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Business Analyst

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    Business Analyst

    Not sure on where to begin, but basically I am trying to get some direction/advice/inspiration...

    My work background is in financial services. My most recent experience is in contract roles at two major UK investment banks over the past four years. My roles have been quite mixed, but have primarily centred around data management and reporting.

    I've sat mostly on the business side but liaising with IT (developers, project managers, BAs) and various other stakeholders. Work would range from building/managing small databases, cleaning data, producing management reports to writing up requirement docs, procedure notes and attending/chairing workshops and project meetings.

    Main qualifications are Business Degree (with IS major) and PRINCE2.

    I really enjoy the technical aspect of the work and have a keen interest in "BA" and project work. I have had a few interviews over the past few months for Change, PMO and Junior BA positions but unfortunately nothing has eventuated.

    Where do I go from here?

    I have been reading through PMBOK and PMP; case studies and technical docs. Pretty confident with MS Office (including Visio and Project).

    What roles should I be looking at? Where should I be concentrating my efforts to get some meaty experience that will shine through in an interview.

    Any advice?

    #2
    What's wrong with being a reporting analyst i.e. training up in Cognos, Business Objects, Microstrategy, SAS and/or SSAS and applying for roles in those areas. Business Objects is probably the most widespread of those.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by mace View Post
      What's wrong with being a reporting analyst i.e. training up in Cognos, Business Objects, Microstrategy, SAS and/or SSAS and applying for roles in those areas. Business Objects is probably the most widespread of those.
      True dat. BO is very widespread but SAS, S-Plus, SPSS and MATLAB are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks for the responses. I have used Cognos and Business Objects in the past.

        I guess I was looking at daily rates. Many of the reporting roles are paying £200 per day versus other analysts roles starting a lot higher.

        Would I need to know how to roll out these packages or simply be able to produce data/reports with them?

        Comment


          #5
          Typical BI team will consist of a business analyst (i.e. somebody who knows what the business wants) and x reporting analysts (i.e. people who know how to transform the business requirement in to something tangible in a report). Reporting analysts get paid diddly squat but you've tried out as a junior BA without success so don't know what else to suggest. To get paid a lot of money, you need to invest a lot of time to acquire necessary skills and be in the right industry.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by dmuk View Post
            Thanks for the responses. I have used Cognos and Business Objects in the past.

            I guess I was looking at daily rates. Many of the reporting roles are paying £200 per day versus other analysts roles starting a lot higher.

            Would I need to know how to roll out these packages or simply be able to produce data/reports with them?
            I'm a geek, hence being able to speak on this but SAS has a tremendous track record especially as it wasn't invented for business use (it was invented as a tool for stattos to use in research).

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by mace View Post
              Typical BI team will consist of a business analyst (i.e. somebody who knows what the business wants) and x reporting analysts (i.e. people who know how to transform the business requirement in to something tangible in a report). Reporting analysts get paid diddly squat but you've tried out as a junior BA without success so don't know what else to suggest. To get paid a lot of money, you need to invest a lot of time to acquire necessary skills and be in the right industry.
              But good reporting analysts get paid a reasonable amount and are (generally) always in work.
              "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
              - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by cojak View Post
                But good reporting analysts get paid a reasonable amount and are (generally) always in work.
                True, reporting and Business Objects has kept me in back to back contracts for nearly 6 years, Business Objects isn't great though got to admit but most places use it.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by dmuk View Post
                  Any advice?
                  don't use this word again.

                  Originally posted by dmuk View Post
                  eventuated
                  also, you could figure out what you actually want to do

                  Originally posted by dmuk View Post
                  I really enjoy the technical aspect of the work and have a keen interest in "BA" and project work
                  and could this be much woolier
                  Originally posted by dmuk View Post
                  Pretty confident with MS Office (including Visio and Project).
                  these are tools, what did you do with them? Designing a system architecture in Visio.....managed a 20 person project team over a year using Project?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Bumfluff View Post
                    True, reporting and Business Objects has kept me in back to back contracts for nearly 6 years, Business Objects isn't great though got to admit but most places use it.
                    Interesting. Are you only building reports and/or are you doing anything on the back end? What version and package are you using? What industry are you in? What is considered a reasonable rate?

                    With all these packages - what sort of level is required and how high is the learning curve?

                    Comment

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