Comments on: Help a BA!: How do I break into the financial industry with no industry experience? http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/help-a-ba-how-do-i-break-into-the-financial-industry-with-no-industry-experience/ Advance Your Business Analysis Career Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:08:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tweets that mention Help a BA!: How do I break into the financial industry with no industry experience? -- Topsy.com http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/help-a-ba-how-do-i-break-into-the-financial-industry-with-no-industry-experience/comment-page-1/#comment-4603 Tweets that mention Help a BA!: How do I break into the financial industry with no industry experience? -- Topsy.com Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:48:53 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=2359#comment-4603 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BA-BITS, Laura Brandenburg. Laura Brandenburg said: new blog post: Help a BA!: How do I break into the financial industry with no industry experience? http://bit.ly/cKOftr [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BA-BITS, Laura Brandenburg. Laura Brandenburg said: new blog post: Help a BA!: How do I break into the financial industry with no industry experience? http://bit.ly/cKOftr [...]

]]> By: Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/help-a-ba-how-do-i-break-into-the-financial-industry-with-no-industry-experience/comment-page-1/#comment-4579 Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:32:02 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=2359#comment-4579 Adriana and Doug, Thank you both for your additional ideas. I think they are all spot on and I am sure the reader will find them helpful as well! Laura Adriana and Doug,
Thank you both for your additional ideas. I think they are all spot on and I am sure the reader will find them helpful as well!

Laura

]]> By: Adriana Beal http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/help-a-ba-how-do-i-break-into-the-financial-industry-with-no-industry-experience/comment-page-1/#comment-4573 Adriana Beal Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:57:35 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=2359#comment-4573 Laura and Doug, great advice as always. I would only add that being in the public sector is not too bad a starting point for a career as a BA in the financial industry. Perhaps the reader would be able to become involved in finance-related projects where he/she is working now? Before my first job as a BA for a financial institution on Wall Street, I worked for the equivalent in Brazil to the U.S. GAO (Government of Accountability Office) as an auditor. I'm sure my experience with public finance had a positive influence in the decision to hire me as a junior BA. Finding projects that will expose you to a range of public finance issues could be an excellent starting point for a BA interested in switching from the public sector to the financial industry domain. Laura and Doug, great advice as always.

I would only add that being in the public sector is not too bad a starting point for a career as a BA in the financial industry. Perhaps the reader would be able to become involved in finance-related projects where he/she is working now? Before my first job as a BA for a financial institution on Wall Street, I worked for the equivalent in Brazil to the U.S. GAO (Government of Accountability Office) as an auditor. I’m sure my experience with public finance had a positive influence in the decision to hire me as a junior BA. Finding projects that will expose you to a range of public finance issues could be an excellent starting point for a BA interested in switching from the public sector to the financial industry domain.

]]> By: DougGtheBA http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/help-a-ba-how-do-i-break-into-the-financial-industry-with-no-industry-experience/comment-page-1/#comment-4571 DougGtheBA Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:36:18 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=2359#comment-4571 Laura: Your suggestions are spot on and also ones that I have had come up when posed with this question. This and similar situations like it are very tough to overcome, but I think one of the best things one can do is to plan, as opposed to react. Specifically, an analyst that wants to jump to another industry sector should not expect to wake up one day and walk into a job in an investment firm when they were in insurance the day before.....without having prepared first. In addition to the networking that is so crucial, there is a lot that can be done to plan an prepare. First, I would reread Laura's "How to Start a Business Analyst Career" book as if you were doing just that. Come up with a study plan and locate resources. Begin reading and taking classes in the desired sector to familiarize yourself with concepts and terminology. Address your planning from scratch as if you are a brand new analyst. Also mentioned in Laura's book, locate and align yourself with a mentor analyst that is aligned with your desired domain. How do you find someone like this? Keep networking and joining professional organizations that may eventually lead you to a person willing to tutor you in the desired disciplines that you seek. Finally, seek out written references that you can keep yourself busy with to study up. Why do all this? Because at the end of the day, you are going to try to move to a new industry and prove that you can perform in a new role that you have no experience in. Having gone through the efforts to prepare goes along way to stating that "analysis is analysis". My two cents.... Doug Laura:

Your suggestions are spot on and also ones that I have had come up when posed with this question. This and similar situations like it are very tough to overcome, but I think one of the best things one can do is to plan, as opposed to react.

Specifically, an analyst that wants to jump to another industry sector should not expect to wake up one day and walk into a job in an investment firm when they were in insurance the day before…..without having prepared first.

In addition to the networking that is so crucial, there is a lot that can be done to plan an prepare. First, I would reread Laura’s “How to Start a Business Analyst Career” book as if you were doing just that. Come up with a study plan and locate resources. Begin reading and taking classes in the desired sector to familiarize yourself with concepts and terminology. Address your planning from scratch as if you are a brand new analyst.

Also mentioned in Laura’s book, locate and align yourself with a mentor analyst that is aligned with your desired domain. How do you find someone like this? Keep networking and joining professional organizations that may eventually lead you to a person willing to tutor you in the desired disciplines that you seek. Finally, seek out written references that you can keep yourself busy with to study up.

Why do all this? Because at the end of the day, you are going to try to move to a new industry and prove that you can perform in a new role that you have no experience in. Having gone through the efforts to prepare goes along way to stating that “analysis is analysis”.

My two cents….

Doug

]]>