Business Analyst / Consultant

Salary: 

The average Business Analyst salary in the United States is $75,456 as of March 26, 2020, but the salary range typically falls between $67,760 and $84,299. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on education, certifications, additional skills, and the years of experience in the profession. 

Education:

Business Analysts are expected to have a bachelor's degree in business administration or related degree for entry-level positions. A typical bachelor's degree program in business administration includes coursework in communication, accounting, business, law, statistics, and other specialized classes. 

Skills and Requirements: 

• Work with businesses and stakeholders to analyze business operations and to recommend solutions to improve general business processes and planning. 
• Experience in analyzing data to draw business-relevant conclusions.
• Can design, document, and maintain system processes.
• Propose new strategies for successful business changes 
• Project estimates for personnel requirements and costs.
• Assess trends through external markets and develop actionable insights and recommendations to management.

Career-Boosting Skills 

• Can make recommendations for solutions or improvements that can be accomplished through new technology or alternative uses of existing technology
• Solid experience in writing SQL queries.
• Ability to prioritize and organize effectively
• Ability to recognize problems and opportunities 
• Having expertise in the BA’s tools, i.e.MS Visio, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Google Docs, Balsamiq and etc. 

Can You Become a Business Analyst Without a Degree?

An acceptable substitute for a Business or a Computer Information Systems degree would be to have 2-4 years of experience in investment banking, management consulting, corporate finance, and/or corporate development.

Depending on the organization, BAs can mean different things and require different skill-sets. However, some of the basics that all analysts should know is to learn about programming concepts such as Object-Oriented Programming. This will give you a perspective of the technical environment which puts you ahead of the curve when estimating time to market for projects.  

Also, learn the necessary presentation tools such as the MS Suite for delivering visual road maps and wire-framing solutions for clients. 

Find out first hand about specific requirements in the different disciplines by joining a Data Scientists and or Analyst user-group. Most people are very happy to help.