[Become a BA #7] Find Your Inner Business Analyst (yes, it’s there)

Across all the interviews I’ve done with now senior-level business analysts, the story essentially remains the same. They say things like: I didn’t start out trying to become a BA. I didn’t take a course and find my first job. No, I woke up one day and realized I was doing something very different than I had been doing before. I discovered that I was a business analyst when I filled “X” role on a project. And most of them have never looked back.

You read some of their stories in the earlier lessons – stories of transitions and how they took one step at a time. Now I want to point you to a few more stories. They are the best so I saved them for last. I want you to leave this course inspired that you can also find your inner business analyst.

3 “One Fell Swoop” Business Analysts

Let’s start with Doug Hill. Doug had been working for 10 years in an ambiguous IT role. After exploring the job market, he discovered the BA profession and was able to translate his prior experience into a business analyst context. Because of this, he landed his first “business analyst” job as a senior business analyst. Read Doug’s advice to potential BAs.

Jennifer Banzon was doing independent technology consulting and discovered business analysis while looking for her next opportunity. Jennifer landed her first formal BA job as a CRM Business Analyst by leveraging her prior experiences. Jennifer established the Los Angeles chapter of IIBA and started a CBAP study group. Read Jennifer Banzon’s story.

Aaron Whittenberger shares a similar story. He learned about business analysis and became a CBAP, our profession’s most relevant certification, within the span of a couple of years. Read Aaron’s interview.

What’s interesting about these individuals is that they discovered BA and became a BA almost in the same fell swoop. Their career transition was one of discovery.

Many people have read How to Start a Business Analyst Career or participated in a BA training program and discovered that they are really junior or even intermediate business analysts. They just didn’t know how to talk about their career experiences in a business analysis context.

My story

I am one of those professionals who sort of fell into their first opportunity. I was walking down the hall and a colleague suggested I apply for a new BA position that was opening up. This is how I understood the opportunity at the time. Since I’ve started helping others become business analysts, I’ve started to see how I approached my QA role positioned me as a BA-in-Waiting. Read my story

You might be a BA

The thing is, this could be you. You might already have BA experiences but not yet appreciate the value of them in the context of your career change. You might be a BA and not know it. And, very likely, you are more of a BA than you give yourself credit for today.

And because every year of paid business analysis experience equates to $923 in annual salary, your as-yet-undiscovered BA career background could be a goldmine.

Your next step

Take some time and write down all the BA-related experiences you can identify in your career or business analysis skills you’ve accumulated. Don’t filter this too much. Even if you think something might be a business analyst experience, write it down.

You can do this on a sheet of paper or in an electronic document. But my favorite way to collect information like this is on 3×5 cards. There is something concrete about a stack of cards representing your career experiences. You can also shuffle the cards around, sort them, or pin them up on the wall. This is information you are going to use through your entire transition to business analysis so you might reorganize it several times as your understanding develops.

Start right now, capturing the experiences that come immediately to mind.

When you run out of ideas, do the following to get you started again:

• Go back to the 3 project experiences you identified in the second lesson, the ones that represented your soft skills. What BA experiences are lurking underneath those projects?
• Go back through your motivation file of interviews and forum comments from other BAs who have made the transition – what do you and that BA have in common?
• Pick up the BABOK or any other book on the business analysis fundamentals, read through it for activities you’ve done and experiences you’ve accumulated.
• Go to the “BA Knowledge” tab on Bridging the Gap and browse the posts for ideas.
• Read back through your cards and let them trigger new ideas.

Good luck. In the next lesson we’ll break down elicitation and help you dive deep into your elicitation qualifications. If you run into any hurdles finding your BA experiences, please get in touch by responding to the email you received with this lesson or posting a question in the Starting a BA LinkedIn forum.

As always, wishing you the best in business analysis.

Best,

Laura Brandenburg

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

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