How do you build up on domain skills required for a business analyst?
Asked by honey drops
Im looking for a career change and want to be a business analyst., I have 3 years technical exp. On going through requirements of a bus analyst, I belierve I have all other skills like knowledge of tools, documentation skills, good language and communication skills, experience in liasoning wiht clients etc.. But one area where I lack is th edomain knowledge... how do I build up on it? I am not very choosy about the domain im looking for.... could be anything, but I need a clear path as to how I can build my domain skills [my current proj is purely tech and offers no scope to gather domain knowledge]

Best Answer:
Generally, the best business analysts are domain experts such as accountants, CPAs, for many years and then they "cross over" to their respective IT departments. They communicate the business requirements in IT-speak to the factory workers in the IT department. They communicate the IT limitations to the business units in normal-business-speak (without all that technical jargon). You may want to look at the various domains and consider whether or not you have the educational experience to apply for an entry level position in that domain. You may take a step backward in pay, but over time you will build domain knowledge and be able to leverage both your technical and domain experience in a business analyst position. Another job title you may want to consider is that of "Product Analyst" or "Product Manager". While the definition of these positions vary significantly from company to company, there generally is a path for aspiring technical folks to move into these types of positions. Experience a job such as this may position you for some types of business analyst work. The Product Analyst/Manager positions in software companies spend time gathering customer requirements and documenting them for the development team. They are usually involved heavily during the software release cycle, sometimes even leading the QA efforts. Best wishes and good luck to you.