[Become a BA #4] 95 BA Career Backgrounds and Counting – What Will be Yours?

Many people get stopped becoming a business analyst before they even get started because they think they don’t have the right background to be successful. Today I’m going to dispel that myth so it doesn’t happen to you.

6 Interviews…

Like Steve Blais and Rick Clare, many early programmers became business analysts as software development matured. They rose up from the development ranks because they had management and people skills. IT is a common background for business analysts because most often, but not always, jobs with the business analyst title solve problems using technology.

Michiel Erasmus just recently transformed a career in software development into his first business analyst position.

But not all business analysts have an IT background. Many, like Kupe, were subject matter experts. Others, like Kent McDonald, became senior BAs after strong careers in project management. Kimberley Heath became a business analyst after a long history in various business roles within the travel domain. She used volunteering to build relevant experiences and in 2011 accepted her first full-time BA role.

Professionals become BAs from all kinds of different backgrounds. It doesn’t quite matter what your career history looks like, there is probably something in it that will help you clear your path into business analysis.

89 Forum Responses…

There are a couple of great LinkedIn forum threads where BAs share how they became BAs – if you joined these groups now, you probably wouldn’t find them because they are buried in the archives. (You’ll have to be a member of the group to see the thread, but joining is fairly simple.)

How did you end up as a business analyst? (IIBA) – last check 81 responses

How did you become a business analyst? (Modern Analyst) – last check 8 responses

Endless possibilities…

Some careers do make the transition easier than others. And Adrian Reed provides a comprehensive overview of roles that can lead to business analyst jobs.

Those with an IT background and strong communication skills seem to have a bit of an easier path. (Read more: How to become a business analyst when you have an IT background.) But if you read this post you’ll also see that IT backgrounds often come with some baggage that needs to be released before becoming a business analyst.

Other common backgrounds include technical writers, business process experts, and operational roles. Even sales, a profession we might consider well outside the boundaries of business analysis has some transferable skills. Read more: How big is the gap between sales and business analysis?

As Kathleen Barrett, CEO of IIBA said in her review of How to Start a Business Analyst Career

“There is no one path to becoming a business analyst.”

Your next step

This was a short lesson but you have a lot more reading to do. Your homework today is to read the interviews or the forum posts and study how these individuals became business analysts. There are no less than 95 paths offered in these posts. Any one of them could unlock your path into business analysis.

Start a motivation file and print or save any stories that resonate with you. You’ll know you are on the right track with this lesson when you have at least one “AHA” moment in which you see a bit of you in a now-BA too. Share your results in the Starting a BA LinkedIn group.

As always, wishing you the best in business analysis.

Best,

Laura Brandenburg

• Your Host, Bridging the Gap
• Your Instructor, My Business Analysis Career

**Interested in learning more? Check out My Business Analysis Career Choice, a virtual, instructor-led course designed to help you map out your business analysis career change.

***Get here from a link from a friend, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter? This lesson is part 4 of an 8-part free email course on becoming a business analyst. Learn more about it and sign up here.