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  • Writer's pictureTrividh Patel, CBAP
    • Jan 10, 2016
    • 1 min read

Research: Roles and background before becoming a Business Analyst

I am pleased to share the analysis of a Qualitative Survey to understand the backgrounds of Business Analysts (BAs) and the roles they have held prior to becoming BAs. This survey was conducted as an informal poll on LinkedIn. The numbers of participants are over 250 and hence are statistically significant to infer.





Inferences

  • Developers/ Programmers are the highest to become BAs (most of them after becoming a Tester, QA Analyst, Systems Analyst, or Project Manager).

  • Business side Subject Matter Experts (SMEs, including end-users) are the 2nd highest to become BAs (some of them after becoming Tester or Project Manager).

  • Project Managers and Systems Analysts are the 3rd highest to become BAs.

  • MBA and Bachelors degree in Information Systems has helped to directly become a BA.

  • People with other roles/background that have become BAs include

  • Testers and QA Analysts

  • Application Support and Customer Support

  • Sales, Marketing and Relationship Managers

  • Data Analyst

  • Technical Writers (including those working on proposals)

  • Technical SMEs (Implementation/ Configuration Analysts)

  • Project Coordinators


Conclusion People from diverse backgrounds (technical, business, support etc) and roles have become BAs but there is no one particular path that can suit all, hence your own efforts and hard work will get you where you want. [This article was published on Modern Analyst by Trividh Patel, CBAP on Jan 10, 2016]

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