B A Survivor
Tips for aspiring Business Analysts
Establishing yourself and surviving as a good Business Analyst (BA) is really a cake walk rather than a daunting task as perceived by many. Of course there are a few rules of engagement one needs to follow. You want to take ownership of as many tasks/deliverables as possible and produce good results in those. Being responsible to those tasks makes you THE point of contact, increasing your value in the firm and of course making your presence known. The idea here is to make yourself indispensable. Key thing here is your relationship building skills along with the analysis skills (but of course). At your work place you are the biggest fan of the project manager, other BAs, various users/SMEs and finally the various Team Leaders. Their interests are your interests and their concerns are yours as well. You are their BEST BUD! Politics is present in most of the organization usually at the higher levels but the effect indeed trickles down upon the individuals. If you are a contractor, voicing your opinions or showing any sort of emotions in such scenarios is a big NO NO. When asked for or coaxed for any opinions/suggestions one should get away with statements such as "whatever is best for the project/whatever that gets the project done". On the same lines, in cross-divisional team meetings while making suggestions use words like "what you could do is...." rather that "what you should do is/this is how it needs to be done". However polite the latter may or may not sound, fact remains - No one likes being told how to do their job!
-Amar Puranik
About the Author
Amar Puranik (amar_puranik@hotmail.com), a Software engineer and a MBA degree holder has worked for some of the big players in the IT industry. Currently working at GMAC Mortgage Inc. as a Sr. Business Analyst he aspires to start his own IT consulting firm in near future
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