A question for the Business Analysts out there

[Greenwich Ross]

I’ve worked as an Analyst Developer for, hmm, 12 or so years now. However, I’m now 34, I’m somewhat bored with pure development so I fancy moving into a full time Business Analyst role. My current job only allows me to do BA-esque work about 25% (or less) of the time which is a shame, because it’s the aspect of the job I enjoy the most.

My question is this; as experienced Business Analysts, would you see a background in Development to be a useful route in? My girlfriend, who is an experienced Project Manager, seems to think so but I’m not 100% sure which roles would be best to focus on and also, more fundamentally perhaps, how to restructure my CV in order to change roles.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

R.

[matt28]

What do you like about the BA role?

Is there any scope at your current job to increase that 25%? Have you spoken to your boss about it?

Many BAs start out as developers so it's not a bad starting point. I hire both, and to me, I don't really mind whether someone has come through the business route to a BA role or the technical route... so long as they can:

• effectively manage a product backlog (i.e. work closely with the product manager, or take the role of product manager on smaller initiatives)
• create user stories / use cases (or whatever methodology you use) that are intuitive, light-weight and unambiguous
• work with testers to define acceptance criteria for each story/case
• liaise well with both the technical team and business
• quickly understand a business domain and communicate that to developers

It would be those things that you should be pushing on your CV in my opinion.

Your best route in is to change the scope of your current role though.