#1 Must be an MBA

Many students that are coming out of colleges are confused by others that only with an MBA one can become a business analyst. See any additional qualification will work your favor. This is applicable to all professions and business analysis is not an exception. To disprove this myth, I conducted a study in LinkedIn. Out of the 400 business analysts we studied, who are working for leading companies across India only XX% have MBA.

#2 Only engineers can become a business analyst

Some of the states in India produce more engineers than other streams. This leads to more engineers in the market and that will of course result in more engineers as business analysts. But all streams have equal chances to become a business analyst provided the individual is able to showcase the 75 Essential Skills of Business Analysts.

#3 Business analysts are born intelligent

Everywhere we have this nature vs. nurture conflict. It is true that business analysts are one of the smart people in an organization and they are well respected for their knowledge. Now the question is because someone is intelligent that landed him in the business analysis job or because of his role as a business analyst he is intelligent. One thing is very clear. If someone is working as a business analyst for several years eventually he becomes very knowledgeable. There is no doubt on that. Because the business analyst role will constantly demand new learning out of the business analyst. So if a profession increases the intelligence of someone, he should be lesser intelligent when he started the profession. Hence proved.

#4 I will be stuck as a business analyst

Across the world, many business analysts are becoming CEOs, COOs, VPs, Directors etc. LinkedIn search reveals that there are 17,680 profiles where a business analyst had become a CEO across the world. Business analysis is a way of thinking and solving organizational problems, which is a most sought after skillset for higher positions in organizations. In fact, I repeatedly tell my business analysis students that you are the CEOs under internship. If you are working as a business analyst in an organization, by nature of your job you will develop a detailed understanding of the organization and you become a true cross-functional person. If you are one cross-functional person, who is the other in the organization, that is the CEO.

#5 Only experienced BA’s will get job

If that is the case can we say only experienced doctors will be employed. In all professions we have junior and senior positions. Similarly, we have junior level positions in business analysis as well. During my fresh graduate days, though we had limited opportunities in 1991 there was clarity and determination to follow the passion. We had lot of patience to get into our dream domain and job with a focused preparation. I see that is absent in today’s generation and that becomes the complaint from the industries that the fresh graduates are not employable. So the bottom-line is with good a preparation and determination you can become a business analyst.

#6 Business analysis certification is not a great value addition

Today the industry scenario is that certification is not a must to practice business analysis or to become a business analyst. But if you analyze the past trend, whenever a new field sets in it demands certain education to demonstrate the skills. As engineering degree is required to become an engineer or medicine degree is required to practice medicine, the same way in the near future certification will become a mandatory to practice business analysis. Today we have thousands of business analysts across India, most of them are without any certification, but adding a certification will help them to demonstrate that those who are certified have undergone an intensive training and certified by an institution. Holding a certification is always an additional step to prove one’s capabilities.

#7 BA’s are only required in IT or ITES companies

This notion is true if it is told 10 years back as most of the business analyst were working in the Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES). The IT industry is credited with the popularization of business analysis profession, but soon other industries understood the advantage of this profession for launching successful products and services.  

#8 BA’s should be able to program

Business analysis profession is in its infancy and it is growing leaps and bounds. There is no commonly agreed set of activities that a business analyst will perform in an organization. It widely differs across the industry and even within those companies in a given industry. So if you ask me a BA should be able to do program. I donot agree with this, because organizations have better programmers than you and there are many. You are not recruited for programming, but of course you may be expected to appreciate programming in an IT company. Is that true for all IT companies? It depends. Even in that measure, very small percentage of BAs are expected with the programming capabilities.

#9 BA’s should be a master of everything

Business analysts are not walking encyclopedia. It is impossible that an individual knows everything. In case of business analysts, it is true we are expected to know something about everything. We should be an above average individual. As a business analyst, I may not be having knowledge on something now, but within a short span I will raise my knowledge to a phenomenal level on the subject matter. How is it possible? We are equipped with the necessary tool and our experience prepares us with this capability.

#10 BA’s work for 200 hours in a week

I will prove you right away that a week has only 168 hours. In any profession someone who is not planning will have to live in the office itself. In my experience, I have seen business analysts who plan well have a wonderful work-life balance with immense job satisfaction.

Fhyzics Business Consultants, an Approved Training Provider of BCS, UK offering Business Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Business Consulting and User Experience certifications of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, UK. All the certifications come with Training, Preparation Material and Examination. The trainings are available in both classroom and online formats. For more details, please visit our website at www.iiscm.org or email us at cs@fhyzics.net or speak to us at +91-900-304-9000.