and energy and give everything you have to achieve your goal.

To achieve success in any endeavor, you have to apply effort and hard work.

Business Analysis is no different.

The role of the business analyst is not an “easy” IT job

It requires skill and dedication to do a good job.

Be prepared to stay the course and don’t bail out too soon.

Be patient and hang in there and you will be amazed at the results.

Stop talking about become a business analyst someday and begin to work on your dream now. Just start taking lots of action.

Take your dream out of Never Land and make it concrete by setting a timeline for your goal.

Create timeline for your goal. A goal without a deadline is just a castle in the air.


Click Here to Read Part Two of this Article


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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/15/how-to-get-an-entry-level-business-analyst-job-part-1/feed/ 2 Requirements Engineering, A Top In-Demand Skill for Business Analysts http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/11/requirements-engineering-a-top-in-demand-skill-for-business-analysts/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/11/requirements-engineering-a-top-in-demand-skill-for-business-analysts/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:51:47 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/11/requirements-engineering-%e2%80%93-a-top-in-demand-skill-for-business-analysts/

requirements engineering top in demand skill for business analysts

Requirements Engineering, Top BA Skill

When gathering or analyzing requirements, it is just as important to focus on the process that you are using to develop your requirements as it is to focus on the requirements themselves.

If you have a poor requirements elicitation or management process, you risk not understanding the business problem you are trying to solve or turning out a poor product.

The cost of Information Technology (IT) project failures has become so high that one can no longer ignore the fact that business analysts need to invest a good amount of time into understanding what they intend to build.

The good news is that a lot of thought has been put into the process of gathering and creating good requirements.

These thoughts have been gathered and structured into a discipline called Requirements Engineering.

Why Adopt An Effective Requirements Engineering Framework?

However, business analysts may not benefit from Requirements Engineering best practices in organizations where requirements management is perceived as a process imposed by the higher-ups or seen as an afterthought.

In between chasing down stakeholders for interviews, wrestling with use cases and models or managing conflict and corporate politics, the requirements engineering process may end up being treated as meaningless meetings or just paperwork.

What you may not know is that the reason you’re chasing down stakeholders or having so much trouble with gathering requirements is that you don’t have an effective Requirements Engineering framework in place.

Unless you break the cycle by doing research on what works and what doesn’t … the cycle of difficulty and ineffectiveness may be guaranteed to continue.

If your company does not have a Requirements Engineering framework, you can do your manager a good turn by implementing one for your team!

The fact that you do this certainly can’t hurt during your end of year performance review :-)

What Does Requirements Engineering Mean To A Business Analyst?

Basically, Requirements Engineering encompasses all the activities and deliverables associated with defining a product’s requirements.

Think of Requirements Engineering as the software development methodology applied to requirements.

Requirements engineering includes requirements development and requirements management.

Requirements Development encompasses the activities and deliverables for Eliciting, Analyzing, Specifying and Validating requirements.

Requirements Management encompasses activities and deliverables for Establishing Requirements Baselines, Change Control and Tracing Requirements.

What Is The Value of Requirements Engineering To Your Organization?

Having a requirements engineering framework for your team will help you answer these questions:

  1. Which member of your team is performing what requirements activity?

  2. When will a requirements activity take place?
  3. What are the details and steps of each activity is?

    4. Having all of this formally defined will help your team reach its intended business goals.

    Having a good requirements engineering process in place has been shown to have significant effect on a business analyst’s ability to develop correct requirements on time and within budget.

    The best Requirements Engineering process to follow will be the one that makes your team the most productive and that produces excellent (correct, complete, clear, concise, consistent, relevant, feasible and verifiable) requirements.

    As you develop a requirements framework, take into consideration your environmental constraints, corporate culture and the nature of the projects you are engaged in.

    After defining your requirements engineering process, you must follow through and execute on the defined steps so that you can create a good product.

    Where Does A Business Analyst Learn Requirements Engineering?

    Take a moment now and add the knowledge of Requirements Engineering to your belt because it can only help make you a better business analyst.

    Requirements Engineering is one of the several courses taught at the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training.

    Traditional Classroom Business Analysis Training tends to be expensive because you have to pay for each core business analysis course like UML Training or Use Case Training or Requirements Engineering Training.

    So, with class-room based training, you may end up paying for an “Introduction to Use Case” Class and an “Advanced Use Clase” class etc. just to get a complete A – Z “Use Case” Training.

    That is in contrast to the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training where you get all the Use Cases + Requirements + UML Business Analyst Training and more … in one program

    So why don’t you enroll now and complete all your business analysis training in one program?


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    ]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/11/requirements-engineering-a-top-in-demand-skill-for-business-analysts/feed/ 0 Live, Online, Hands-On, Instructor Led, Web Based Business Analyst Training http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/06/live-online-hands-on-instructor-led-web-based-business-analyst-training/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/06/live-online-hands-on-instructor-led-web-based-business-analyst-training/#comments Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:19:27 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/2008/12/06/live-online-hands-on-instructor-led-web-based-business-analyst-training/

    If you are interested in registering for Business Analyst Boot Camp, you need to consider the following information:

    Business Analyst Career Roadmap Or Career Planning

    BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP is for business analysts, data analysts, software developers, managers or IT professionals who want to master the core business analyst skills including:

    a. UML

    b. Requirements Gathering and Analysis

    c. Use Cases

    d. How to define Business Cases

    e. How to define Project Vision and Scope

    f. How to plan the Business Analysis Work

    g. The Requirements Process, Definition and Documentation

    h. Work Flow Modeling

    i. Quality Assurance and Testing

    j. … and more

    Real World, Hands-On, Skill Based Business Analyst Job Training

    The best way to master the business analyst role is to establish the tasks business analysts perform for employers in the real world and perform the same tasks in a training program with guidance, progress monitoring or feedback.

    The study guides used for the BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP match the tasks, assignments or projects you perform for employers on the job guaranteeing that the skills you gain after training are immediately useful to your employer.

    For a limited time, you may enroll with the discount code:
    EarlyBirdCoupon

    Click here to enroll now:

    Business Analysts …. Learn By Doing

    The more effective way to master Requirements Elicitation or UML or any of the core business analysis skills is by working on real-world assignments as you learn, because your brain is wired to retain and remember 80% of what you do or practice versus 20% of what you read or hear.

    This is why the online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP includes practical tasks, assignments and hands-on learning activities that will help you understand the business analysis skills you are learning, faster, better and easier.

    You May Register for Business Analyst Training with the discount code:

    EarlyBirdCoupon

    Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

    Interactive Business Analysis Study Guides or Courseware

    We developed the study guides used in the online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP based on the tasks, responsibilities or competencies employers expect you to demonstrate on the job!

    Our study guides and hands on exercises are constantly updated, improved and perfected using feedback on the skills, experience and competencies employers want to see you demonstrate on your resume, job interview or after you are hired.

    Finally, you are guided through an intense, hands-on practical training curriculum that dramatically improves your understanding and retention, competency, self confidence and your ability to perform on the job.

    The outcome of the BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP training is that you easily demonstrate to employers or hiring managers the technical mastery or competence needed to excel in business analyst roles.

    Jump Start your Business Analyst Training with the discount code:

    EarlyBirdCoupon

    Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

    Business Analysts … Learn On Your Own Time … At Your Own Pace

    One of the core benefits of the online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP training is that the business analyst course schedules are guaranteed to match your work or life schedule and not the other way round.

    Here is the reason why:

    You may enroll and participate in your online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP courses in the morning, evening, weekend or any time of the week that best fits your schedule.

    You are not forced to adopt a schedule that doesn’t work for you and you are always guaranteed that the classes are flexible or adaptable enough to match your work and personal time commitments.

    For a limited time, you may enroll for training with the discount code:

    EarlyBirdCoupon

    Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

    Business Analyst Training At Home Or In Your Office

    The BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP training is location independent.

    You may register for a business analyst class from London, UK or Tokyo, Japan or Manhattan, New York or Toronto / Ottawa / Ontario, Canada.

    Here is why this works better for you:

    You can schedule 3 times a week to watch the Business Analyst class videos or work on a class assignment. Or you may prefer to drive home and log-in for your class in the evening hours after attending to your family or working out at the gym!

    Whatever your schedule or situation or location, we will accommodate you!

    Remember … For a limited time only, you may enroll with the discount code:

    EarlyBirdCoupon

    Click here to register for business analyst training now:

    Business Analyst Training Is So … Not Cheap!

    Business Analyst courses are usually expensive. Typically you have to pay more than $1,000 for a UML course or a Use Case class or Requirements Analysis course.

    You also have to pay for a 2 to 5 day hotel stay + travel expenses + meals, while missing your work. So, if you had to attend a UML + Use Case + Requirements training, you or your employer will have to fork over $5,000 or more!

    However for a limited time … you can get trained on the core business analyst competencies for a fraction of the total cost!

    So, why register for multiple business analyst courses, when the Business Analyst Boot Camp class says it all?

    Make a substantial saving with the discount code:

    EarlyBirdCoupon

    Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

    The Next BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP Class Begins Now … all you have to do is take a minute to invest in your career, your skills and your future by taking your training:

    Click here to register for business analyst training now:

    To Your Career,

    The BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP Team

    Click here to enroll with the discount code: EarlyBirdCoupon

    If you found this information helpful, Click here to follow me on Twitter


    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

    Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




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