| Tina P. "Business Analyst is a relatively new career path, and the scope of the job varies widely across different industries. As a Business Analyst in the technology sector, I help our tech team (developers and test analysts) build the right product. I'm essentially the 'middle man' between the tech team and the rest of the business. I often consult our product manager, sales team, and other business stakeholders to gather requirements, and then share them with the tech team. If any technical issues come up, I translate that to the business stakeholders in a way that they can easily understand." |
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Education
Required License(s)
None |
Required Degree(s)
None, but it would significantly help if you had a university degree (e.g., Bachelor of Arts) related to IT, business, or finance. |
Importance of GPA
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Tina's Highest Degree: Bachelor's Degree (Bachelor of Arts)
Tina's College Major: Psychology and Criminology.
Tina's College GPA: We don't have GPA in New Zealand.
Salary
NZD $50,000 - $100,000+ (about $36,000 - $73,000+).
Salary varies depending on your experience and which sector you're working in.
Getting the Job
How did you get your job?
After graduating from university, I started my career as a Data Analyst. I didn't realize that a job like Business Analyst actually existed until I started full-time working and was researching for career development options. In my second job as a data/reporting analyst, I asked my manager for more work experience related to business analysis and was fortunate that he was supportive of this. I also started getting mentored by a Senior Business Analyst in our company. All that experience helped me land my first official role as a Business Analyst.
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How important was networking to landing your position?
I didn't need any external network to land my first Business Analyst job. But I definitely couldn't have received the work experience I needed without my manager and mentor's support. If you're interested in working as a Business Analyst, I highly recommend that you approach your manager to ask for more work experience related to business analysis. Business Analyst skills are transferable, and you could gain experiences in so many different ways. If this isn't possible, then at least seek out an experienced Business Analyst, either within your company or outside, and ask them if they could mentor you. Many Business Analysts would be more than happy to help!
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Life on the Job
What is a typical day (or week) for you like?
The beauty of working as Business Analyst is that your work varies a lot so you'll hardly ever be bored! A typical day for me is to start the day with a 'stand-up' meeting where each person from the tech team quickly shares what they've achieved yesterday, what they plan to work on today, and any impediment that's blocking their work. After then, my tasks vary. I might:
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How closely does your typical day (or week) match up to the general "job description" for your position?
It's relatively close. You'll find that most Business Analyst job descriptions ask for you to elicit, analyze, and document requirements. And this is exactly what you do. But, HOW you do that can differ greatly between industries and companies.
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Does being a woman affect any aspect of your career?
Aside from the usual gender inequality that happens everywhere else, being a woman hasn't affected me much as a Business Analyst. There's usually a good mixture of women and men among the Business Analysts, and I've always found great support from all my Business Analyst peers. The only thing I'd note is that as a Business Analyst, I'm often in meetings full of men and no other women. This could be because of the industries I've been in (i.e., technology, banking, energy), and the fact that I'm often in meetings with the management team that's usually dominated by males. In situations like that, I'm assertive and try to contribute as much as I can. I often forget about the gender ratio when I'm just being myself and my coworkers react to my personality and not my gender.
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What is the best thing about your job?
Being able to connect and establish relationships with lots of different people across the business. And not having to do the same type of work every day.
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What is the worst thing about your job?
My workload as a Business Analyst is usually not consistent. It's dependent on how many projects I'm involved in, and which stage the projects are at. Some days I have a million different tasks to do and close to having a meltdown. Other days I'm going insane with boredom and begging my manager for more work.
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How demanding is your job?
The job can be mentally draining when I'm receiving conflicting requirements from different people; I try to manage relationships to keep everyone happy but nail down the final decision without wasting too much time. Fortunately, these don't happen too often!
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Do you have any advancement opportunities?
Yes, since being a Business Analyst gives you so many transferable skills, there are so many career opportunities from here. But that's a problem in itself; there are too many options and many Business Analysts are not sure what they should move onto. The most common progression I've seen in Business Analysts I know are to either:
For me, I flipped between wanting to move into project manager or business consultant roles. But now, I'm looking into product manager roles. I'd like to get involved in more strategic work. Outside of work, I love to blog and am planning to start my own business in web content consultancy soon. |
Advice for You
What are the skills, characteristics, or talents that are most important to be effective in your position?
The most important thing you need as a successful Business Analyst is good communication skills. Once, I heard in a Business Analysts seminar that 80% of failed projects are due to misunderstood or missed requirements. Without good communication skills, it's impossible to nail down requirements effectively.
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What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career like yours?
Try to gain any work experience in:
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If you could do it over again, would you still pursue the same career?
Yes, definitely! I love my job as a Business Analyst, and I wouldn't change anything.
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Follow Up
Want to learn more?
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