Does Your Personality Match Your Career?

Every career has some type of persona associated with it. You may have heard that stereotyping is wrong, but I say, this is how the world works!

Knowing the type of personality or behavior expected of you, can only help you grow or succeed in your career. However, not fitting the expected stereotype can hurt your career. If you must behave differently from the norm, be advised of the consequences.

In this post, I will advice you on how to mold your personality so it fits the requirements for your job!

Stereotyping Software Developers

Think about this statement for a moment; software developers are introverts!

Yes, this is stereotyping software developers. But you do expect software developers to be more interested in fiddling with the bolts and nuts of a software program than in talking to the hire-ups, right?

Given a choice between attending a management meeting and diving deep into technology, you will typically expect a software developer to choose the later, right?

Stereotyping Project Managers

Project Managers are expected to have a take charge, authoritative, commanding, no nonsense persona.

That is why you would expect a Project Manager to come into a chaotic situation and take charge with little or no external help, right?

Project Managers who spend most of their time managing time, budgets and people will probably have a different mindset from software developers, for example, who spend most of their time working on technology, right?

So, you see. Stereotyping is not all that bad … it is part of how we function, think or evaluated situations as human beings!

Because of stereotyping, you won’t expect an introverted project managers to succeed, because they have to interface with executive management, deal with people problems and deal conflict head-on!

So, as a rule, the personality of a project manager will not be the same as that of a software developer, right?

Why Stereotyping Is Good For Your Career

We use stereotyping for hiring or figuring out fairly easily and quickly, who will be successful at a post and who will not.

Not realizing this, some think that if they just get that next masters degree or MBA or ace that certification, they will be hired or promoted.

What if, their personality does not match the profile required for the job, will they succeed just because they have a college or masters degree?

Personas are the reasons why software testers think in terms of how to break things or prove that working solutions are flawed.

It is why data analysts are expected to be “number crunchers” with a knack for making inferences, conclusions or projections from data.

Personas are also why business analysts are expected to have good to solid communication skills.

So, here are few questions for you:

1. What is the type of personality required for your career?
2. Does your personality match your career?
3. What are you doing to match your personality to your job profile?

The good news is that your persona can be modified over time to fit your career. Even if your culture or natural inclinations differ from the persona required for a job, you can still match your personality over a period of time.

For example, when it comes to business analysis, one of the expected personality traits is the ability to communicate well either in written or verbal form.

As an example of how to match your personality to your career, discover how you can improve your communication skills to match the requirements for business analyst jobs.

Stereotyping Business Analysts

Good communication skills, both verbal and written, are important in any career, especially those of business analysts.

Why? Because Business Analysts spend a good deal of time communication ideas, concepts or solutions in written or verbal form.

One cause of poor communication skills is not having the confidence to express thoughts verbally, in front of others. Another source is a poor speaking habit which causes one’s speech to sound condescending or aggressive manner causing others to disengage or stop listening to you.

The ability to communicate thoughts clearly in writing is another valuable, key skill for business analysts.

Effective writing skills includes a strong knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation skills as well as the ability to write conversationally as opposed to stiff, formal, boring english.

As a business analyst, developing effective verbal and written communications will position you for job interviews, promotions or career success.

Verbal communication includes making presentations, speaking at meetings, speaking in front of groups or even in front of a large audience.

The thought of speaking in front of a group will make most people nervous or fearful. As matter of fact, public speaking is one of the greatest fears know to people … did you know that?

However, even the shyest person can improve his or her communication skills by following a systematic, well thought out training / personal development plan.

Keep in mind that even if your communication style is brash, boring, tense, combative, timid or generally unattractive, you can still improve it, if you take corrective action.

If you lack effective communication skills, make it your goal to improve that part of your personality this year, OK?.

How To Improve Verbal Communication Skills

If you are ready to take action towards developing good or effective verbal communication skills, I recommend that you start by joining Toastmasters.

Toastmasters is a premier non-profit communication and leadership organization that has helped a lot of people become public speakers since their start in 1924.

Toastmasters is also the easiest or least expensive way of developing good verbal (presentation, public speaking, etc.) communication skills.

The cost for a Toastmasters Membership is just $27 every six months … what could be cheaper than that?

Not only is Toastmasters relatively inexpensive to join, it also does not place a high demand or drain on your time. Imagine developing your keeping skills at the cost of just 1 to 2 hours of your time per week!

A Toastmaster club consists of about 20-40 members who meet for 60 – 90 minutes at a local library or some other venue on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly schedule.

After you join a club, you will receive a 10-speech manual called the Competent Communication Manual. This manual comprises of assignments that are designed to build your speaking skills in succession from a beginner to competent pro to advanced level.

At Toastmasters meetings, you will also receive coaching, encouragement and positive, constructive feedback on how to improve your speaking skills.

During Toastmasters meetings, you will be given speaking assignments or evaluations that will gradually develop you into a confident public speaker.

Toastmasters is an organization that is easy to find. So, you can find a club within a reasonable driving distance from your home or place of work.

How To Improve Written Communication Skills

You can improve your written communication skills by blogging! Guess what? Blogging is a relatively inexpensive and fun way of communication.

To get started, purchase a domain name which is at a minimal cost per year (less than $20). Then host your blog using WordPress which is currently the most popular blogging platform. Others blogging platforms are BlogSpot and TypePad.

Note that the moment you begin to blog, you become a part of an informal, highly effective group of writers or communicators, also referred to as bloggers.

You will want to branch out and get your blog seen by other bloggers in your industry using word of mouth or social media networking. As you comment on your topics of interest, your writing skills will improve.

There is no better learning activity than jumping right in or getting your hands dirty!

Follow this advice to match your communication skills which is part of your personality to your job or career.

This post discusses the role your personality plays in career success. For a review of other factors that can or will influence your career … read this post titled: “Which Courses Or Certifications Guarantee A Job”

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This Type of Experience Will JumpStart Your Career!

Not all experience is created equal. Some types of project experience count as being more relevant than others simply because employers place a higher value on them. Here is why:

Getting experience in areas that require innovation or cutting edge skills for example counts more because that is where a lot of money is being spent and where there is more exposure or risk!

Employers hire those with experience in the types of projects they are financially vested in, so they can increase their chances of success or mitigate risk, makes sense right?

Here is some common sense advice … “Go Where The Money Is“!

The Web & Software Development Industry employs / hires a lot of web oriented professionals because companies are constantly investing in their web / software development projects

Information Technology / Software Development projects are funded with the belief that they can reduce costs, increase efficiency, streamline operations or business processes and increase sales.

In the article titled: How To Get Extensive Hands-on Experience In Information Technology I discussed the make / break role that hands-on web / software project experience plays in your career regardless of whether you are a business analyst, project manager, software developer, software tester, technical writer, database developer or data analyst.

In part 2 of the article series, I will discuss the types of hands-on project experience that are likely to jump-start your career!

Get Leadership Experience

You may be aware of the need to get hands-on experience in technical skills (UML, Use Cases, Object Oriented Design, Manual Testing, etc.) but are you aware of the need to get leadership experience?

Even if you are technically qualified, without demonstrating or showing some leadership experience, you may still fail to impress hiring managers.

Here is an example of a question that you may get at a job interview about your leadership experience:

“When was the last time you demonstrated initiative and how did your actions significantly or positively affect the outcome of your project?”

Get Database Experience

Enterprise software development projects incorporate a significant amount of database functionality.

Regardless of whether you are a business analyst, project manager or software tester, database experience will stand you in good stead in your career.

For Example, As a project manager assigned to Information Technology (IT) projects, your role may be that of a Technical Project Manager (TPM), which means that you are expected to get your hands dirty, especially with databases.

As a TPM, hands-on database skills will help you supervise the completion of important software features, troubleshoot data migration issues or research ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) problems.

Database skills are now regarded as sine qua non, an essential ingredient of your job description, regardless of whether you are a business analyst, project manager, data analyst or software developer!

Get User Interface (UI) / Design Experience

The User Interface (UI) is key to the success of software development projects because customers typically care more about how their software or websites look than how it is constructed.

However, it takes a diverse set of skills to create the right user interface design / experience.

As a salesperson, you can help the web design / user interface team adhere to your organizations marketing goals while achieving their aesthetic goals.

As a business analyst, you can be intimately involved in the design of screens and page flows used on a website / software development project.

Web Business Analysis / User Interface (UI) Business Analysis is a real-world job / specialization for business analysts who cater to or specialize in front-end, user experience / user interface requirements.

As a project manager, user interface testing experience will look good on your resume and as a software developer, user interface design / development should be part of your core skills.

Get Software Testing Experience

Since the success of software projects sometimes depend on defects or bugs discovered by customers after a walk-through, your project will do well if all team members and not just software testers, take part in hands-on User Acceptance testing.

I am not saying that you must become a professional software tester. I am saying that some level of software testing experience will help you look like a well-rounded candidate regardless of whether you are a business analyst, project manager or computer programmer.

In closing, try to work on software / web development projects because there is typically a lot of work for professionals with experience in those sectors.

Regardless of your professional background (business analysis, project management, data analysis, computer programming, etc.), work on getting leadership, database, software testing and user interface (UI) hands-on experience so that your profile will be that of a well-rounded candidate who has taken the time to align his / her career with the current hiring needs / trends in the Information Technology industry.

Thanks & Best Wishes, IT Career Coach

This article is #2 of a 2 article series. The first installation of this article (part 1) may be viewed here …

You may review the references for this article series below.

References

1. Learn more: The Most Important Thing on Your Resume
2. Learn more: Which Courses or Certifications Guarantee A Job?
3. Learn more: Can Certifications Take The Place Of Experience?
4. Learn more: How To Get Computer Programming Experience
5. Learn more: Stuck in a College Mindset After Graduation
6. Learn more: Which Software Development Life Cycle Is Best?
7. Learn more: Can You Perform? Prove It!
8. Learn more: How To Get Extensive Hands-on Experience In Information Technology

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Success Principles: Discover Your Passion!

Do You Want To Live An Inspired Life?

First, discover your passion and work a job you really love.

Second, turn your passion into a set of excellent skills using practice tests or quizzes.

Third, bring your passion to the market using Push (emailing your branded resumes) or PULL Techniques (Social Media Marketing).

Here is a question for you; Do You Really Love Your Job?

In a study of how exceptional, world-class or, successful people are produced, Daniel Coyle in his book “The Talent Code” says that it takes a combination of concentrated, difficult, skill-building practice, motivation or inspiration and master coaching to achieve success.

Coyle’s point is that if a person is going to invest the amount of time and concentrated, difficult practice that produces a high-level of skill, that person will have to be deeply motivated or passionate about his or her work!

SUCCESS DOES NOT COME BY WORKING A JOB THAT PAYS MORE MONEY BUT BY FOCUSED, SKILL BUILDING PRACTICE.

Deep, Skill Building Practice

Deep practice is something most top athletes add to their training.

Deep practice is where they slow down their practice to unbelievably slow speeds just so that they can wrap their brains around the skill required of them and then practice with as much accuracy as possible.

Their goal is to practice perfect!

Think about it: top football teams study their plays over and over, slowly and in great detail on chalkboards in a classroom for hours on end before hitting the football fields.

And tennis camps in Russia do not allow young beginners to hit an actual tennis ball until they have developed a technically correct tennis swing at slower speeds.

Regardless of how much natural talent an athlete appears to have, most athletes will not reach the top unless they deep practice!

Deep practice is an obsessive, but focused, skill-building technique.

Read more on this post; “Deep Practice Journal”.

Passion, Motivation or Inspiration

In his book, Outliers, Gladwell interviewed Bill Gates, whose unique access to a computer at a time when they were not commonplace helped him succeed.

Gates passion for computing, drove him to access a high school computer in 1968 at the age of 13, and spend 10,000 hours programming on it before he was 23.

Without that access, Gladwell states that Gates would still be “a highly intelligent, driven, charming person and a successful professional”, but that he would not be worth US$50 billion.

The Beatles were so passionate about their craft that they performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964 and by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, ‘they sounded like no one else’.

The lesson to learn here is that:

It is only when you love what you do, that you will consciously try to improve your performance or work very hard at becoming very good.

If you do not love your work, you will not be able to make the type of exceptional, disciplined commitment required to be successful and if you are working just to pay your bills … you will never be exceptional!

The SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL people is that they choose the type of work they are deeply passionate about and they develop or perfect exceptional skills for their job using feedback, guidance or coaching.

For me, success means doing work that I love, developing my skills to the best of my abilities and helping or serving other people with my talent.

What does success mean for you? Here at ITCareerCoach, Success is a three part process that involves discovering your passion, developing your passion and bringing your passion to market.

1. Discover Your Passion: identify and focus more on the type of tasks that give you a sense of fulfillment, joy or happiness and that is also very valuable, useful or helpful to others, so you get paid.

   • Doing what you love maximizes the benefit you get from your working hours. Remember that we spend the majority of our waking hours at some type of work!

   • If you don’t do what you love, you will lack the motivation to perfect your skills.

     You will lack the energy you need to find out of the box solutions, you will not have the motivation you need to stay ahead of the technology or marketplace and you will lack the desire to become exceptional at your job.

     In other words, you will only produce “below average to average” results because you lack the passion for excellence.

   • Read more on this post: “Are You Inspired Enough?”

2. Develop Your Passion: sharpen your skills through continuous practice until you become highly skilled or exceptional at what you do.

   • Develop your skills so that they stand out with in the eyes of your clients, customers or employers.

   • Developing your skills through via deep-skill building practice maximizes your strengths and it allows you deliver valuable results or solutions to your customers or employer.

   • If you don’t develop your skill, someone else will become better than you and eventually take your market, job or business.

   • As an information technology (IT) professional, the primary method for developing or perfecting your skills is through the use of practice tests or quizzes.

   • Read more on this post: “Ace Job Interviews Using Practice Tests!”

3. Bring your Passion To Market: Become a leader by continuously sharing your passion with a community using a blog or a website.

   • Sharing your passion allows you to get real-world feedback on what is valuable to others and what is not.

     Even if when you are highly skilled or knowledgeable, you will lack the customer or real-world interaction that rounds off your knowledge.

   • It also helps you get paid for doing what you love. Sharing your knowledge, expertise, insight, skills or services with an online community allows others to get the maximum benefit from your work and it allows you to get the maximum pay or reward for your work.

   Read more on this post: “Become A Leader And Get The Job You Want!”

This is the internet age and you cannot hide behind mediocrity. If you are mediocre at your work, your boss will replace you with someone that is better skilled.

Or, if you are mediocre and you run a business, your customers will find a more passionate provider on the internet.

So the morale is; don’t be mediocre, be exceptional!

I will leave you with a few quotes from that summarizes this process from our participants.

“There is such a wealth of information out there that it can be overwhelming to someone trying to figure out what they need to know.

I mean, when you look in your local bookstore you will see a huge section of books to help, but what you won’t find is the insider information that will teach you exactly is the most profitable and what techniques you absolutely must know.

You also won’t find any resources that will give you the inside information about how to write a specific resume so you stand out from the crowd.

You also won’t find the inside information about what interview questions to expect and more importantly – how to answer them!

ITCareerCoach provides all this information, structured in such a way that it is easy to learn.

Each step builds on what you learned in the previous step so you never get overwhelmed.

What you will learn above everything else from ITCareerCoach is the sequencing … all life is made up of what, the same 6 proteins but it is the sequence that makes everything work and every animal different.

You will learn how to make your knowledge and skills work … that is the secret, the sequence: what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and for how long, so that it all make sense.

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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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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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Is Business Analysis For Me?

[Ask IT Career Coach] is a Career Advice Column for Information Technology (IT) professionals looking for answers to their most challenging career situations.

In This post, I will answer questions on business analysis and software developer careers. Here is the first question:

Is Business Analysis A Good Fit For a Programmer With An ENFP Personality Type?

This question was submitted by Brenna (a computer programmer from South Africa), whose personality type on the Myers Briggs Personality Test is: ENFP (Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving).

Brenna codes with Cobol, Java, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, Flash and is burnt out of coding!

Brenna, has not been able to keep up with programming and wants some direction on what she should do with her life.

I am recommending that Brenna considers becoming a business analyst for the following reasons:

1. She has good verbal and written communication skills. You can see dome evidence in how detailed, structured and clear her writing is

2. She is project oriented instead of detail and routine oriented as you will find with programmers. ENFPs also tend to be project oriented instead of detail oriented.

3. She has not been able to keep up with her computer programming career because she lacks a passion for the industry and also because she is not going about it the right away..

Click here to read Brenna’s post and my reply to the question: “What Is The Future Of ENFP Personality Type In Computer Programming”

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Learn a Top 100 Most Marketable Skill

As a career coach one of the challenges that many of my clients face is that of learning the most marketable skills in the current job market.

An example is a client that I will call John who has been looking for a while even though he has an advanced management degree (MBA).

He wonders why he’s constantly getting turned down for business analyst jobs even though he is certain of this: most of those getting hired are less educated than him!

John is having a hard time seeing why despite his impressive educational qualifications, his skill sets are still not in alignment with business analyst job postings.

John’s problem is that he is still viewing the job market from his perspective and not from the employers. If he can just change his perspective, his situation will improve dramatically!

John is not alone in this regard because just like him, we also hold on to our cherished opinions until a personal crisis forces us to objectively evaluate them.

However, if John does not confront his personal beliefs or change how he approaches the job market, he may not fulfill his potential career wise!

He will have to either leave his traditional way of thinking for a more modern, objective view point or remain in his comfort zone with nothing to show for his beliefs!

New Research Data On the Top 100 Most Marketable Skills

I start off my career coaching for some clients by asking them to take an objective look at the demand for their skills in the current job market.

This is because the constantly changing face of culture or technology causes a misalignment of skills in the employment market.

So market research is needed to highlight those skill gaps which must be bridged for one to become an in-demand professional again.

In today’s career defining post, I will show you how to research the skills that are most currently in-demand so that you can get back into your game.

Did you know that the last recession and resulting layoffs was a big boost to the online job market?

To survive the financial downturn, both employers and job candidates turned to the online employment industry in record numbers at a time when the traditional employment market was grinding to a standstill.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, a report produced by an online employment agency shows that the four (4) biggest industries employing online workers were:

1. The Information Technology (IT) / Software Development Industry

2. The Creative / Web Design Industry

3. The Internet Marketing Industry

4. The Office Administration Industry

Which Jobs Are Most Indemand Online?

This report is important because it shows the most indemand skills that employers are hiring for in the fourth quarter of 2010.

This type of report will help you make decisions based on real-world data and not based on opinions or subjective interpretation of the job market.

Here are the jobs that are most in-demand based on an analysis of hiring in the fourth quarter of 2010.

#1 In-demand Job: Information Technology Industry

The information technology / software development market is the biggest employer of labor.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of online job postings are in the Information technology / Software Development industry which primarily employs web developers, web designers, computer programmers, sql query writers, database developers and mobile phone developers.

Keep in mind that this industry also traditionally employs Information Technology (IT) business analysts, project managers and software testers who are charged with the success of software development / information technology projects.

The online employment market is weighed in favor of the Information Technology (IT) Industry and of computer programmers with PHP, MySQL, C#, ASP.NET, .NET Framework, Sql Server, Sql, HTML/XHTML, CSS, Javascript skills.

#2 In-demand Job: Creative / Web Design Industry

Creative jobs are the second most popular jobs (24%) posted by online employers.

Creative jobs may require skills in web design, illustration and graphic / web design software packages like Adobe Photosho, Flash, ActionScript, Adobe AfterEffects, etc.

The creative or web design industry traditionally hires professionals who can create logos, banners, website themes, illustrate comic books or websites, create cartoons, comic characters, interactive elements of web pages, animations or even movies.

The web design industry also traditionally employs web business analysts, project managers or software testers with strong handson domain experience in the web design / web development industry.

#3 In-demand Job: Internet Marketing Industry

While the software development / information technology industry is the highest employer of labor, the online internet marketing industry is experiencing the highest growth surge because of the increasing investment in social networking projects for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

What this also means is that the marketing department in many organizations are employing or spending money on social networking / social media platform projects.

So strong skills in this sector of the indusstry can put your career back online because that is where the marketing dollars are going right now!

The combined spending on online branding, media and customer acquisition, affiliate marketing, search engine marketing and social networking places the Internet Marketing Industry in the third position in the list of the biggest online employers of labor.

#4 In-demand Job: Office Administration Industry

The Office / Administration industry provides about six percent (6%) of the jobs posted in the online employment job market.

This industry hires for data entry, general office and computer skills, customer service and telephone services amongst others.

So How Do Begin To Learn A Marketable Skill?

You have read my analysis of the online employment job market based on the 2010 fourth quarter report from one of the online employment agencies, right?

My Free Report which you may download below contains more of my analysis of the top 100 most marketable skills and how to position your career to take advantage of them.

Next, practice the first of three (3) success principles that will align your skills with the online hiring needs of employers.

Success Principle: Learn a Marketable Skill

You may have your own ideas about which industries you want to work for ... but it is better to consider the industries that are most likely to hire you!

This is sometimes a question of whether you want to stay idle until your perfect job opportunity opens up or do what it takes to align your skills with the current job market and start earning an income?

Here is something to consider: learn skills that closely matches your personality, background, interests, education or training from the list of the top 100 most marketable skills online.

Download and read the FREE Report below … and if you need help with learning one of the top 100 most marketable skills, get in touch with us here.

For example, if you learn skills that align you with the software development / information technology industry, internet marketing, creative or office / administrative industry, you are making an informed decision based on data.

If your goal is to start earning an income in the shortest possible time, then learn a marketable skill from an industry that is hiring, OK?

For example, though the Information Technology (IT) industry is the highest employer of online labor, learning a computer programming skill like perl, which is not currently in top demand by employers, puts you out of the hiring game.

Whenever you learn a skill that is not marketable, you make it harder for yourself to get hired … and the less marketable your skills are, the harder you will have to work to get a job.

The Law of Numbers: Don’t put yourself out of the game by doing your own thing.

Make a data based decision by learning one of the top 100 most marketable skills today!

Download the FREE Report below and read my three (3) principles on aligning your skills with job market by learning.

When you download and read the FREE Report below, you will also learn about the top 100 most marketable skills in the online industry.

Click Here To Read the Newly Updated FREE Report

Click Here To Get A Top 100 Online Marketable Skill

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What Is Your Personality Type?

One of the reasons why professionals struggle with their careers or under-perform at their jobs is that their work or career does not match their personality!

When hiring someone to do job, it’s easy to see what skills and training they have acquired or what types of jobs they’ve previously performed from their resume.

What is not so easy to see is how that same person’s personality traits will fit in with that of other employees or how their personality will thrive on a daily basis after you’ve have hired them.

That is why you need to take a personality test … an instrument that is used to measure or assess the characteristics of your personality.

Personality tests are sometimes more accurately referred to as a personality inventory since the use of the word “test” implies a right or wrong answer must be given.

However when it comes to personality test, there is no right or wrong assessment but rather an objective, independent assessment of suitability for a career or a job.

Personality tests are simply a series of questions designed to gather information used in assessing general personality characteristics.

When administered properly, personality tests are effective for building successful teams.

The results from a personality test can give you good insight into what personality types work best together and what type of work is more effectively done by certain types of people.

Please note that: personality tests are not guaranteed to be accurate and people can change or adapt overall personality … even though that is not easy!

So, Is there a personality test that is accurate?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test was first developed in 1943.

During the more than 60 years it has been used, it has been perfected as an accurate personality indicator and when the more accurate, complete version of the test is administered, the results can be alarmingly accurate.

The MBTI groups uses 4 Type letters to distringuish16 unique and different personality types based on the answers to a Myers-Briggs personality test.

What are these 4 Type letters and what do they mean?

• (I)ntrovert/(E)xtrovert
• (S)ensing/(I)ntuivite
• (T)hinking/(F)eeling
• (J)udging/(P)erceptive

The idea that someone is an introvert vs. extrovert does not necessarily mean one is extremely outgoing and the other extremely shy. But rather, it implies from which perspective they tend to view situation: From within, or from without.

Sensing vs. Intuitive is similar to the introvert/extrovert in that it implies whether decisions are made based upon the physical senses or an intuitive knowing from within.

Thinking vs. Feeling suggests the process of thought and decision making as to whether it is done by concrete thinking or logic or based upon a feeling.

Judging vs. Perceptive describes if a person comes to conclusions based upon a logical criteria or based upon an inward perception.

Here are the 16 personality types based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for use in determining how suited you are for a career or job:

ISTJ Personality Type – Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging

To the ISTJ personality type, order and schedule is of utmost importance. and no sacrifice is too great to an ISTJ when it comes to keeping unity.

Even though they tend to have difficulty expressing emotions and what they think and can come off as being uncaring, they tend to develop strong and loyal relationships with others.

The ISTJ easily takes on responsibility. Because of this, they fit in well with any aspect of the IT profession in planning and inspecting, management, scheduling, auditing or accounting.

Spontaneity and abstract thinking is not a plus to the ISTJ personality and the ISTJ will remain consistently strong in everything they attempt.

ISFJ Personality Type – Introvert Sensing Feeling Judging

To the ISFJ, work is very important.

In terms of the IT Professional, they effectively fill the roles of protecting and supporting though they will work hard at any position as they have a strong sense of duty.

They may even remain silent or let others take advantage of them just to avoid conflict. This can be beneficial in business as they tend to put up with complaints for the sake of harmony.

INFJ Personality Type – Introvert Intuitive Feeling Judging

Inspiring and insightful, the INFJ personality tends to do well as a developer.

INFJ often inspire others and tend to succeed in creative situations.

This personality type does not enjoy tension and can come off as quiet or even disinterested. But, don’t be fooled. Beneath this unassuming exterior is a ton of ideas waiting to come forth and when these ideas are properly tapped, they come alive.

They will also jump at any chance to learn and broaden their horizons.

INTJ Personality Type – Introvert Intuitive Thinking Judging

The INTJ is very independent and may be perceived as being arrogant.

They may even appear to be argumentative, but this is the way they learn.

They like to see change for the better and can be intolerant of stagnation.

They do well in work environments where systems are set up to achieve maximum output.

They do well in management, consulting, computer programming and as Directors.

ISTP Personality Type – Introvert Sensing Thinking Perceptive

The ISTP personality may take charge in fixing a problem.

They are ready to try anything at least once.

They are spontaneous and do not like others to control them.

They do not enjoy routine work such as that of an administrator or researcher.

They shine in problem solving spontaneously with a tangible goal such as Analyzer or Operator.

ISFP Personality Type – Introvert Sensing Feeling Perceptive

The ISFP personality tends to be non-imposing.

They fear standing still and enjoy a challenge when working with people.

They do well when they can produce new thought patterns.

They do well in fields that involve composing and producing.

INFP Personality Type – Introvert Intuitive Feeling Perceptive

The INFP Personality type tends to bring harmony and clarification to the table.

They do not like conflict at all. In fact, there’s very little an INFP won’t do to avoid conflict.

They do have a desire to help others. Teaching and training is an excellent position for the INFP.

They also do well with research, design and human resources and they tend to crave working hard in whatever position they are placed.

INTP Personality Type – Introvert Intuitive Thinking Perceptive

The last-minute planner, the INTP adapts well to fast changes.

They need to find a challenge in their work. If they don’t find a challenge, they will grow discontented and depressed.

They are excellent at problem solving and theorizing.

They are excellent at strategic planning, writing, computer programming and design.

ESTP Personality Type – Extrovert Sensing Thinking Perceptive

The ESTP Personality thrives on being the center of attention.

They have a lack of order and tend to never plan as they see planning as a waste of time.

They love daily changes and refuse to get stuck in a rut.

In terms of the IT profession for the ESTP, they do well as an executor or in a role where they can be the promoter.

ESFP Personality Type – Extrovert Sensing Feeling Perceptive

The ESFP personality lives in the moment and does not make plans easily if at all.

They can be viewed as hyper or shallow as they push for excitement.

They do not like confrontation. They do, however, make great motivators or presenters or any position that provides instant gratification.

ENFP Personality Type – Extrovert Intuitive Feeling Perceptive

The ENFP personality tends to be extremely loyal and will look for the best in others along with always looking for new possibilities.

They can appear to be over positive or insincere.

They have a need and a desire to work with people and they want to have fun in their work.

They make for great human resource development trainers, designers, and advocates.

ENTP Personality Type – Extrovert Intuitive Thinking Perceptive

The ENTP personality thrives on enthusiasm.

Though they will become excited enough about ideas to promote them, they don’t always follow through on these ideas.

They like to be challenged and stimulated in their work. Computer science, financial advising, teaching, computer or systems analyst are great career choices for the ENTP.

ESTJ Personality Type – Extrovert Sensing Thinking Judging

The ESTJ personality is a born manager.

They are dependable but tend to volunteer for more work and responsibility than others.

To an ESTJ, everything must have a plan.

They tend to fix what is broken and do a job correctly.

They tend to be loyal to the company. They make great managers as well as supervisors.

ESFJ Personality Type: – (Extrovert Sensing Feeling Judging):

The ESFJ is seen as a scheduler.

They are usually neat and enjoyable to be around.

They do well where organization is involved and they also make great listeners and are loyal.

They like to serve, facilitate and be the caretaker. Jobs in computers, science or consulting can be stressful to the ESFJ personality.

ENFJ Personality Type – Extrovert Intuitive Feeling Judging

The ENFJ personality tends to be known as a communicator and have an understanding of other people.

They are drawn to situation where they can interact with others who will challenge them.

They do not do well in careers that involve a great deal of detail or paperwork.

They do, however, make great mentors and envision well.

ENTJ Personality Type – Extrovert Intuitive Thinking Judging

The ENTJ is a natural leader.

They even enjoy confrontation and they tend to be the classic corporate type of personality.

They are not afraid to challenge old ways of doing things with more successful methods.

Business consultants and network integrations as well as strategists are careers where the ENTJ thrive.

My Final Thoughts:

Each of these 16 personality types will fit better into some Information Technology careers than others and that it’s where the Myers-Briggs personality testing can help you.

Regardless of how much you want a career or a job, you will find it hard to succeed if your personality does not match that required for the job and you don’t change your personality to match it!

• If you choose to change your personality for a career or job, you can hurt yourself in the process, which will negate the benefits of doing that job!

  so you may be better off choosing a career that suites your personality than forcing your personality to fit in.

• As a manager, director, project manager or human resources professional, you can place people in roles where they’re most likely to succeed alongside based on results from properly administered Myers-Briggs personality test.

  In the end, the proper use of personality testing can lead to more productive work place.

So, What Is Your Myers-Briggs Personality Type?

If don’t know the answer, follow this link to take your Myers-Briggs personality test..

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STOP, if you’re about to register for our training and read this post now because we are only interested in the right type of participants for our online bootcamp courses.

In many ways, we are not like traditional classroom classes or most training schools.

For example, we focus more on experiential learning in the sense that we want you to perform well on the job and not just have a certificate that you can show-off on your resume.

Click here to read our thoughts on experiential learning.

Do You Want To Build Handson Experience?

Finding the handson experience required to move up the ladder, transition into a career or find a new job is critical to career success.

Several years ago, just having a college degree was enough to get you hired and once you got a job, you worked for that employer, for a really long time!

Employers felt responsible for providing handson experience to students in college through internship programs or training for those who had a job.

But today, internship programs are hard to get because employers don’t want to take on the burden of training and a college degree no longer guarantees finding or keeping a job!

What employers are now looking for is proof of performance and not more diplomas, degrees or certifications.

When it comes to proof of performance, employers are of the mindset that your previous performance is the best proof of your future performance.

Please click here to read the article on “why employers want proof of your performance“.

So you have to supplement your training and professional development through personal initiative, traditional classes or online training bootcamps

Traditional classes do not help you develop skills or experience using tasks or assignments because that amount of work will be too much for a traditional school to handle.

In a traditional class, students have to start and complete their tasks within a set amount of time or that school loses money because the next class is delayed from starting!

But our online training bootcamps are not designed like traditional training classes.

Our students are given practical tasks or assignments which requires them to perform assigned activities with the knowledge or skills they’ve acquired.

Do You Want To Have Your Questions Answered?

In a traditional class, you may not want to ask questions that someone else thinks is dumb or you may not ask questions because your manager wants you to keep quiet or because the instructor just doesn’t have enough time to answer all the questions from all the participants!

Why can’t traditional classes entertain, encourage or answer all the questions from all the participants in a course?

Traditional classes can’t because they have a set start and end date and a limited amount of time within which the instructor must go over the course materials.

We do not have the limitations of a set starting time and a set closing time facing traditional classes!

Our online course participants may start their courses at any time or complete it earlier.

There are no limits to how many questions that you can ask and you don’t have the problems of someone judging your conversations or the appropriateness of your questions.

Because we use a learning management system, none of your questions is lost by the instructor in a bid to answer everyone else.

Do You Want To Be Personally Involved?

Unlike traditional online or classroom training, where you get a certificate regardless of your personal efforts, our assignments require your personal time and effort because they are reviewed and graded by us!

Our online training bootcamps requires non-trivial hard work which may be an issue, if you’re only interested in a passive learning experience.

When you enroll in our online boot camp training, you will watch videos, take practice tests, write assignments, perform research activities or perform any practical tasks assigned to you … all of which are required!

Our online courses are quite unlike traditional classes where you’re not given the chance to get your hands dirty!

Do You Want To Ace Your Job Interviews?

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew the answers to the interviewer’s questions but were unable to form an answer in your mind in good time?

What happened is that you weren’t able to form an effective verbal response because you hadn’t practiced recalling answers to similar questions until it became second nature.

That is exactly why we give you practice tests or quizzes in our online training bootcamps … so that you will be practiced at recalling or formulating the correct answers to interview questions in a timely fashion!

Click here to read this post on: how to ace job interviews using practice tests

Do You Want To Be A Top Performer On The Job?

Becoming the top performer is one of the best ways of securing your job because employers no long hire for keeps.

In other words, the moment an employer thinks that your performance is falling or that your skills are not as good as that of someone else, you are marked for firing!

Being knowledgeable about your job is not enough to protect or secure it!

You also need to be skilled at responding with the right answers or solutions in a timely manner because that assures your managers that you know what you are doing.

This is where our practice tests can help you.

You will retain, remember or recall answers or solutions easily … so that you’re always ready for the next challenge!

Do You Want To Take Your Career To The Next Level?

Regardless of where you are in your career: whether you are a beginner versus an expert, looking for a job versus working on your next career promotion, learning a new skill or refreshing the knowledge you already have … we can help.

Our help is not restricted to paying clients or customers only! We will help any of our readers by answering their most pressing career questions.

To get your questions answered promptly, post them as a response to any of our blog posts or Submit a question to [ASK IT Career Coach] here …

What Do You Want From Your Career?

We do not just provide you with the knowledge needed to get your job done, we also provide the real-world, practical education or skills required for your professional success!

So, if you are only interested in theoretical knowledge and you don’t care about building skills or learning how to perform tasks, then a traditional college or diploma course may be good for you.

On the other hand, if you want to build your knowledge, skills and experience using an interactive coaching or mentoring experience or if you are looking to apply your knowledge in a real job, then our online training bootcamps may be what you are looking for!

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Which Certifications Or Courses Guarantee Jobs?

This question is frequently asked by job candidates searching for certifications or training courses they can put on their resume, present to an employer and get a job.

However, the answer to the question: which online courses, certifications, college degrees or classroom courses guarantee a job is NONE!

This type of question is seriously flawed because it assumes that there is something out there … a college degree or online course or certification program, that you can put on your resume and hired fast!

But what really guarantees you a job is the depth of your handson experience, skills and knowledge or your ability to convey, present or market your career competency in a job interview.

Yet many job candidates read a job posting and then immediately say to themselves: “regardless of the requirements for this job, who or what can endorse me?”

Instead of addressing the gaps between the job posting and their “skills, knowledge or experience”, they try to short-circuit the employment process with the rubber stamping of a course or certificate!

Listen, don’t try to game the employment system. The only way you can guarantee yourself a job is by giving employers what they want … which is typically stated in your plain view on the job posting!

Dear Friend,

Start your job search by first placing yourself in the employers shoes and not with pre-conceived, mis-leading or half-baked ideas on how the job market works!

In this post, I will help you understand how the job market works because this knowledge will keep you employable for years regardless of your chosen profession.

WHAT DO EMPLOYERS WANT FROM JOB SEEKERS?

The first and most important question that you have to answer before you begin a job search is the question: “What Are Employers Hiring For?“

At a minimum, 80% of the jobs out there have these basic requirements:

1. Knowledge Requirement – the comprehension or understanding of the practical facts needed to get the job done.

   This knowledge may be gained from an online class, traditional classroom course, coaching, mentoring or self-study program.

   Employers don’t care how you get the knowledge … they just want to be assured that you have it!

2. Skills Requirement – the ability to recall knowledge and apply the right solutions to problems.

   Skill is developed by rehearsing the answers or solutions to common problems using practice tests, quizzes or certification programs or by repeatedly solving a problem on the job.

   Most employers will probe your skill-level at the job interview regardless of what you claim on the resume.

3. Handson Experience Requirement – the quality of exposure to real-world projects where your skills and knowledge are used to solve practical problems.

   Note that handson experience is not given by certification programs.

   Handson experience is developed over time by performing the roles, responsibilities or duties associated with your career.

4. Personality Match Requirement – employers want you to have the right personality for a job and the right personality for their corporate or organizational structure.

   You may be a well-qualified job candidate and still fail at a job interview because the hiring manager perceives a clash or mis-match between your personality and the company culture!

5. Marketability Requirement – the probability that you will get a job is also dependent on the demand for your skills.

   If you want additional guarantees that you will be hired … pay attention to the job outlook for your career!

   The less your skills are in-demand, the more aggressive you must be with your job search and the more your skills are in demand, the more you are guaranteed a job.

Now, let’s review the responsible actions you may take to guarantee yourself a job.

BRIDGE THE KNOWLEDGE GAP

Learn everything you can about your career or job using self-study, coaching, mentoring or training programs.

Don’t make up educational requirements thinking that it will move your employer to hire you.

Employers care less about your endorsement from an educational institution but they care most about the relevancy of your knowledge, training or education to their job!

BRIDGE THE SKILLS GAP

Your skills measure how practiced you are at solving problems or your competency.

Skills are developed by taking lots of practice tests or by repeating quizzes until you can answer questions or solve problems without thinking.

Expect an employer to test your skills by asking open-ended questions at a job interview …. which you have to answer promptly, comprehensively and confidently.

BRIDGE THE EXPERIENCE GAP

You can only develop handson experience by working on real-world problems.

So, the more tasks, duties, roles, responsibilities, assignments or projects you take on … the more experienced you become.

Be creative and find ways to get experience even without a job because your getting hired depends on it!

MATCH THE PERSONALITY

Employers want you to have the right personality for a career and also for their corporate culture.

Here are a few personality mis-match situations for your consideration:

Computer programmers are expected to be more geeky than business analysts and project managers are expected to be more assertive than either software developers or business analysts.

If you’re an introvert or shy of developing relationships or weak at verbal communications, you may fail at convincing hiring managers that you are good fit for their business analyst or project management jobs!

So, now you have it … THE GUARANTEED WAY OF FINDING A JOB.

Do not abandon these FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF HIRING for endorsements of any kind because that would be like chasing your own shadow!

With all this in mind, here is how our online courses, coaching, training programs or step-by-step bootcamps will help you:

1. Knowledge – You may get the knowledge needed to do your job through our online video training or coaching courses.
2. Skills – You can use our quizzes or practice tests to boost your skills or even ace certification examinations.
3. Experience – You can use our in-built, handson assignments or coaching advice to jumpstart the experience needed for your career.

This how we (IT Career Coach) help … by aligning you with the requirements of your career or job.

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Pros and Cons of Computer Programming vs. Business Analysis

[Ask IT Career Coach] is a Career Advice Column for Information Technology (IT) professionals looking for answers to their most challenging career, job or business situations.

I get a number of questions from computer programmers or software developers looking to change their careers to business analysis or project management.

I also receive questions about the suitability of business analysis, project management or computer programming as a career.

If you sent me a question along these lines, please use this post to evaluate your choices or decide on the best career for you!

This post highlights the pros and cons of “ business analysts careers compared to computer programmer careers or jobs“.

1. Market Demand for Skills or Careers

   Finding a Software Developer Job is easier than getting hired for a business analyst or project management job because there is a lot of demand for software developers.

   As a matter of fact .NET Developers are in a class of their own because they get hired more easily than other computer programmers and definitely more than business analysts or project managers!

2. Job Satisfaction

   A business analyst or project manager job spends a lot of time interacting with people (customers, stakeholders, management), projects, processes.

   The advice presented by a business analyst or project manager has a much better chance of being accepted by management than those of computer programmers who spend most of their time tinkering with computers and software products.

3. Salary, Wages or Compensation

   Software Developers (especially .NET computer programmers) get paid more than business analysts or project managers in many projects.

   It is not untypical for good .NET computer programmers to bill more than $50/hr. or earn from the upper 90k to six figures even with junior to mid-level experience!

4. Stress & Lifestyle After Working Hours

   Project Managers or Business Analysts are less affected by the pace of technological change than software developers.

   As a business analyst or project manager you may end up having more leisure or personal time after work unlike a computer programmer who is always learning new technologies after work (in the evenings and weekends)!

   Computer Programmers sometimes lose their jobs or burnout because of the stress associated with always learning new software tools or the rapid pace of technological change!

5. Stress & Lifestyle During Working Hours

   Project Managers or Business Analysts are always bridging gaps between opposing or conflicting points of views or in-meetings helping different interest groups buyin to a common goal or strategy.

   So a business analyst or project manager’s day job is more challenging or stressful compared to a computer programmer’s who is given specifications or specific tasks and then left alone to get their job done!

   Business Analysts or Project Managers sometimes lose their jobs or burnout because of the stress associated with the high degree of conflict on their day job.

6. Big Picture Thinkers

   Business Analysts or Project Managers tend to have a more comprehensive view of their projects or organizations.

   They are more exposed to the big-picture, organizational goals and objectives, strategy sessions, upper or senior management and they can influence things from that perspective.

   Computer Programmers are more likely to be focused on the minutiae or details.

   Computer programmers tend to obsess over small things and they are frequently on a need to know basis with their management team.

   In some organizations or projects, they spend all their time hunting down bugs, fixing them or improving the quality of their product one defect at a time!

7. Portability of Skills

   Computer Programmers (especially .NET Software Developers) have very portable skills.

   They can switch industries easily (insurance to banking), migrate their skills to new software development platforms or jobs (mobile applications, internet applications, database applications, desktop applications) or even move to a new country and get a job easily!

   On the other hand, a lot of people want to be business analysts or project managers because of the hipness, coolness, job satisfaction and big-picture benefits.

   Finding a business analyst job may be harder because you have to stand out from this crowd of wannabes!

   Click here to read the post titled: 8 Tips for Business Analysts: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Job Market.

   Finally, a lot of business analyst jobs require domain specific business or industry knowledge which limits the ease with which a business analyst can migrate to a new industry or find a job!

8. Authority & Control

   Computer programmers are frequently micro-managed.

   Their exists in many organizations an adverse relationship between the management team and the software development team.

   It is so bad that outsiders like me are hired to mediate or resolve the conflict which is what I was tasked with doing as an IT Director for a company in the Mid-Western, USA.

   The genesis of this distrust is that management often cannot see the progress made by software developers or understand their challenges because they are typically big-picture thinkers.

   On the other hand, Business Analysts or Project Managers are more likely to give directions software developers directions or supervise the work that computer programmers perform!

   Besides all this, the work performed by business analysts or project managers is highly visible to stakeholders, management or business teams!

9. Soft Skills vs. Hard Skills

   Software Developers depend more on technical or hard skills to get their job done.

   Software developers are always learning new software tools or creating them using a number of technologies, platforms, tools or software development environments.

   Business Analysts or Project Managers depend more or soft skills or people skills to get their job done.

   They are always meeting with people in a one on one or group setting. They are skilled at presentations, communications, inter-personal relationships, conflict resolution, writing or speaking tasks.

   Answer this Question:

   What is your greatest asset, is it your hard skills or your soft skills?

10. Career Security

    Software developers tend to have more career security than either business analysts or computer programmers because of the following reasons:

    • High Portability: Software developers can port their skills or careers easily across domains, industries, countries or jobs.
    • High Demand: Software developers are in high-demand because of the demand for internet, desktop, mobile applications or services.
    • High Salary: Software developers are amongst the first crop of professionals hired in startups and many of them have gone on to start their own companies and become wealthy in the process!
    • Intellectual Property: Software developers are more likely to patent or copyright their inventions, products or services! They tend to lead the pace of innovation and are more likely to take ownership for their products or services.

    Click here to read more about the job prospects for software developers in 2011.

Here is how to quickly find which career you’re better suited for.

Are you more concerned about finding a job quickly or getting paid very well than you’re about job satisfaction and do you like working with technology? If so, choose the .NET Software Developer Career Path.

Are you more concerned about the prestige, control, hipness, coolness or likeability of your job and are you good at resolving inter-personal conflicts or working with groups of people? If so, choose the business analyst or project management career path!

So there you have it, A review of the suitability of software developer and business analyst jobs.

What do you think of my advice? Do you agree or disagree? Do you have Any questions or rebuttals?

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I dedicate a considerable amount of time to debunking myths and half-baked truths. And one about the future prospects of software developer careers has just been ratified!

According to a survey of the best and worst jobs in the United States, Software Engineers will have the best jobs in 2011.

For this survey, 200 professions were analyzed based on their pay, environment, hiring outlook, stress and physical demands using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau and trade association studies.

According to this survey, the high-demand for Software engineering jobs is fueled by the desire for high-tech gadgets, iPods, tablets and other devices.

Click here to read more about the survey by CareerCast.com on MSNBC, titled: “Software Engineers Have Nations Best Job …”

Software Developers Have The Best Careers

The survey agrees with what I have been saying on this website: which is that web programmers or software developers are in high-demand because of the demand for technology and internet products or services.

Here are two our of several articles on future prospects for software developers / computer programmers:

1. Reasons for Becoming A Computer Programmer
2. Benefits Of Becoming A Computer Programmers

I Like Debunking Myths

I have been debunking myths about software developer careers including the following:

• Outsourcing Is Reducing Software Developer Jobs – Click here to read my rebuttal titled: “How Outsourcing Affects Tech Jobs”
• A College Degree Is Required For A Software Developer Career – Click here to read my rebuttal titled: “Is A College Degree Required For A Degree In Computer Programming?”
• Age Is A Barrier To Becoming A Computer Programmer – Click here to read my rebuttal titled: “It Is Never Too Old To Become A Computer Programmer”
• Computer Programming Is Hard To Study – Click here to read my views on: “Why Computer Programing Books Are Not Hard To Study”
• Software Development Is An Unrewarding Career – Read how I debunked this myth here: Six Figure Salary With Two (2) Years Of Computer Programming Experience

I’m not just interested in debunking myths about computer programmers. I’m also rebutting half-truths or misconceptions about business analysis, databases, project management and other careers in Information Technology.

In my opinion, too many smart people have wasted their lives or taking long, expensive detours because they accepted a half-truth, lie or misconception about their career!

I hate mental limitations because the worst prison is that which exists in one’s mind!

So, work with me as I help you identify or remove self-imposed limitations. Have an Awesome Year!

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Pursuit Is The Proof Of Desire

Life Is About What You Have … And Not About What You Don’t Have!

I get a number of questions along the lines of:

I am 25 / 39 / 50 years old, I don’t have any work experience and I don’t have a college degree.

But I want to become a good business analyst / computer programmer / project manager, what do I have to do?

If you find yourself thinking along those lines, this is what you should do: use what you have to get what you want!

What do I mean by: “using what you have to get what you want?“

Right now, here is what you’ve got working for you:

1. Interest
2. Desire
3. Passion

Right now, all you may have working for you is some desire or interest in an occupation or some passion or love for an industry. And that may not seem like much if weighed against your advanced age or lack of money, educational qualifications or handson experience.

Make a list of what you consider positive about your life and let the rest of your negatives (lack of college degree, lack of work experience, lack of skills, lack of anything) take care of themselves along the way.

What does that mean?

Your interest, desire or passion is one of the greatest assets in life because any achievement that is worthwhile in career, business or life is founded on passion … and those that are truly successful are so because of their passion!

The Proof of your Desire is in your Pursuit

The proof of desire is in the steps you’re taking right now towards your career … what does that mean?

If you are passionate about a career, you should take the first steps towards realizing your passion or keep moving forward in the direction of your interests until you actually hit a brickwall!

Why? Because it’s only when we fully realize the opportunities presented to us … that new doors or opportunities open up.

Invest in Your Passion

The first or most important step that you can take is to learn the career that you are interested in … business analysis, project management, computer programming, data analysis, software testing etc.

There’s no reason for not studying the career that you’re passionate about because there are all sorts of options for learning anything.

You may learn from textbooks purchased at Amazon.com, take an online course or get a college degree.

If finding money is a challenge, you may purchase fairly used but inexpensive textbook versions or you may take an online training course at a fraction of traditional college costs!

So, there is no excuse for not learning the occupation you’re interested in.

Don’t Put The Cart Before The Horse

Without studying a career, you’ll not be able to practice it and without handson experience, you may not be qualified for a job!

If you are transitioning into business analysis / computer programming / project management, do not start by first looking for handson experience … that is putting the cart before the horse.

Do you want to know, one good reason why putting handson experience before knowledge is not a good idea?

Handson experience is gained by applying what you know to the problems or challenges facing an industry.

In other words, if you haven’t studied an occupation, you won’t be able to recall or reuse available solutions or solve the problems and challenges found within that occupation.

So, when faced with a problem the best that you will be able to do, is guess or mock around.

NOTE: Potential employers or hiring managers do not want to hire those that don’t know what they are doing. Instead they want to hire those who not only know what they are doing, but they have done it several times before!

Monetize Your Passion

Take the first step by learning, next get handson experience and finally get a job.

If you have taken the time to learn an occupation and you have gained sufficient handson experience, then spend all your time marketing yourself into a job.

Dear Friend, focus all your energy on taking the next step in-front of you.

Don’t worry about all the things that you can’t do yet, because when you take care of your immediate challenges, doors for moving forward will open up.

• Step 1: Study what you love
• Step 2: Get some experience doing what you love
• Step 3: Get a job doing what you love

It is only when you’ve completed the first two steps that you have the best chances of sending out your resume, taking job interviews and getting a job.

Trying to get a job without handson experience or looking for handson experience without first studying for an occupation … is what stops your career from moving forward!

This is how to move your career forward even if all you have is: interest, passion or desire.

The proof of your intentions is in taking the right steps to achieve them … so what’re you waiting for? Get Moving!

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The Most Difficult Challenge Of My Career

Hello,

“What is the most difficult challenge facing your career right now”?

Your most difficult challenge may be about how to get a job or how to improve your skills or how to get promoted on the job

Perhaps your most difficult challenge is about how to transition out of or into a business analyst or computer programming or database developer career.

Whatever your challenge is, just go ahead and post it as a comment on this page and I will deal with it for you.

I may answer it by writing a new article that addresses your concern or by posting a comprehensive reply to your comment.

The concern or challenge facing you is important to me, so go right away and post it as a comment on this page.

Thank You,

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Stay Ahead of the Curve!

Have you ever wondered how some people stay ahead of rapidly changing technologies while others seem to let their skills become extinct like the Dodo?

Well, apparently, someone in Dubai, U.A.E. wants to know the answer so badly that he sent in his question by postal mail!

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!

NOTE: There is an e-book at the bottom of this post on “How To Stay Ahead of The Technology Curve”. Be sure to download and read it, ok?

Here is The Question on How To Stay Ahead of the Technology Learning Curve

Dear Kingsley,

Having come to be known about you as a pioneer IT Coach, I need some information from you if you can help me.

At present, I am reading a book Microsoft Office 2003 bible which includes all the basic and in depth functionalities of excel, word, powepoint, access, outlook, frontpage, etc.

It’s a huge book with 1200 pages. I’d like to know how I can memorize this book quickly and efficiently.

There are other books on programming to be memorized. in this age of information overload, everyday we are presented with lots of paperwork, reports and books to remember.

As an IT coach, could you please show me the techniques to remember this amount of information so as to get the job done on time and move along with the rapidly changing technologies.

Fahim, Dubai, U.A.E.

Don’t Underestimate The Effort Required To Keep Up With Information Technology Careers!

Years, ago, while considering a career transition, I was advised not to pursue Information Technology careers because of the rapidly changing technologies, literature, techniques and tools.

At that point in time, many IT professionals had shipwrecked their careers because they couldn’t transition from legacy skills in Cobol or Fortran or Mainframes to the smaller, more modern computers running windows.

My adviser pointed out to me that succeeding in an information technology career would be a tough challenge because many IT professionals with graduate computer science degrees from good schools had failed!

Some of the reasons why IT professionals fail in their career include:

1. The Challenge of Rapidly Changing Technologies: keeping up with rapidly changing tools, processes and technologies is a hard job. Some vendors release multiple versions of their products within a year forcing users to upgrade their skills or become obsolete.

2. The Challenge of Poorly Written Textbooks: many IT books are written by geeks for geeks. They’re difficult to understand, slow to read and intimidating in size. Many tech workers still find challenging, the effort required to keep up with technology by studying IT books.

3. The Challenge of Information Overload: There are various skills, technologies, tools and processes that need to be mastered for every unique employer or job situation. IT workers end up buying and studying lots of reference books in a bid to stay ahead of all the problems they aim to solve!

I Transitioned My Career By Overcoming The Information Overload!

I transitioned my career by learning the skills required for my new career in six weeks! and by acing my first technical job interview

In six weeks, I navigated an amazing amount of technical literature and reference books … to discover the hidden path that leads to IT career success.

The lessons I learned in those six weeks have become some of the hallmarks of my career including:

1. How to study new IT skills quickly, comprehensively and competently (I studied mine in under six weeks)

2. How to ace IT job interviews (I scored above 90% in my first interview test)

3. How to get hands-on experience without a job (I got the required hands-on experience before my first job)

A Free E-Book To Help You Stay Ahead Of Rapidly Changing Technologies!

Fahim, I understand where you’re coming from and the challenges you’re facing.

The challenges of succeeding in Information Technology (IT) Careers as pointed out in this blog post are real. However, I’ve solved them and I don’t see any reasons why you can’t after I share my success strategies with you!

I’m going to e-mail you a free e-book that details “how you can solve the same problem in your career” and in addition, you will also get any future updates to the e-book free!

I will also be giving away a free copy of the same e-book to the biggest users of my “Tell a Friend” Button or Link on any of my blog posts!

How To Get a Free Copy of My E-Book!

This post answers a question posted by Fahim on “how to study or keep ahead of rapidly changing technologies.“

if you have a question about your career, be sure to post it as a question on this discussion page and I will answer it for you!

If you’ll like to get a free copy of the e-book on how to stay ahead of the technology curve, go ahead and download it now

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Not for Junior BAs

This question was posted by Victor who needs advice on “how to change careers from a banking domain to business analysis.”

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 Victor’s questions 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 Victor’s Question

I desire to become a seasoned analyst especially in the aviation sector or transport management and logistics area and need all the necessary assistance i can get to sail through this aspiration.

currently i applied to a leading airline as a business analyst of which i know nothing about…I am A BANKER by profession and wish to change career due to the long run benefit of becoming a business analyst.

I want this job seriously to develop my new career interest but how do i become relevant to them if i happen to be called

If i am called today how do i respond to questions to be perceived as good candidate for this dream job

Advice for Junior Business Analysts – See Job Postings From the Employers Perspective

In your attempt to change careers, don’t aim to get a junior business analyst job even though it seems like the best way to get your foot in the door!

The perfect business analyst hire from the employer’s perspective, understands the challenges or problems facing the business and is equipped or prepared to solve them.

Unfortunately, that does not tend to be a junior business analyst by definition! Employers prefer not to hire junior business analysts in the real sense of the word!

When you see an advertisement for a junior business analyst, what you’re really looking at is “an employer who wants to pay junior level salary or wages for a capable business analyst!“

So, you need to read in between the lines of business analyst job descriptions especially when you are changing careers!

Why Employers Don’t Hire Junior Business Analysts

Here are some of the reasons why employers are really hiring for capable business analysts and not junior business analysts:

1. Training junior business analysts costs money and time. In the current economic climate, employers would prefer to hire trained or capable business analysts who will hit the ground running instead of junior business analysts who can’t produce right away!

2. In a tight job market, capable or senior business analysts are willing to work for less. If you expect the employer to hire you over more experienced business analysts, you have to be really good and pull out all the stops at your interview

   “Don’t be thinking that you’re competing with junior business analysts for a junior business analyst job … because you aren’t!“

3. Employers are impatient for results … they really are. Gone are the days when employers are willing to try your skills for 6 months!

   These days, if an employer is not sure that you can do the job, you won’t get hired.

   Because employers are performance minded, you have to hold your own in the business analyst job interview against senior or experienced business analysts!

   Read more on this post: “Can You Perform? Prove It“.

4. Aviation, transport management or logistics employers won’t see the benefit of your banking domain knowledge when applying for their business analyst positions.

   As far as an employer’s concerned, you have no work history and you’re not good even for a junior business analyst position.

   I’m not saying this to discourage you but to give you a better idea of how much work you have to do to change your career!

5. Junior business analysts are not equipped to deal with a potential employer’s pain points.

   A senior business analyst with the relevant aviation, transport management or logistics domain experience is prepared to handle those challenges

   So, the question again is, “why would a potential employer hire you when they can hire a more experienced business analyst for close the same hiring cost?“

   The best answer is to learn the pain points of potential employers by solving them just like a senior business analyst would!

   Read more on this post: “how to become a leader and get the job you want”

How To Get a Business Analyst Job … The Best Way?

1. Aim to be the best business analyst present at the job interview.“Start by learning how to prepare for or ace business analyst job interviews”.

2. Don’t aim to be a junior business analyst. Employers want to hire capable business analysts who can perform on the job. Aim to prove that your performance will be as good as or even better than those of senior or experienced business analysts.

   “Click here to read about the performance minded business analyst”.

3. Put yourself in an employer’s shoes by learning their pain points. Start learning about or solving the challenges facing your potential employers before you show up at the interview.

   “That’s how to stand out at the business analyst interview … by showing that you really care about the job!”.

Here is the best career advice; don’t be targeting to get a junior business analyst job because you will lower your expectations or under peform at your job interview

Here is a better way … become the best business analyst that you can be.

This post addresses a “question on how to change careers from banking aviation, transportation or logistics to a business analyst domain.

If you have a question, concern or challenge, click here to post it and I will answer it for you!

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how to start your business analyst job in 4 steps

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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If you are interested in registering for an online training class, here is some additional information that you need to consider before you sign up for the ongoing SQL BOOT CAMP or BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP or SOFTWARE DEVELOPER BOOT CAMP.

Career Roadmap and Career Planning

1. The online SQL BOOT CAMP class is for database developers, data analysts, report writers / developers, business analysts or software developers who want to learn or master two (2) core or fundamental programming skills:

a. Relational database design and database development

b. SQL query writing and SQL programming

2. The online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP class is for data analysts, system analysts or business analysts who want to learn or master the core business analyst skills including:

1. UML

2. Use Cases

3. Requirements Elicitation or Requirements Analysis

The online SOFTWARE DEVELOPER BOOT CAMP class is for computer programmers, software developers or web developers who want to learn or master the core software development skills including:

1. Database Development and SQL Programming

2. Object Oriented Web Programming Languages

3. Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Real World, Practical, Skill Based Job Training

The best way to learn business analysis or computer programming or database development or any technical skill is to establish the tasks you will be performing for your employer in the real world and then perform those tasks in our training program with guidance, progress monitoring and feedback.

The study guides used in our online training boot camps match the types of tasks, assignments and projects you perform for employers on the job guaranteeing that the skills you gain are immediately useful to you and your employer.

Learning By Doing

The more effective way to master business analysis, data analysis or computer programming skills is by doing or performing the skills you are learning 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 training boot camps includes practical tasks, assignments and hands on learning activities that will help you understand the technical skills you are learning, faster, better and easier.

Study Guides or Courseware

We developed the study guides used in our online technical training boot camps 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 training employers want to see you demonstrate on your resume, job interviews 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 finally your ability to perform on the job.

The outcome of your training is that you will begin to demonstrate the technical mastery or competence needed to excel on the job easily to your employers.

Learning On Your Own Time

One of the core benefits of the database developer, business analyst or computer programmer online training boot camps is that our course schedules are guaranteed to match your work and life schedule and not the other way round.

Here is the reason why

You may enroll and take your online courses in the morning, evening, weekend or any time of the week that best fits your schedule.

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

You Need To Take Action Now

All I am asking you to do, is to invest in your career, your skills and your future by taking a minute to sign up for an online training boot camp or contact me with a question, comment or request for more information.

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis, Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring and personal development of software development professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development consultants or training, click here to get in touch with me.

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• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

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The training courses at target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL Boot Camp is for data analysts, report
writers, SQL developers, business analysts, computer programmers and database
developers who want to improve their SQL or database skills .

Hands-On Training

The SQL training courses are a combination of hands-on, practical training
combined with real world projects.

Step By Step Training Courses

You study step by step the concepts you need to master to design efficient,
enterprise scalable relational databases at your own pace, schedule
and time and from the comfort of your home or office.

Database Design Training Curriculum

Here are some of the topics covered in the database design training class:

How to use Keys and Indexes in relational databases.

How to establish Foreign Keys, Alternate Keys, Primary Keys, Candidate Keys and
Composite Keys.

How to use Tables, Records, Columns and Views.

How to use One-to-One Relationships, One-to-Many Relationships and Many-to-Many
Relationships.

How to establish Referential Integrity, Cascade Update Rules and Cascade Delete
rules or constraints.

How to use the First Normal Form, Second Normal Form or Third Normal Form in a
database design session.

How to use or follow Field Naming Guidelines.

How to resolve Multivalue Fields or Multipart Fields during the database design
process.

How to identify the Domains, Entities, Data or Relationships in a database
design session.

How to establish Domain Integrity, Entity Integrity, Data Integrity or
Referential Integrity in a database design session.

Please note that presently, the training courses at
target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL Boot Camp include SQL Development
Courses, Database Design Courses and Database Development Courses.
This topics listed above are taken from the database design course only.

If you are interested in improving your SQL programming, SQL querying, database
design, database development, data analysis, business analysis or software
development technical skills, register for a class on
target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL Boot Camp

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis,
Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring
and personal development of software development professionals including
business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web
designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other
information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for
clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore,
Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development
consultants or training, target="_blank"
title="contact the author">click here to get in touch with me.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

The online SQL Training at SQL Boot Camp is an on-going online training session
that you can join at any time.However there is a special that starts today
and ends on March 1, 2008 which offers you a $500.00 discount.

If you are interested, all you have to do is register for the special at
target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL BOOT CAMP and then place a special,
one-time discount code in your shopping cart when you order your online
training.

Here is the special, one-time discount code: XxT95763

This offer ends on March 1, 2008.

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I?m a technical expert living in Saint Louis,
Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring
and personal development of software development professionals including
business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web
designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other
information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for
clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore,
Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development
consultants or training, target="_blank"
title="contact the author">click here to get in touch with me.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart