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Roles leading to becoming a BA

• Internships and Graduate programs
  • A solid pathway to test several roles and see what suits, and develop skills across a wide range of areas in a business or industry. Incredibly competitive (100 applications for 1 role at smaller firms, far worse odds at well known orgs) and often requires applying a full calendar year prior to graduating tertiary education, this is not a path everyone will be able to take.
• Service Desk and entry level IT support roles.
  • A lot of people work their way up from entry level IT jobs, building social customer facing skills to understand problems whilst developing technical knowledge. The next step is seeking internal mentoring and volunteering for traditional BA activities like helping document processes or gathering requirements, so you can use that as ammunition when you apply for your first BA role.
• Business Relationship Manager and Sales roles
  • Knowledge of relationships naturally feeds into the way BA’s build relationships and trust to gather requirements/information.
• Direct application
  • It is possible to directly apply, but without experience and a quality resume. Assuming you have prior direct-titled BA roles, a junior BA role may be easier to approach.

Progression as a BA

1. Junior Business Analyst
   • Typically 0-3 years experience, you will be expected to take notes and help with the administration or documentation of projects, often under another BA for guidance/support.
   • May also be called intern/associate/trainee/graduate
2. Business Analyst (no prefix or suffix)
   • Typically 2-7 years experience, you will be expected to work in a team to perform the Business Analysis function. Of course, the role varies, so this can range widely in terms of responsibility, even on par with Senior.
   • May also be called by a wide range of different names; Process Analyst, Technical Analyst, Systems Analyst, Functional Analyst, see the subheading below for more detail.
3. Senior Business Analyst
   • Typically 5+ years experience, you will be expected to run high profile complex projects, often without assistance or with a junior to shadow your experience. You’re more likely to engage the entire business from the board/C-suite/ministers down to individual operational workers, from strategic planning/reorganisation to operational process improvements impacting a wide variety of stakeholders.
   • Some people elect to stay at this position, as you get the best of responsibility without accountability, flexibility without managerial requirement.
4. Lead/Principal Business Analyst
   • Typically 7+ years experience, you’re now expected work as a Senior BA in addition to leading a cohort of Business Analysts (either through direct management or mentoring), setting the standards for them and ensuring their professional competency/growth.
   • May also be called a Business Analysis Team Leader/Manager, or in some more technical roles may cross over with architecture titles.
5. You leave the BA field to a role beyond BA, under another title or career path.

Is Business Analyst the only title?

No, it’s definitely not! Most people think of a “Technical/Functional Analyst” when they think BA, as that the traditional view, but there are lots of varieties in titles that still fulfil that BA function we’ve elaborated on above. Some include “Strategy Analyst”, “Systems Analyst”, “Process Analyst”, and in some respects even the architect career path. The iiBA have a really good visual, that shows the entry level(ish) roles at the centre and go further out:

Roles beyond BA

Some people transition out of the BA field, or find that they want a role with higher earning potential than the highest BA role offers, so below are some future paths for those people. All of these roles should be thought of as its own unique career path, where there may be ranks and guidance within.

Technical Roles

• Business Solutions Architect
• Business Solutions Manager

Business or Management roles

• Product Owner or Product Manager
  • The most logical and similar in skillset role, you move from seeking the voice of customers/stakeholders to the authoritative voice of customers/stakeholders.
• Business Relationship Manager
• Project Manager
• Enterprise Architect
• Program/Portfolio Manager
• Director/General Manager
• C-Suite (CIO/CTO/CDO/CISO)

Stefan Carton

Updated: 1/08/2022