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An often provided question is “Should I specialise in a particular system or Technology? I have seen a great deal of postings with [Insert Tech Platform Here] and their salary is much higher than the other BA jobs, which one would you recommend to go with? Is it worth to be certified?”

Are you sure you’re asking the right question? Do you really want to choose your next career move merely based on the dollar amount associated with the technology? It makes you learn and apply very certain set of skills, forcing you into that platform’s way of thinking. And it’s all for one ecosystem.

It’s strongly encouraged you to think about the future and bigger picture of these technologies, and think about what interests you:

• Are you curious about Sales? You might be interested in CRMs (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, etc)
• Do you have a history with support? Do you enjoy that? You might like IT Service Management (ServiceNow, BMC Remedy, etc)
• Are you interested in how a business runs day-to-day? Are you interested in data? You might like ERP (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics).

BA roles in these specific technologies can pay more, but at the risk of pigeon-holing yourself into one company/technical platform. It’s difficult to know who will dominate the technical landscape in 5 or 10 years, in which case all of your platform-specific certifications may become outdated at best and meaningless at worst. You’ll be older with a “legacy” skillset, and you may have a harder time transitioning in your career. MySpace drifted off the face of the planet real fast, didn’t it? COBOL was once huge, and now relegated to a tiny niche with the likes of mainframe computing.

This issue is more serious for developers, who learn very specific frameworks when they decide to pursue these technologies/specialist careers. It’s less serious for BAs because our frameworks are very much agnostic of technology and issue. A BA should technically be able to elicit requirements for anything; even how to build a shed. Still, be aware that when you go a certain route, hiring managers and future employers will perceive your career in a certain way. You might be called a “[Insert Tech Platform Here] BA” and it is then important to clarify “no, I am a BA first and foremost. I just happen to be on a [Insert Tech Platform Here] team right now.”

Iannelli, Stefan Carton

Updated: 2/08/2022