What qualifications should one have for becoming a BA?
This is a very frequent question I hear from many aspiring BAs.
Must I have an management degree to be a BA?
Can I be a BA if I am a fresher?
Will any certification help me in becoming a BA?
Let's find out.
In fact the popular role that we call as BA in IT industry should ideally be called as Business Requirements Analyst which is a special type of business analyst. There are variety of possible BA roles exist and I will discuss that in a separate blog.
Now coming back our basic question, let's see what companies look for when they hire BAs. I would limit my discussion to IT BAs as that is the primary experience that I have. Again, domains and applications do vary widely, hence my focus is business application domain which possibly employs 80+% of business analysts.
What's the job description for Business (Requirements) analyst, B(R)A?
This is what Wikipedia says:
"A business analyst (BA) is someone who analyzes an organization or business domain (real or hypothetical) and documents its business or processes or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology.
The role of a systems analyst can also be defined as a bridge between the business problems and the technology solutions. Here business problems can be anything about business systems, for example the model, process, or method. The technology solutions can be the use of technology architecture, tools, or software application. System analysts are required to analyze, transform and ultimately resolve the business problems with the help of technology."
So essentially, what a B(R)A should be able to:
So B(R)As should have qualifications in both business and technology, then it makes perfect sense.
However, organizations do employs B(R)As at 2 levels - Senior and Junior.
Senior BAs are likely to be involved in solution identification where as junior BAs are most likely to be involved in solution detailing.
If you are a business management graduate with software development background
This is the ideal kind of candidate organizations look for. Getting a certification in business analysis (ECBA / CCBA / CBAP depending on your BA experience) can be very helpful to
If you are a software professional with 3+ years experience
The easiest thing is to do a certificate course in BA. (ECBA / CCBA / CBAP from IIBA depending on your BA experience level.) Even you may consider doing a business degree (weekend courses) if your budget permit. A business degree will provide you with lot more holistic view about business.
Pay attention to your communication skills. If needed, take a short term course on written and oral communication.
If you are without any work experience
Consider joining jobs which are not BA but linked to BA. Organizations may be open to hire you as a software quality assurance analyst or process analyst. Doing a certificate course in ECBA can be very helpful.
Also you may consider pursuing a full time business degree. Full time courses usually carry more value than part time courses.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-qualifications-should-one-have-becoming-ba-ln-mishra-cbap
This is a very frequent question I hear from many aspiring BAs.
Must I have an management degree to be a BA?
Can I be a BA if I am a fresher?
Will any certification help me in becoming a BA?
Let's find out.
In fact the popular role that we call as BA in IT industry should ideally be called as Business Requirements Analyst which is a special type of business analyst. There are variety of possible BA roles exist and I will discuss that in a separate blog.
Now coming back our basic question, let's see what companies look for when they hire BAs. I would limit my discussion to IT BAs as that is the primary experience that I have. Again, domains and applications do vary widely, hence my focus is business application domain which possibly employs 80+% of business analysts.
What's the job description for Business (Requirements) analyst, B(R)A?
This is what Wikipedia says:
"A business analyst (BA) is someone who analyzes an organization or business domain (real or hypothetical) and documents its business or processes or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology.
The role of a systems analyst can also be defined as a bridge between the business problems and the technology solutions. Here business problems can be anything about business systems, for example the model, process, or method. The technology solutions can be the use of technology architecture, tools, or software application. System analysts are required to analyze, transform and ultimately resolve the business problems with the help of technology."
So essentially, what a B(R)A should be able to:
- Understand business needs (Problems and opportunities)
- Identify correct (technology) solutions to fulfill business needs
- Elaborate business needs in great detail for technology team to develop the solution or procurement team to procure the solution
- Ability to describe current and future states of the organization. To a large extent, this involves business process modeling
- Describe data, process, state, rules aspects of business processes
- Ability to interact with multiple stakeholders (Sponsor, Domain SME, End users, Implementation SMEs, Testers etc.) to elicit and communicate requirements
So B(R)As should have qualifications in both business and technology, then it makes perfect sense.
However, organizations do employs B(R)As at 2 levels - Senior and Junior.
Senior BAs are likely to be involved in solution identification where as junior BAs are most likely to be involved in solution detailing.
If you are a business management graduate with software development background
This is the ideal kind of candidate organizations look for. Getting a certification in business analysis (ECBA / CCBA / CBAP depending on your BA experience) can be very helpful to
If you are a software professional with 3+ years experience
The easiest thing is to do a certificate course in BA. (ECBA / CCBA / CBAP from IIBA depending on your BA experience level.) Even you may consider doing a business degree (weekend courses) if your budget permit. A business degree will provide you with lot more holistic view about business.
Pay attention to your communication skills. If needed, take a short term course on written and oral communication.
If you are without any work experience
Consider joining jobs which are not BA but linked to BA. Organizations may be open to hire you as a software quality assurance analyst or process analyst. Doing a certificate course in ECBA can be very helpful.
Also you may consider pursuing a full time business degree. Full time courses usually carry more value than part time courses.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-qualifications-should-one-have-becoming-ba-ln-mishra-cbap
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