Building your roadmap to business analysis, one step at a time

Every day I see stories. Stories of talented professionals struggling to get their start as business analysts. Stories of experienced professionals getting stuck by the experience requirements of becoming a BA when they shouldn’t be or frustrated in their job search. They might land an interview, but then be rejected because their answers don’t instill confidence. They might never get an interview in the first place because their resume doesn’t sell them as a BA. Or, they might be in a different job altogether but passionately want in to business analysis.

Then every once in awhile, I hear success stories. Those who break through and make their dreams happen.

Work makes luck

Yesterday we shared one such story. Michiel Erasmus recently started his first BA position. Michiel has been running the BA Podcast for over a year. He has been thinking and planning and working his plan.

Although he says he had a dash of luck, my impression is that he owned this career transition. He took his career into his own hands and didn’t stop working to make it happen. Sure, he faced several “nos” along the way. But he eventually got one yes. And that’s all you typically need. One yes, one chance to make it happen. Read Michiel’s story.

Eye on the prize

Kimberley Heath is another success story. Over the last year I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Kimberley personally. She is another example of someone who has owned this transition. She shares a small part of this transition story, building a valuable BA experience through volunteering. All along the way I’ve been able to watch Kimberley take one forward step after another, consistently building her network, seeking out opportunities, learning about the profession, and making things happen. Check out her contributions to the Starting a BA Career LinkedIn group and you’ll see what I mean. Kimberley is now officially a BA.

BA transitions do happen. Although we’d like to think there is one smooth path we can follow to BA, a quick look at Michiel and Kimberley’s stories will show you that they are instead somewhat rocky journeys.

The common thread

Success comes from jumping on opportunities and from doing what it takes to create opportunities. Every one’s roadmap is a little bit different because everyone has a different collection of experiences to draw from and a different set of opportunities to take advantage of.

But it all starts with the same fundamental concept:

Taking one step at a time, putting one foot in front of the other.

Your opportunity

Here’s a step you can take today. When you sign up for Launch Your Business Analysis Career, I’ll help you lead you through a process to craft your roadmap. You’ll discover more about what you bring to business analysis than you ever thought existed. You’ll leave feeling more qualified and positioned for success. You’ll be ready to discover the opportunities sitting right in front of you prepared to take advantage of them. As an added bonus, we’ll help you build a habit of ongoing professional development and leveraging opportunities, skills that will serve you for your lifelong career.

Everyone starts somewhere. And although this transition is not easy, we’re going to do everything we can to help you clear out your rocky path and take forward steps on your career journey. It’s a relatively simple step you can take today.

Here’s what happens

I often find that once I make an investment, in money or in time, things start to come together. (You can read a rather amusing example here, when I finally hired a professional to help me organize my office.) Take a step, let a few things fall into place, and then take some more steps. Watch the world unfold. I’m proud to say I’ve now moved beyond reorganizing my office and decluttered every closet, cabinet, drawer, and collection receptacle in my home on my own. This was something I never seemed to be able to do before I hired a professional to help me get started.

You take the first step by signing up. We’ll give you some more steps with each lesson. Before you know it you will have broken down some big roadblocks and then, well, anything can happen.

Yes, you could do this on your own and that’s an honorable route.  But the risk you take is that you lose momentum or get stuck or follow the wrong path.  You also risk putting this transition off one more month or one more year while you wait for everything else to fall into place. Why not make a commitment to yourself to get started and make it happen?

Either way, I’ll be honored to share your success story…will it be later this year, in 2012 or farther out than that?

Check out what we have to offer and of course, let me know if you have any questions.

And my question for you today is, what’s holding you back? What step are you going to take today to overcome it? Let us know in the comments section.

By Laura Brandenburg. Laura Brandenburg is passionate about business analysis. She's found her niche helping aspiring business analysts find transferable skills and position themselves in the BA job market. To stay up-to-date on the latest from Bridging the Gap be sure to sign-up for our free email course and weekly eNewsletter. View more blog posts by Laura Brandenburg

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