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The road to systems analyst

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    #32
    DublinWriter
    Registered Users Posts: 9,557 ✭✭✭DublinWriter


    First of all, the modern nomenclature is 'Business Analyst' or BA for short (I ain't getting on no airplane foooool!).

    I know plenty of BA's who work for the Big 4 who couldn't write a line of English, never mind Java, C# or what-ever-you're-having-yourself.

    Try and get into the graduate-programme of a financial institution or consulting house. Most graduate testers I know end up becoming technical-writers. It's a tricky and difficult position to pluck yourself out of.

    Getting ITIL and/or Prince2 certification will be more valuable to you (and considerably less hassle) than doing an I.T.-based MSc.


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    #33
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    Ginger wrote: »
    Consider your dev skills redundant as college projects aint sufficient to constitute development experience...

    I would define your System Analyst as kind of an IT Architect (Maybe!!)

    So should I be looking to do certs then or getting in to a company that does development training. Or should I just move in to a development role. You see the company that I am going to be working for said they will decide if I will be a tester or a developer when I start the job. My current title is Technology Analyst but I have no specific job description. I am just trying to make the right choice given that I believe I want to be a good systems analyst asap.


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    #34
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Spend as little time as possible testing. You do it anyway as part of development or as means to get into an IT company. But its dead time and doesn't realy count for experience other than for another testing job. IMO.

    Job titles are miss used. But better to have the skills and experience to back up the title than be bluffing and get caught out in interview or worse on the job. IMO.


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    #35
    Ginger
    Registered Users Posts: 2,931 ✭✭✭Ginger


    Job titles are all varied! I am Senior Solutions Developer. Then again there are only 4 of us on a team of 18.. We also do development as well as management..


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    #36
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Get some certs as a baseline and go contracting. Fastest way to get varied real life experience.


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    #37
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    BostonB wrote: »
    Spend as little time as possible testing. You do it anyway as part of development or as means to get into an IT company. But its dead time and doesn't realy count for experience other than for another testing job. IMO.

    Job titles are miss used. But better to have the skills and experience to back up the title than be bluffing and get caught out in interview or worse on the job. IMO.

    I dont think I am trying to bluff my way in I am just wondering if the only approach is through development. But you could be right. So testing is only good if I want to become a tester otherwise its not usefull. In otherwords the only job promotion for a tester would be QA manager.


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    #38
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    BostonB wrote: »
    Get some certs as a baseline and go contracting. Fastest way to get varied real life experience.

    I have a job in a consultancy and start it after graduation, so I am going to do that for a while to get experience as I agree multiple projects is the quickest way to go. It would be very difficult at my age and experience level to get contract work for anything but testing. I assume you mean contract development work. What certs do you recomend that have proved usefull for you in getting jobs. What types of jobs were they.


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    #39
    CorkFenian
    Registered Users Posts: 656 ✭✭✭CorkFenian


    cronos wrote: »
    Well really what I am looking for is ideas on how to start off as a JSA as I have nearly a couple of years experience coming out of college. Spent 8 months working on networks and desktop support then a year doing second level tech support and testing for a financial services company. I would like a job that trained me to become a successful JSA as I am sure I still have things to learn.


    You got 20 months experience while in college and part of that was a year working on 2nd level support and testing, all that while in college, or have I not read it correctly...


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    #40
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    CorkFenian wrote: »
    You got 20 months experience while in college and part of that was a year working on 2nd level support and testing, all that while in college, or have I not read it correctly...

    No your not reading it wrong. Their is 8 months as standard for every student in UL. Then I failed a module and had to repeat just that module the next year so I only had a few hours a week from september to december then I had January to September free. So I asked the careers office to sort out a job if they could through the coop program again for another 8 months. I got the second level tech support job and did that for that 8 months. Then I went back to college to do 3rd year. That summer I went back to work with the same company doing 2nd level tech support in london. It was for credit card terminals not windows or windows apps.


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    #41
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    cronos wrote: »
    I have a job in a consultancy and start it after graduation, so I am going to do that for a while to get experience as I agree multiple projects is the quickest way to go. It would be very difficult at my age and experience level to get contract work for anything but testing. I assume you mean contract development work. What certs do you recomend that have proved usefull for you in getting jobs. What types of jobs were they.

    These days technical tests are usual as part of the interview process for technical roles, especially contracts. In my experience these are often based on certification exams/material. So if you can't get past these tests you won't make it to 2nd interviews.


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    #42
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    When did I say I couldnt pass any certificate? I did do a technical interview as part of getting my job for the consultancy. I answered every question corectly. Its a graduate program. Do you mean every individual project I do within the company will require me to do more technical interviews, basically re-interview for every project. That sounds time consuming. I am a full time employee with the company subject to an initial 6 month probation period.


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    #43
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Where did I say you couldn't pass a certificate or anything about doing interviews for each project?

    I'm talking generally about IT. Not about you specifically. No idea about how your company works. How could I?


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    #44
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    BostonB wrote: »
    Where did I say you couldn't pass a certificate or anything about doing interviews for each project?

    I'm talking generally about IT. Not about you specifically. No idea about how your company works. How could I?

    O I see cool sorry thought you were talking about me specifically. I agree that a person train's EG does certs/degrees to help get through interviews and get jobs if that was your original point. But the question is what certs must be done to go in the systems analyst route Ginger has already provided some great help on this so I will have to give them a look in the summer.


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    #45
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    cronos wrote: »
    I....What certs do you recomend that have proved usefull for you in getting jobs. What types of jobs were they.

    I thought that was your question.


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    #46
    egan007
    Registered Users Posts: 2,934 ✭✭✭egan007


    In my humblest of opionions Proper Systems Analysts are born that way.
    I've worked with a few and some have a natural capability to understand systems - systems in general that is. There is a marked difference in those with this ability and those who learn the technique.

    Not much help to the OP but just thought i'd thrown my 2cent in the cup.


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    #47
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    egan007 wrote: »
    In my humblest of opionions Proper Systems Analysts are born that way.
    I've worked with a few and some have a natural capability to understand systems - systems in general that is. There is a marked difference in those with this ability and those who learn the technique.

    Not much help to the OP but just thought i'd thrown my 2cent in the cup.

    Big problem with your logic their is that you need to be able to understand architectural specifications. I dont think you just know languages such as UML and other languages. Of course your correct though that some people are better than others at this, but if you cant prove your good at it then you wont get a job. Thats why you need qualifications. These qualifications then allow you to get experience. At least thats my view.


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    #48
    cronos
    Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭cronos


    BostonB wrote: »
    I thought that was your question.

    Not exactly I wasnt asking why are certs usefull, I was wondering what certs were usefull to get ahead as a systems analyst. And which can I get given my level of experience.


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    #49
    Nutty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 215 ✭✭Nutty


    cronos is it comp sys or comp eng you are in as i am a ITT student in ul myslef

    at the moment tryin to decide what im going to do next year.. going for interview in Bearing Point next week.. so really must read into the position as i only heard about the interview today and sent them a cv after the careers fair in like december probably .. i decided that regardless ill go to the interview for interview practise more than anything

    otherwise i know i can quiet easily get a job back in the company where i was on co-op(work experience) where i was a junior ops eng/it person .. depending on who was asking.. where if i was to go back i probably would be in general IT for a while but develop into operations engineer over about a year and then work my way from that.. the company in question in this case is a mobile software development company who are undergoing huge growth.. they doubled in size while i was working with them from 40 to 100 and have about 140 people working with them now.. within a year nearly quadrupling


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