move from contract developer to BA

[hgllgh]

Has anyone out there ever moved from being a contract developer to contracting as BA or maybe Team Lead/Product Owner.

I've been developing for so long I feel like a change. I've been involved in BA at various points in my career but mostly have just been a developer.

My plan was to try to find some kind of hybrid role doing both technical development and BA but there doesn't seem to be anything like that in the market place.

Anyone done this in some shape or form or know someone who has?

[Murder1]

I've tended to find that the contracts at places with smaller dev teams and/or IT infrastructure usually allow (sometimes expect) developers to take on BA/Architect/Product Owner responsibilities due to the low head count and the lack of budget to recruit someone specifically to fill the role.

Those contracts can allow you to get an experience of different roles which can then facilitate a move to one of those roles permanently should you wish at another contract.

[hgllgh]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

My agent said the same thing actually ... use your current role to steer your career in the direction you want it to go in. That way should be able to stay as a contractor.

The other route ofcourse is to go back permie and get the BA/PO training and experience and then jump back on the bandwagon!

[northernladuk]

Do you mean a proper BA or just someone that does stuff as part of a project BA. There is a massive difference. BA is such an overused title.

[hgllgh]

Do you mean a proper BA or just someone that does stuff as part of a project BA. There is a massive difference. BA is such an overused title.

Good point. I guess I do mean proper BA... and yes I agree, I believe "BA" can translate quite a lot of diverse job descriptions these days

[alluvial]

[QUOTE=hgllgh;1873518

My plan was to try to find some kind of hybrid role doing both technical development and BA but there doesn't seem to be anything like that in the market place.

Anyone done this in some shape or form or know someone who has?[/QUOTE]

This was more or less how I did it.

Instead of developer roles, have your CV show analyst roles, developer implies code monkey & system analyst looks better. Then go for business systems analyst roles & if you land one it should act as a good bridge between the two disciplines.
Bear in mind though that being a BA is completely different & if you're not comfortable talking to various numpties that haven't got a clue what they want then you may wish to steer clear.

[alluvial]

Do you mean a proper BA or just someone that does stuff as part of a project BA. There is a massive difference. BA is such an overused title.

This is very true but I've found that a lot of places really haven't got clue about the difference and BA can mean just about anything.

[tarbera]

mmmmmm hard one

Has anyone out there ever moved from being a contract developer to contracting as BA or maybe Team Lead/Product Owner.

I've been developing for so long I feel like a change. I've been involved in BA at various points in my career but mostly have just been a developer.

My plan was to try to find some kind of hybrid role doing both technical development and BA but there doesn't seem to be anything like that in the market place.

Anyone done this in some shape or form or know someone who has?

Do you really want to take off your sandals and dilbert T-Shirt, remove the cool with other programmer gotye beard and shower every week.? Because that’s what you will have to do in the outside programming land, there exists and Im sure you have seen them on the internet, things called GIRLS, where you will be forced to interact with without making underarm farting noises to impress.

But if your Heart is set on this dream, do a copy/paste on your CV removing Programmer and replacing with Programmer/BA

Go with the dream

[SteelyDan]

But if your Heart is set on this dream, do a copy/paste on your CV removing Programmer and replacing with Programmer/BA

I wouldn't recommend you do this (^).

BA is a widely misunderstood space, even with clients, and even more so with recruiters.
Be sure you know the various types of BA-related work, and what they actually do, otherwise you risk coming [massively] unstuck.
I'm sure Cojak will be along soon to put you on the right path...

[northernladuk]

Do you really want to take off your sandals and dilbert T-Shirt, remove the cool with other programmer gotye beard and shower every week.? Because that’s what you will have to do in the outside programming land, there exists and Im sure you have seen them on the internet, things called GIRLS, where you will be forced to interact with without making underarm farting noises to impress.

But if your Heart is set on this dream, do a copy/paste on your CV removing Programmer and replacing with Programmer/BA

Go with the dream

I assume this post was a joke.