What Is a Business Analyst? How to Become One, Salary, Skills

You’ll need these to analyze revenue trends, cost breakdowns, performance outcomes, and other business information to help you review and improve existing systems and processes. The FDM Business Analysis Graduate Programme offers you the opportunity to kick-start your career as a Business Analyst without having previous work experience or a degree in a business subject. BA opportunities at FDM are available to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as returners to work and service leavers. However, candidates with strong analytical abilities, communication skills, and industry-specific knowledge may be considered for business analyst positions even without a formal degree. A business analyst is a professional who identifies business needs, assesses processes, and recommends solutions to improve efficiency and effectiveness within an organization.

Gaining Experience in Business Analysis

Peter WorthingtonServing as the Lead South African Macroeconomist at Absa, Peter Worthington provides in-depth analysis and insights into South Africa’s economic trends, influencing both policy and business decisions. Highlight your education, certifications, and experience, and engage with industry-related content to establish your online presence. Local institutions and online platforms like Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, and IIBA-endorsed education providers offer relevant courses tailored to the South African market. Brilliant analysis doesn’t count for much if you can’t communicate your insights to others. With a clear idea of business fundamentals and the skills to analyze reams of data, you can begin practicing your ability to apply your new expertise to real business problems. Even with a degree in something completely unrelated, it’s still possible to acquire an understanding of how businesses operate, either through formal training or Middle Business analyst job more informal means.

Business Administration Careers

It will prepare you and provide you with ways to develop an understanding of business and how businesses work. After your 10th grade, choose a stream that aligns with your interests, such as Commerce or Science, depending on your comfort with numbers and business-related subjects. One of the ways of moving up through the ranks without any of the above is by learning on the job. You can do so by securing a position as an intern or Junior Business Analyst and undertake training (if offered by the organisation) or have regular catch-ups with team leads and managers to learn from their knowledge and experience. A professional focusing specifically on data analytical techniques to improve operational functions in the organisation including workflows, cost reduction etc.

BSc in Computer Science – University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)

This approach helps you build a portfolio of work, showcasing your analytical and problem-solving abilities. Business Analysts work across various industries, including finance, healthcare, IT, and manufacturing, to optimize operations and drive business growth. Often, but not always, this is done in order to identify information that will help businesses make better decisions.

In a senior analyst position, their salary may be $100,000 – $125,000, or more. Are you constantly trying to identify problems with the various parts of the business process and working to solve them? If you’re interested in this career but unsure how to start, this article is for you. This blog will take you step-by-step through how to become a business analyst. Becoming a qualified Business Analyst can help kick-start your career, as employers often look for recognised certifications of your skills from a professional body. Starting with the first point we made in this guide, becoming a business analyst should be a thing of passion.

  • Using programs like Tableau, PowerBI, Bokeh, Plotly, or Infogram, practice building your own visualizations from scratch, finding the best way to let the data speak for itself.
  • These technical skills can make it easier to work with complex data sets and help you find more efficient ways to support business decisions.
  • You’ll need these to analyze revenue trends, cost breakdowns, performance outcomes, and other business information to help you review and improve existing systems and processes.
  • Having a solution-oriented mindset and ability to identify potent and innovative solutions helps business analysts to overcome challenges identified through analytics.

In today’s competitive business world, the role of a Business Analyst has become increasingly vital for organizations to thrive and stay ahead of the curve. Whether you’re a recent graduate or looking to make a career change, our comprehensive guide will provide you with the insights and strategies you need to succeed. This dynamic field offers exciting opportunities for those with a passion for analysis and problem-solving. An MBA helps, but practical skills, tools, and certifications like CBAP or ECBA are also important.

A professional using data processing, cleaning and analysis to derive insights to guide organisational decisions. With the frequently cross functional teams that business analysts work with, possessing skills of teamwork, collaboration and interpersonal competence are essential to create a positive impact. Identifying data patterns, anomalies in data, processing data, eliminating outliers etc. are all aspects of business analytics that command an attention to detail in the professional. Communicating the insights and findings from available business data to stakeholders is central to transform the business as well as address the challenges being faced.

Continuing Professional Development

Whether you’re just starting or looking to advance your career, remember that adaptability, continuous learning, and effective communication are key to thriving in this dynamic field. Tailor your CV for each job application, ensuring alignment with the job description and industry requirements. While it may be Full stack developer roadmap difficult to become a Business Analyst without some kind of degree, in many (if not most) cases, there is no hard requirement for a specific type of degree. Even when job postings stipulate that a specific degree is preferred, most employers weigh a range of factors during hiring, including not only university education but also on-the-job experience and other skills training. When it comes to work experience, those working in a Business Analyst role now tend to have previously held positions relating to business, analytics, data science, IT, or HR.

These programs can provide exposure to core subjects like financial modeling, supply chain systems, and organizational structures. For individuals with relevant backgrounds and experience, junior business analyst roles can offer opportunities to build familiarity with business analysis tasks while supporting more experienced team members. Responsibilities in these roles may include reviewing spreadsheets, conducting research, or helping document processes that contribute to business operations.