From the course: What Is Business Analysis?

The career path into business analysis

From the course: What Is Business Analysis?

The career path into business analysis

- Business analysis has seen amazing growth over the last decade as many organizations have experienced how effective analysis enables successful projects. As a result of this growth, professionals in all industries need to learn these necessary skills. The role of the business analyst has also caught the attention of many seasoned and young professionals. If you too have found an interest in the profession, you might be asking yourself, "How can I get started in this career?" Let's take a few minutes to explore some of the common career paths into this profession. At the top of my list is one of my favorites, which is transitioning into the business analysis role from an existing position within the business. Anyone who has experience working in a functional or operational support role, let's say in marketing, sales, or finance, for example, could pursue a career in business analysis. The strength that you bring with transitioning from the business is a strong understanding of how business operates, including how it services its customers. Having a strong understanding of what's important to customers or how existing processes or systems could be improved to provide more value is priceless when performing business analysis. Many times, those who transition into the profession from the business end up in an analysis role that supports the same business unit they transitioned from. This just makes sense since it eliminates having to spend months or even years training an existing analyst about a specific business unit. Another career path involves transitioning from a role in information technology, or IT. We often see individuals in product support roles, technical writers, or quality assurance positions interested in transitioning into business analysis. Professionals in these roles bring knowledge of existing products to the business analysis position. Product knowledge, like business knowledge, provides important context to frame business analysis activities. When new projects are sanctioned for the purpose of enhancing an existing product, it's nice to know your team has someone with extensive product knowledge to run questions past and learn from. Without strong product knowledge, a development team runs the risk of enhancing an existing product that results in its customers or users being less satisfied with the new product version than the old. Any role that can provide product knowledge is an ideal candidate for a business analysis position. But what happens if you're new to the job market? What if you're just starting off your profession and you have neither strong business or product knowledge? Does this make a career and business analysis unattainable? Absolutely not. Your career path into business analysis can occur directly after graduation. Young professionals who possess a strong passion for problem-solving, research, and analysis make strong entry-level candidates. Senior analysts often need extra support, especially when projects are large or complex. Entry level analysts are often paired to assist senior analysts, which is perfect to help you provide value to a project team while developing your skills on the job. In short, your path into this field can start almost anywhere, whether business, IT, or fresh out of school. Lastly, remember, while these formalized roles do exist, the bigger movement to date is around business analysis skills. All of us make business decisions. Therefore, all of us can benefit from learning more in this area. It's been a pleasure having you as part of this course. If you're interested in learning more, check out another LinkedIn Learning course, Business Analysis Foundations by Greta Blash. You could also visit iiba.org, International Institute of Business Analysis, and pmi.org, Project Management Institute. Both are organizations that offer helpful publications and certifications. Thank you for watching. I certainly hope you're now better equipped to answer the question: What is business analysis?

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