Technical Business Analyst Skills:
As a business analyst it is becoming more and more certain you will need some form of technical training or skill. That is not to say that you have to be an I.T person, but a lot of positions today require different technical competencies. Business analysts new and experienced look for open positions only to find that they are requiring very specific skills; like understanding (.NET) or (OOP) Object Oriented Programming and the list goes on. If you are a new business analyst or interested in becoming one, it’s wise to have some technical understanding. Let’s take a closer look as to why these jobs require these types of skills.
How to get technical training as a business analyst?
Not all business analysts need formal technical training. Some business analyst can get on the job training to pick up the skills needed to understand the technical aspects of their jobs. Also, there are other online resources for technical topics such as sql or programming for free. Just search Google for “free sql or programming” to learn about those options. Other times some positions will want specific knowledge of certain technical skills. Some examples of technical skills a business analyst may be asked to know are.
SQL– Structured Query Language is simply a computer language used to query or “ask” a database for information. For example, if your company has a database of vendors and wants to retrieve a list of those who live in a certain city you would type a “SQL” query into the database find the answer. It sounds complicated, but if you gain a little better understanding of how it works it is not to complicated.
.NET- You see a lot of positions today asking for knowledge of the .NET framework. .NET is simply a product Microsoft created to help computer programmers with coding. To get more technical with the definition .NET is a group of files with “classes and methods” for programmers to use to streamline the coding process.
OOP– Object Oriented Programming is a new way of programming. It is taking what programmers have already done and applying those practices’ to streamline the coding process. For example , programmers don’t have to “code” exactly how to tell a printer how to print something line by line, instead they use what other programmers have known for years to shorten the amount of code they have to write to accomplish the same outcome.
SDLC- The Software Development Life Cycle is a software development process. It is simply a standard process of creating and updating a software product or process.
These are just a few of the major technical skills that are asked of business analysts today. Not all business analyst positions require technical skills and some require none at all. If you are thinking of becoming a business analyst it’s always a good idea to keep these in mind when choosing a program. If you are already a business analyst it’s never too late to learn new skills and brush up on your current technical knowledge. Some of these concepts we know can seem complicated, but once you grasp the overall understanding they become easier.
