Sean: My career background is varied, having worked in areas as diverse as business development management in the petroleum industry to software quality assurance in the consulting industry. My interest in Business Analysis grew from a desire to better understand how people, technology and processes blend together to achieve organizational success. 

Sean: I discovered Futuretrend's Business Analysis Training course via a Google search. I then reached out to the team for more information.

Sean: I did not have a Business Analysis qualification prior to starting the course and I rolled up my Business Analysis training into a product manager qualification.

Sean: I found the training very helpful. The limited class size allowed the instructor to pay close attention to our learning needs as each of us came into the program with different levels of familiarity with the concept of Business Analysis.  I found the Mentoring and Work Experience element exceptionally useful as it enabled me to gain the confidence only real-life practise can give.

Sean: Although I work as a Product Owner, I find business analysis skills very useful when engaging with project stakeholders: managing expectations, eliciting requirements, documenting business objectives and translating these into stories usable by the development team. 

I would say one of the main challenges I have faced is how to maintain focus. Each product, software or business change initiative is going to be different and on every new project, even if the product is the same, the people will most likely be different. So being able to start from first principles with your stakeholders is a must, Minimise Cross-Over Assumptions!

From a team and work environment perspective. I would say Business Analysis work is great as a key component of the job is communication and anyone with the ability to communicate in a clear and collaborative manner is halfway there already.

Sean: I am very happy to have made the career shift as I now feel that I am in a growth industry that is making a direct impact on the modern world. 

• Cultivate a humble mindset that is keen to learn: quite often you will not be the domain expert and you have to engage with a broad set of personality types to gain the knowledge required for your project to succeed.
• Get qualified in a manner that directly improves your chance of getting a job: IIBA or The British Computer Society qualifications are always a good start.
• Network! get to know the professional societies and Meets Ups active in your area, join up and volunteer. Get to know people and let them know who you are.

Faith: I am a Geoscientist by training; This involved working with different stakeholders, in-depth investigation, research and analysis so business analysis was a natural path to take

Faith: By referral from a previous student

Faith: I didn't but I have had prior experience on a couple of projects as a Product Owner and business analyst before joining FutureTrend

Faith: I am planning to sit for ECBA

Faith: My previous background and experience made the mentoring easier as I was able to carry on with minimal supervision which really helped

Faith: I believe a Business Analysis is like a mould that fits in with any project. I am passionate about Business Analysis and I have adapted to my environment,
I’m thoroughly enjoying my project as I have lots to learn and give back

Babatunde: I had been a ba prior to that, but i was looking for a place to improve  my technical skills so i looked online and found futuretrend, which had lots of good reviews.

Babatunde: Yes i had the bcs (iseb) int dip in ba but i wanted to get my hands dirty technically by working and gaining on-the-job training/experience when placed on one of the voluntary  projects.  

Babatunde: Yes, i intend to take qualifications in agile ba and scrum master.

Babatunde: i found the real life project i worked quite useful in that it gave me the opportunity to experience a web development project and technically it was quite rewarding for me  

Babatunde: I had been a Business Analyst prior to training  but my initial challenge was that i felt that i needed help with my hands on technical ba knowledge,…. by the time i finished my stint at futuretrend, I had overcome this challenge and had 3 job offers at once.

Babatunde: I’m very confident about the future of my career as a Business Analyst . There are so many opportunities for me now and i’m currently a senior BA with the prospect of heading a change department in future.

Babatunde: I will advise them to train with futuretrend as it will give them the opportunities to learn and to work and gain on-the-job training/experience when placed on one of the voluntary  projects.  

Bhati: My career background is in IT. As a programmer you don’t get overall view of the project/business as you are only working on a very small section of project. 

In business analysis you get overall view of the project/ business, and it is technology independent. Every project/business problem is different and as a business analyst you get to work in a different, dynamic and challenging work environment to solve a business/organization problem. I enjoy this and this has motivated me to become a business analyst.

Bhati:Google search. This was the program which was providing practical training unlike other courses which were just certification courses.

Bhati:Yes. BCS business analysis certification and agile one.

Bhati: Excellent! Hands on practical training helped me to put my theoretical concepts into practical. All the staff is very helpful. Femi’s mentoring really helped me to gain my confidence to get back into the job market.

Bhati:I am enjoying my job as a Business Analyst as every project is different and comes with different challenges. Problem solving is one of the most important skill for a business analyst. I did business analysis for agile as well as waterfall projects. Practical experience in agile in training helped me a lot while working on these projects.

Bhati: promising.

Bhati:Use transferable skills, problem solving skills in your current job to become a good business analyst.