Are You Looking to Start A Business Analyst Career?

What Doesn’t Work

If you’ve been lingering in the online forums, then you’ve probably heard a lot of conflicting advice.  For example:

• An IT background is necessary. It’s not.
• You need an MBA or masters degree or certificate. You don’t.
• That your lack of experience will always hold you back. It won’t.
• It makes sense to wait it out for a hard-to-find entry-level BA position. It often doesn’t.

It’s not that this advice is not based on good intentions. In fact, it’s based on the best of intentions. However, a lot of times the advice you find in the forums is based on someone’s individual path into business analysis. But you probably sense that the advice might not apply to you directly. And you’re right, because your best path into business analysis is going to be based on your own unique career background and professional situation.

"We build our profession on BA at a time." -Laura Brandenburg

What worked for them might not work for you. And by following this well-intentioned advice you risk wasting a lot of time and money without actually achieving your career goal of becoming a business analyst.

But there is a way to cut through this clutter

Here are a few stories of BAs I’ve worked with on their career transition:

• A customer service professional had no IT background. She leveraged her industry expertise in the travel domain and strong communication skills to land a series of short-term contracts, each one with a few more BA responsibilities than the last, before landing a full-time BA job.
• A jack-of-all-trades IT professional (she’d done everything from testing to managing the servers) had never used formal BA techniques. After learning some business analysis skills, she reclaimed her prior experience as BA experience and found a new BA job a few months later.
• One of our students, while employed in a business role, assumed she had to wait until leaving her current position to start being a BA. Instead, she started building BA skills on-the-job and made herself much more marketable.

The professionals I’ve worked with have had little in common when it comes to what roles they’ve held in the past. But they are all BAs now.

How do they do it?

First they built a solid, but high-level, understanding of  business analysis.

Then they discovered how the role played to their natural strengths and talents while also uncovering BA experience they already had, which was always more than they originally expected. This took a bit of time and self-reflection, but wasn’t rocket science either.

From there they created a professional roadmap. There are a few paths that most professionals have followed to become business analysts and once they understood see why they work, it was easy to select the path that would work best for them.

It’s Your Time to Become a BA

I’ve helped dozens of professionals on their paths to BA career success. I’d like nothing more than share my proven framework, the one that’s helped IT professionals and non-IT professionals alike, to help you you create a fulfilling career too.

Flip on over to the Course Overview page and learn why every other business analysis course you’ve considered seems to be missing a certain something.

Course Overview

Our proven framework:

What’s standing between you and your first BA job? That’s the fundamental question you need to answer.

• For one professional, it’s a bit of formal knowledge of BA techniques and deliverables.
• For another, it’s experience handling tough stakeholders in meetings that’s holding them back.
• For yet another, it’s merely recognizing the value of their own experience in a business analysis context and being able to talk the BA talk.

Regardless of where you are at on your path to BA, our framework helps you find the right step forward. In each of the 31 lessons, you’ll tackle one piece of the BA career map puzzle. At the conclusion of the course you’ll be armed with two deliverables:

1. A complete self-assessment of where you stand against both the hard and soft skills required for most BA jobs.
2. A personal career development plan for achieving your BA career goals.

You’ll be ready to march forward with confidence and take the steps that will get you from where you are to where you want to be.

How the course works:

• You’ll receive MP3 audio lessons and Next Action worksheets - two per week. The audio files are jam-packed with great insights. At 20-25 minutes each, you can listen over your morning coffee, lunch break, or during your commute. The Next Action worksheet helps you apply key learnings from the lesson and build a piece of your career development plan.
• There will also be a complete PDF transcript of each lesson, if audio is not your favorite way to learn. These are also great for review, since you can skim them quickly to find the point you want.
• When the topic calls for it, I’ve tapped business analyst leaders for great guest interviews, so you get a really well-rounded view of how talented professionals just like you became business analysts. We’ve transcribed these as well.
• Learn how business analysis happens in action by reviewing case study materials.
• Sit in a business analyst’s shoes by listening to the 4 expert role plays.
• Extend your application of the material with extra bonus resources, such as a sample BA job repository, checklists, and career development templates.

All of this amounts to more than 15 hours of audio that you can listen to again and again along with all the materials you need to apply what you learned and build your career plan. That’s more than a typical 2-day training course before you add in the 4-hours of Q&A sessions and 4 full months of instructor forum support you’ll receive with an instructor-supported course.

“I’ve worked with Laura in her BA Mentor program, as well as the My BA Career learning program.  In both, I found Laura’s knowledge around the technical and “soft” skills of business analysis exceeded all expectations.  The information was presented in an easy to understand manner and very instructional. To anyone looking to move into the BA field or wanting to improve on their skills, I would highly recommend Laura and the programs she offers!” -Rick Hengehold (found his first BA job just two months into the course!)

What’s Included:

Launch Your Business Analysis Career is organized into 4 modules. The course progresses so that at each point, you’ve put together some valuable pieces of the puzzle and can take steps toward becoming a BA. Each piece builds on the other to form a snowball effect. Once you finish the program, you’ll have a personalized career development roadmap to execute on.

Module 1 – Pulling Up the Curtain on Business Analysis

Many professionals waste a lot of time following dead-end paths because they focus on the qualifications for specific business analyst roles, and lose sight of the big picture. You’ll avoid these missteps.

In Module 1, we share an insider’s view into the profession, BA roles, and where BA can take you in your career. Once you’ve completed module 1, you’ll have a clear understanding of the scope of business analysis and be able to sift through the clutter of different business analyst roles and job qualifications. You’ll leave armed with the following concepts and tools:

• Compelling metaphors to describe business analysis to your friends and family.
• An in-depth understanding of the 5 key elements of business analysis that make up the IIBA definition.
• A solid grasp of the types of roles a business analyst fills throughout the lifecyle of a project.
• An initial assessment of how your career background, whether or not it involves IT, can help you become a business analyst.

You’ve probably encountered these concepts before, but the concepts you learned didn’t seem to play out in the real-world of job postings, hiring managers, and your career background. We’ll go beyond the concepts and help you see why the exception is almost always the rule and how you can leverage this reality to play to your strengths.

Module 2 – Unearth Your Business Analyst Career Experiences (Yes, You Have Some!)

You might think that you have little to no experience, but once we break down each element of business analysis and give you real examples of how other “non business analysts” use those activities in their work, you will think differently. The work you’ll do in this module has one purpose: to figure out exactly how close you are to becoming a business analyst. This self-awareness will be foundational in forming your roadmap. Some of the things we’ll talk about in this module are:

• How asking “Why?” and “requirements elicitation” are nearly one and the same.
• Basic analysis techniques you’ve used while white-boarding, problem-solving, or drawing on a napkin.
• The most common types of requirements and how your “Word documents” might have captured them.
• Why the templates and work samples you find on the Internet are different than what you’ve learned about formal requirements development and different still from what you’ve seen in real work experiences, and how to pull it all together when talking to a hiring manager.
• How the best BAs avoid requirements errors and how your communication skills will help you ensure your requirements are correct and complete.

Throughout this module we’ll build out a sample case study project with work samples, so you’ll get a true feel for how BA work happens in the real world. We’re also including expert role plays, so you can virtually sit in on realistic business analyst conversations with a project sponsor and a technical lead.

One of the best things about this module is that you’ll immediately begin to see yourself as a stronger business analyst and be ready to position your experience to be recognized by your organization or in your job search.

This is where we leap frog ahead of traditional training programs…

Notice that this is where most BA training programs leave off. They give you the understanding of what these BA tools and techniques are, often going into the nth level of detail, but not a method for how to apply them in your career change. And they don’t help you do the heavy-lifting of discovering your career experiences either, so this module can help you make the most of the training you may have already invested in.

And since traditional courses enroll experienced BAs along with newcomers to the profession, many of the participants will be working business analysts and their questions will be more complex. This means you might not have the opportunity to have the most fundamental questions answered and you’ll feel left behind from the very beginning. That won’t be the case in this course. Everyone involved will be looking to start their business analysis career. And, even if some students move at a faster pace, you’ll all have unlimited access to the instructors in the forums, so every question you have will be answered and every concern addressed.

Module 3 – Qualifications that Can Help You Land Your First BA Position

When it comes to starting a business analysis career, all qualifications are not created equal.  We’ll help you find out why a hiring manager would want to hire you over and above anyone else on the market, and help you leverage these qualifications to get started in your first BA position.

Even if you don’t have too much experience as a business analyst, your natural business analysis strengths will really start to shine and you’ll begin to take control of your career change. Most business analysts rely more on their soft skills in their first position than their knowledge of the business analyst techniques. Some managers will give a strong employee a chance to try a new career if they show the aptitude for it. And many hiring managers hire for a pattern of success or expertise more than they hire for strong requirements development skills.

In this module, we help you identify your underlying strengths as a business analyst. We’ll cover the following topics:

• How your greatest asset might be your ability to communicate well verbally, in writing, and by facilitating team discussions.
• How great problem-solving happens and how to position your problem-solving abilities.
• Why great BAs get the big picture and advocate for and advise their users.
• What IT skills a business analyst really needs and how to build them.
• And, because sometimes the easiest path leverages your subject matter expertise, we’ll talk about how domain expertise in an industry, organization, functional area, or solution domain can be your golden ticket into business analysis.

Regardless of your career background, we’ll help you find your pillar of strength and give you a strong foundation for launching your business analyst career.

Module 4 – Clear Your Path Into Business Analysis

In this module, we’ll give you the cold hard truth connecting what you’ve discovered about yourself as a business analyst to your options for a career change. We’ll discuss the following:

• Three paths and two side turns into business analysis and how to choose the right one for you.
• How to tell a convincing BA story.
• How to further expand your BA knowledge, experience, and role.
• How to have a conversation with your manager about your new career goals and pave the way for gaining recognition for the business analysis profession within your organization.

By the time you finish the course, you’ll have a personalized and achievable roadmap you can use to make measurable progress towards your business analyst career goals. You’ll be ready to tackle this career change head-on and make informed decisions about your forward steps.

>>>For more information and the complete list of all 31 lessons, download the step-by-step action plan.

I’m finding your lessons a great review for me as a business analyst who was never really formally trained. The lessons will help position me better for the next opportunity as well as help in the interview process. – Charisse Arenas

Ready to get started? Check out the FAQ or skip right to the Schedule & Registration page to sign-up.

Your Instructors

You don’t have to go it alone

• With the instructor-supported version of Launch Your Business Analysis Career you’ll have access to an online community of fellow members, to trade advice, find peer mentors, and get personalized advice from instructors with real-world BA experience. No matter what’s got you stuck, we’ll get you moving again.
• We’ll have monthly Q&A sessions so we can dig into the issues you are facing in your transition to business analysis and clarify anything that might not be completely clear to you.

Unprecedented access to BA experts with real-world experience

Laura Brandenburg, CBAP Laura is the host of Bridging the Gap and founder of My Business Analysis Career. She is a long-time mentor and former BA hiring manager. She’ll help you discover your transferable business analyst skills, develop a strong positioning, and support your forward steps by creating extra bonus content and lessons to address your most challenging questions.

Eric Shayne Elliott Eric is a senior business analyst with over 10 years of progressive experience in management, data analytics, communications, requirements elicitation, use cases and all types of project methodologies. Eric’s recent job search and management experience and natural ability to reach out and help other professionals will be a huge asset to you.

Ivy Nichols Ivy is a long-time mentor. With 11 years of experience as Senior Business Analyst in an electric utility organization, she has wide exposure to a variety of business, operational, and infrastructure applications and technologies. Ivy is passionate about educating and mentoring other professionals, and is an active supporter of the IIBA Phoenix Chapter.

In addition to all the course content, the members-only forum will be the best place for you to ask for our personal advice about your career situation. Feeling stuck? Let us get you moving again. Confused? Your instructors will clarify, get you more examples or find an additional resource.

The structure of this course and the personal feedback from the instructors was invaluable in helping me to explore applicable career experiences, identify action steps, and encourage me to continue on my path to business analysis. Even if I do not end up in business analysis, this course has helped me identify my marketable and transferable skills and will undoubtedly benefit me in my next job search. -Andrea Tinnen

Ready to join us? Hop on over to the Schedule & Registration tab to join today.

Join

Start Building Your Roadmap Today

With Launch Your Business Analysis Career you’ll receive everything you need to make your career change a reality.

• A step-by-step process to create a complete self-assessment of your BA skills and experiences.
• Support discovering your unique qualifications that set you apart from the other BA candidates.
• Expert guidance and a proven framework to build your BA career roadmap.
• The opportunity to witness business analysis in action with an integrated set of case study materials and expert role plays.
• Advice from real-world BA practitioners in the forums and Q&A calls (in the instructor-supported version).

You can think of this course as an experienced mentor, sitting right by your side as you work through career options, prepare for job interviews, and make critical decisions about next steps.

The Course Tuition Fee

As you probably know, high-quality online business analyst courses are selling for over $1,000 these days — and that’s for general introductory courses! Some programs that promise certificates and other credentials are going for $2,000 to $10,000, and sometimes more.

Since we don’t have the same overhead of a big training institution, we don’t have to charge over-the-top premium pricing or shuffle you through a one-size-fits-all program.  This gives you a better value for your hard-earned money. You’ve done your homework and found a program that doesn’t stop with an overview of the BA fundamentals, which is only part of what you need to complete this career transition. You’ve found a program that helps you dig deep to find every qualification that might set you apart in the BA job marketplace and supports you while you build a career development plan.

So you can choose how to best invest your financial resources, I’m  giving you different pricing options. Rest assured, whether you choose to get started with the self-study option or claim your spot in an instructor-supported session, you’ll be participating in a course that covers every aspect of your transition to business analysis.

Instructor-Supported Courses

Instructor-supported courses include:

• 4 months access to 31 lessons from all 4 modules – audio MP3s, PDF transcripts, and Next Action worksheets.
• Case study materials and expert role plays.
• 4 months access to instructors and an online community of transitioning BAs in the forums.
• 4 live Q&A sessions (scheduled monthly).
• Live kick-off seminar to ensure you have everything you need to realize the course benefits.
• Certificate of Completion (provided participation requirements are met).
• Option to join our reduced-fee Alumni Program to extend instructor support.

Instructor-supported courses are limited to a specific number of students to ensure that all students can achieve the maximum benefits from the course.

Instructor-Supported Course Schedule

Self-Study Course

The Self-Study Option includes:

• Lifetime access to 31 lessons from all 4 modules – audio MP3s, PDF transcripts, and Next Action worksheets.
• Case study materials and expert role plays.
• Start the course right away – on your schedule and at your pace.
• Option to upgrade to an instructor-supported course.*

Course Session	Dates	Status	Tuition
N/A – ongoing	N/A – Lifetime Access to Lessons**	Enroll Anytime	$497

*You’ll always have the option to upgrade to one of our instructor-supported courses – for only the cost differential between the two options, no extra fees.

**Upon joining the self-study program, you’ll receive the first lesson right away. Then you’ll receive 2 new lessons each week until you’ve completed all 31 lessons of the course.

Try the Course Risk-Free for 30 Days

Test drive the course for 30 days and see if it works for you. I think you’re going to find that the course will help you break down barriers you didn’t even know were holding you back. You’ll find the worksheets will show you exactly what to do next, the community a huge source of support (and about the only place you can reliably grab me for nuts-and-bolts advice on your individual career plan), and that the experience isn’t just worth the modest cost, but it’s also worth your time and attention.

But if the course turns out not to be a good fit for you, there’s a no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee.

FAQ

Who is the course for?

This course is designed to help professionals who have recently discovered the business analysis profession learn what it takes to get started in a business analyst career.

• If you are considering a BA training program to help you become a business analyst, this course will help you learn the most critical aspects of the fundamentals while also building a career development plan.
• If you just finished a different BA training program and are still not feeling momentum behind your transition, this course will help you leverage what you learned into a personalized BA career roadmap.
• If you think you might be a business analyst but are unsure, this course will help you build confidence in your BA qualifications.
• If you are looking for your first BA job, this course will help you develop a strong positioning in the BA job marketplace.

Will my career background help me become a BA?

Yes. Even so, the main problem you are probably facing is lack of experience. You know in your gut that you will be a great business analyst, you just need someone to give you that first chance to prove yourself. But how do you find that first chance without the experience that’s required?

The truth is that if starting a business analyst career is something that truly excites you, then it’s very likely you’ve got some business analyst experiences buried in your background. In Modules 2 and 3, we’ll help you unearth your BA experience and other transferable skills to make this transition as seamless as possible.

Laura Brandenburg has become someone I mention to colleagues as someone who has provided me with invaluable tools for furthering my career. She is more than a cheerleader. She has common sense and she knows how to apply it. She’s sensitive about when to give advice and when to elucidate the kernel of truth she just knows you have in you. I’m experiencing the most forward traction in my career goals in the past few months, partly due to Laura’s class. Highly recommend it and her to reach your goals. -Elianna James, CTFL

How many lessons are there?

There are 31 total lessons across 4 modules offering over 15 hours of total instruction. For a complete list of lessons and a course outline, click here.

How many hours will I have to dedicate to the course?

This will be entirely up to you – the more time you dedicate to studying the course material, working through the next steps and participating in the forums, the better you will position yourself to achieve your BA career goals.

Plan on dedicating at least 3-4 hours per week during the course’s 4-month period to optimize your learning opportunity and meet the requirements for the Certificate of Completion.

What type of support can I expect from the instructors?

You will receive answers via member-only forums for any questions you have about the lessons. An initial response to your forum posts will be provided within 2 business days. Oftentimes more than one instructor will chime in and offer their expert advice, giving you multiple perspectives on your question or challenge.

This is an area where the more you invest, the more you receive. Questions and comments in the forums don’t have to be specific to the course material. You can also post questions about any aspect of your BA career (such as advice about a job opportunity or how to handle a situation at work) and receive feedback from our instructors and other members of the community.

Once each month you’ll be able to attend a Q&A call and have a direct dialog with your instructors about any topic related to your BA career. We often find the Q&A calls allow us to explore selected questions and challenges in more depth.

How do I earn the Certificate of Completion?

To earn your Certificate of Completion, you must complete the following by the day the course closes:

• The BA Skills Self-Assessment, provided via email to your instructor.
• An initial draft of your BA Roadmap, provided via email to your instructor.
• Contribute at least 15 meaningful contributions in the forums on various lessons.

Upon registration, you’ll be provide with more detailed instructions so you know exactly what’s expected of you.

Will the course help me improve my resume?

Yes, the course will help you build a BA resume. It does this in two ways. First, by going through a BA skills and experience assessment, we’ll help you understand what to highlight on your resume for BA jobs. Second, you’ll be welcome to share your resume or pieces that you want feedback on in the forums for feedback from the instructors.  Or, if you have general resume questions, we can take those in the forums as well.

Also, like any other training program, completing the course gives you a credential to put on your resume showing potential employers that you have invested in your own professional development and have recent training in business analysis.

Will the course earn me PDs?

PDs is an IIBA acronym referring to the Professional Development Hours required as part of applying for the CBAP or the CCBA certifications. The requirements for PDs as established by IIBA are as follows:

A minimum of 21 hours of professional development in the last four years. The professional development must be completed by the application submitted date and it must meet the following criteria to qualify:

1. It must be moderated/facilitated similar to a formal course (i.e., there must be a moderator for the session, or a facilitator/instructor who leads the group/individual through the material).

2. There must be a measurable learning objective (or set of objectives), and those must be directly applicable to the role of the business analyst (i.e., in terms of either changing behaviour or improving skills).

3. It cannot simply be a presentation on a specific topic:

a. There must be the opportunity for students to interact with the material (e.g., be able to ask questions, make the learning meaningful) AND

b. An opportunity to practice the task or objective being presented.

4. The subject matter must be directly related to business analysis or its underlying competencies as per the BABOK® Guide.

From the CBAP Handbook. Available http://www.iiba.org.

The instructor-supported version of Launch Your Business Analysis Career meets all of these qualifications for 12 Professional Development hours.

But are you sure? You are not on the IIBA’s EEP list.

EEP standards for Endorsed Education Provider. IIBA added this note to the above list of qualifications in the CBAP Handbook:

Note: IIBA endorsed courses as per the Endorsed Education Provider (EEP™) program automatically qualify towards the 21 hours of Professional Development for initial certification because they have already been assessed to ensure they meet the above criteria.

Here’s the deal. EEP’s pay a fee to IIBA to have a course endorsed. An endorsement represents that the course is aligned with the BABOK and qualifies for PDs. It is not an endorsement of the quality of the course, instructors, or learning material. A course does not need to be part of the EEP program to earn the participant PDs.

Will the course earn me CDUs?

Yes. CDUs are “Continuing Development Units” required for recertification as a CBAP or CCBA recipient. There are several types of CDUs. Launch Your Business Analysis Career qualifies for 12 CDUs under Category 2B – Other Education Providers and you may choose to log additional CDUs under Category 4 – Self-Study.

What is the Alumni Program?

The Alumni Program is a exclusive offering for those students who have completed an instructor-supported course. In return for a reduced monthly tuition fee, students are able to extend their access to the course materials and receive support from the instructors in the forums and via monthly Q&A calls. This program is ideal for the member who is actively pursuing their BA career and wants access to ongoing expert advice about the new situations and challenges they face as they progress against their plan. Alumni Members also receive 1-2 new lessons each month to help them execute on their BA career development plan.

I’m interested, but not sure. How can I ask a question?

I’m committed to only enrolling students that will truly benefit from the action-oriented lessons, online format, and self-directed nature of this course, and leveraging the opportunity to move their career forward.

I’ve tried to answer every question we can think of. But that doesn’t mean I answered your burning question. If you are not sure if the course is for you, email me at info [at] mybusinessanalysiscareer.com with your question. I’ll get back to you right away.

Sounds great, I’m ready to register. How do I do that?

Awesome. We’re excited to be a part of your BA career! Flip over to the registration page for information on pricing and how to register.