You want to become a business analyst?

Why become a business analyst?

Business analysis is an exciting career path that offers challenging, rewarding work as well as the opportunity for career growth. Business analysts often among senior staff are treated to a unique, ‘birds eye view’ perspective of the organisation.

Working as a business analyst can make you feel you are an integral part of an organisations, planning, development, and growth.

If you currently work in a role unrelated to business analysis, there are many ways in which your skills and knowledge might make you an ideal candidate for a business analyst role.

You might want a career change, a higher salary or you simply might have an interest in business analysis. In any case, you might have a few questions you want answers for:

• What is a business analyst role?
• Do I have the right skills?
• Can I change career to become a business analyst?
• Can I become a business analyst without experience?
• Do I need a business analyst certification to help get a business analyst job?

To keep you at ease, here are 5 steps you can take to help you become a business analyst.

Understanding the business analyst role

Business analysts serve as advisors to developers, managers, and organisations. They use statistical analysis techniques to gather, interpret and share information in meaningful ways.

Business analysts identify and evaluate potential improvements to business systems. They help internal stakeholders define their business needs so that they may be turned into a new products or systems which helps the organisation meets its business goals.

One good thing about moving into business analysis, is that business analysts often use a variety of analysis techniques that can easily be picked up through appropriate learning.

This first step is all about doing your research.

• Read about business analysis to have an understanding about the industry;
• Research about the role and responsibilities of a business analyst;
• Talk to people who are business analysts to ask their advice.

For more information about the role, read What is a business analyst?

5 steps to becoming a business analyst

To keep you at ease, here are 5 steps you can take to help you become a business analyst:

1. Understand the business analyst role

This step is all about doing your research.

• Read about business analysis to have an understanding about the industry;
• Research about the tasks and responsibilities of a business analyst;
• Talk to people who are business analysts to ask their advice.

2. Check your current skills

You need certain skills to work as a business analyst. If you have the skills in the following list, you are well on your way. If you are missing any, enrol in training or workshops:

• Analytical skills – studying and analysing data and information;
• Critical thinking and evaluation skills – listening to stakeholders and asking the correct questions to determine needs.
• Interpersonal and negotiation skills – coordinating and discussing with team members and stakeholders. People skills can come in handy when managing a team.
• Organisational skills – prioritising tasks and being efficient with time and resource allocation.
• Problem solving skills – understanding real problems facing an organisation and achieving mutual agreement on solutions.
• Research skills – analysing documents, observe procedures, and interview stakeholders to identify core issues.
• Technical skills – familiarising yourself with SQL, Oracle, .NET, C#, and other computer skills on a basic level.
• Written and verbal communication skills – conducting interviews and meetings to understand company requirements. They can be face-to-face or virtual meetings. You must be able to write in a clear and concise way.

3. Get a business analysis qualification

The next step would be getting a qualification in business analysis. Professional certifications help you to gain the knowledge, tools, processes and techniques which are commonly used by business analysts.

Depending on which accredited institute you choose, you can start with a BCS Business Analysis Foundation entry-level course.

Having a business analyst qualification on your business analyst resume will boost your confidence levels and make you stand out from the crowd. As a result, you will for sure find a return on your in investment when you are employed.

It is worth mentioning that some BA jobs may require experience or qualifications in other subjects such as:

• IT service management such as ITIL;
• Project management like PRINCE2 or APM PFQ;
• Agile Project Management such as AgilePM.

4. Look for BA jobs

Look for business analyst jobs internally in your organisation. If there aren’t any, you can then look for jobs externally at:

• Conferences and job fairs;
• Social media, especially LinkedIn;
• Job Sites like Reed, Monster and Jobsite;
• Recruitment agencies;
• Walk in or direct approach through an organisation’s website.

You could be hired as a business analyst on a project or get employed by a large technology firm, moving between departments.

5. Work as a BA and keep up it up!

So, after following the 4 previous steps, if you now become a business analyst, congratulations! But don’t assume your journey now ends.

You will now have to:

• Embrace new challenges;
• Listen and learn every day;
• Approach assignments with an open mind;
• Develop real world strategies which get successful results;
• Continue your business analysis education while you’re working.

Skills of a business analyst

If you want to work as a business analyst, there are 6 core skills you’ll need to have. Make sure to highlight these in your resumé, recruiters will always be looking for these to make sure an applicant ‘ticks all the boxes.’ A good thing about moving into a business analyst role is that many of the skills required are easily transferable from previous roles.

Management skills

Business analysts usually work alongside project managers and while they’re usually held accountable by the project board, you’ll generally be free to act as your own boss and might even be given authority to make small changes without higher approval. As such, you’ll need some basic management skills to handle all your many responsibilities effectively. Show employers that you have what it takes to gather requirements, get approvals signed, attend meetings and manage difficult stakeholders without needing constant supervision.

Communication skills

Arguably the most important skill of a business analyst, you need to show recruiters that you can clearly communicate requirements to customers then relay their feedback to technical teams.

Think of this part of your role as being a ‘translator’ (which isn’t far from the truth). You’ll be talking with dozens of people, each with a different role, education and specialization. What makes perfect sense to one might be an incomprehensible mess to another.

Good verbal skills are only half the puzzle. You’ll also need to be able to write clearly and concisely. Business analysts need to take a 300-page document and summarize it in a 1-page report that covers every bit of important information.

Negotiation skills

Negotiation and communication skills go together. As a business analyst, you’ll not just talk with customers, but will have to negotiate tough deals with stakeholders that leave both parties satisfied with the arrangement.

You’ll need to find compromises and talk your way out of sticky situations. Having a quick wit, good manners and knowledge of your trade are all part of what a business analyst needs to navigate some of the difficulties of the role.

Analytical skills

This goes without saying – you need to be able to analyse information from multiple sources and then decide how to take appropriate action.

More than just data, you’ll also need to look at your past performance, seeing which solutions worked as intended and which didn’t to improve your strategy in future.

Problem-solving skills

Business analysts are tasked with solving critical business problems and providing the best possible solution in any given context.

It’s not always possible to deliver business needs easily and, given the complexity of many modern businesses, there’s rarely just one cause to any single problem.

You’ll need to know how to address issues at all levels of business from customers all the way to upper management. You might even be called on to assume an HR role and sort out squabbles between individual team-members.

Technical know-how

All business analysts require some technical skills, as we’ve said, there’s a difference between data and business analysts, but you’ll still need to know how to use Microsoft Excel and other basic tools.

If you really want to impress recruiters, consider taking a technical course. Pair this knowledge with some visual design tools such as Microsoft Visio and a good understanding of how large language models can assist business analysts, and you’re sure to draw attention to yourself!

For learning a broad range of business analysis techniques, our Business Analysis Learning Library contains a wide range of short online courses in topics such as SWOT, VMOST, using scenarios, RACI, prototyping, PESTLE, GAP analysis, and many more.

What is also important when it comes to developing your business analyst skills is to get a business analysis qualification. Professional certifications help you to gain the knowledge, tools, processes and common business analysis techniques which are used by business analysts.

For more advice, read Which certification is best for business analysis?

Business analyst career progression

Business analysis is the natural career progression path for many of those employed as software developers or project managers. However, it is also possible to begin a business analyst career if you have prior experience in any industry and have a bachelor’s degree in any subject.

If you don’t have in-depth knowledge of an industry, you’ll want to consider what you can offer to an employer. This might be technical knowledge, knowledge of specialised tools or organisational expertise.

Junior business analyst roles

Requiring 0-2 years of experience, average UK salary (source ITJobsWatch, Reed, Indeed and Glassdoor): £32,500 p/a.^[1]

If you do successfully manage to start a career as a business analyst, you can expect to start your business analyst career in a junior role. Junior business analysts work with colleagues and other stakeholders to investigate operational issues, problems, and new opportunities, contributing to improvements to business processes and IT systems.

Junior analysts must be able to understand the purpose and benefits of modelling techniques to represent a range of business areas and systems of interest.

Most companies require at least a bachelor’s degree for junior business analyst positions. Relevant programs include finance, business administration, IT and software development. Additionally, candidates with business analysis certifications are prioritised by employers.

If you don’t have these yet, you might want to consider enrolling in a business analyst course to acquire them. This will help your position as a new business analyst and will help you advance your career further.

Mid-level business analyst roles

Mid-level business analysts work to understand the needs of stakeholders, evaluate IT processes, and recommend how they might be improved. They investigate operational issues, problems, and new opportunities. They seek effective business solutions through improvements in aspects of business areas or systems of interest.

Requiring 4-5 years of experience, average UK salary (source ITJobsWatch, Reed, Indeed and Glassdoor): £50,000 p/a.^[2]

A business-related bachelor’s degree is a great advantage for mid-level roles, whilst a degree in computer science is always a plus. Employers also look favourably on those possessing professional qualifications, and UK employers are especially interested in those awarded by the BCS.

Senior business analyst roles

Requiring 6-8 years of experience, average UK salary (source ITJobsWatch, Reed, Indeed and Glassdoor): £63,750 p/a.^[3]

Senior business analysts work to investigate business problems and opportunities, and specify changes to business processes, people skills, information, technology, structures, and roles. They work with senior business and IT stakeholders at a strategic level to assure the feasibility of proposed solutions.

For senior roles, it’s a given that companies will require higher qualifications. Business and IT-related bachelor’s degrees are required and in the UK, the BCS Business Analysis Diploma can also bring you a step closer to these top-level job roles.

Becoming a business analyst with no experience

The reality of business analyst roles in that most people ‘fall into’ them. That is to say, most don’t actively seek business analyst roles, the position of a business analyst just happens to be the natural career progression path of many roles in the IT industry.

This makes sense when you consider the amount of industry-specific information required by business analysts. Do a job long enough and you’ll have a good idea on how to help others do it just as good as you.

If you don’t want to work your way to a business analyst role from the bottom-up, you need a little something extra to show employers you have the necessary knowledge.

The good news is that you don’t need to spend years studying in tertiary education to qualify. There is no specific degree required to be a business analyst.

Having said that, if you have a computer science engineering degree or an MBA, you should be able to start a business analyst career.

Lacking these, you can always opt for an entry-level business analyst qualification such as the BCS Foundation certificate in Business Analysis. This will equip you with the most useful techniques used in the profession.

The next steps

Involve yourself in projects today!

There’s always something going on in the business world. If you’re currently employed, ask your manager if there are any projects you can join in a support role.

This will give you a good chance to learn the ropes first-hand, even if you have nothing to contribute at first, immersing yourself in a project environment will give you an understanding of roles and tasks carried out by developers in your industry.

If you’re not employed, you’ll have to take matters into your own hand. Seek out non-profit organizations and volunteer. You’ll likely not be paid, but you will have the opportunity to work alongside knowledgeable and passionate individuals who will be more than happy to have you along for the ride.

Improve your technical skills

As we mentioned, tools like Microsoft Visio or other diagramming tools are valuable. Pick out a selection of commonly used tools (a quick google search might give you a better idea) and get training!

When you’re done, make sure to update your CV, highlighting your newfound technical skills.

Always find better ways of working

Getting in the right mind-set is half the challenge of being a business analyst.

Don’t sit there repeating the same tasks day after day. At work, or at home, always look for more efficient ways of going about your day.

The faster you get your tasks done, the more time you’ll have to involve yourself in projects at work.

The faster you gain project experience the sooner you’ll land your first business analyst role!

Business analyst job hunting

If you like working for your current employer, the best place to start looking for a business analyst role is internally in your organisation. If there aren’t any vacancies, you can then look for jobs externally at:

• Conferences and job fairs;
• Social media, especially LinkedIn;
• Job Sites like Reed, Monster and Jobsite;
• Recruitment agencies;
• Walk in or direct approach through an organisation’s website.

Be careful when searching. Business analyst roles may not be advertised as business analyst. Instead, business analyst roles are often called things like these:

• process analyst
• business systems analyst
• systems analyst
• enterprise analyst
• product manager
• product owner
• requirements engineer
• business architect
• data scientist/analyst
• management consultant
• business intelligence analyst
• forward-deployed engineers.

These are all forms of business analyst roles masquerading as other jobs.

Consider having your CV designed by a professional. It’s the first contact you’ll have with an employer, make sure you make a good first impression!

Ensure that you have at least one business analyst certification on your resumé. In the UK, that probably means a BCS business analyst certification. In the US, it probably means PMI-PBA. For working on agile projects, an AgileBA certificate might be preferable.

Preparing for interviews

Building your skills, getting qualified, and identifying opportunities to improve your resume are all required before you can land an interview. Once you have an interview it’s important that you prepare well. We’ve put together a few sample interview questions to get you thinking about the role. Ensure that you practice your answers well beforehand. Use AI to search for more sample questions.

These five questions cover the areas which appear repeatedly in current business analyst interview guidance: stakeholder management, approach to analysis, requirements, change and the qualities needed to perform the role.

1. How do you approach a new business analysis project?

When answering:

• Start by understanding the business problem or opportunity.
• Identify the important stakeholders and understand their needs.
• Gather information about the current situation.
• Define and analyse the business requirements.
• Consider possible solutions and their costs, benefits and risks.
• Explain how you would help stakeholders agree the preferred solution.
• Give an example from a real project if possible.

The important point is to show that you follow a logical process which starts with understanding the business need rather than jumping straight to a solution.

2. How would you manage a difficult stakeholder?

When answering:

• Start by understanding why the stakeholder is being difficult.
• Listen carefully to their concerns and objectives.
• Avoid becoming defensive or treating disagreement as a personal issue.
• Use facts and evidence when discussing different views.
• Look for areas where agreement can be reached.
• Explain how you would escalate the problem if necessary.
• Give a real example and describe the outcome.

Your answer should demonstrate your communication, listening, negotiation and problem-solving skills.

3. How do you gather requirements from stakeholders?

When answering:

• Explain that there is no single best technique for gathering requirements.
• Mention techniques you have used, such as interviews, workshops, observation, questionnaires and document analysis.
• Explain why you chose particular techniques.
• Ask questions to uncover the underlying business need.
• Document requirements clearly and confirm them with stakeholders.
• Give an example where your analysis uncovered something which was not initially obvious.

Show that requirements gathering involves understanding what stakeholders actually need, rather than simply recording what they ask for.

4. How do you deal with changing requirements or scope creep?

When answering:

• Explain that changing requirements are not necessarily a problem.
• Understand what is being requested and why.
• Assess the impact on time, cost, scope, benefits and other requirements.
• Check whether the change supports the business objectives.
• Make sure stakeholders understand the consequences.
• Follow the agreed change control process.
• Maintain traceability between requirements and their source.

A good answer shows that you can respond positively to useful change while preventing uncontrolled changes from damaging the project.

5. What qualities make you a good business analyst?

When answering:

• Choose three or four qualities which are relevant to the job.
• These might include analytical thinking, problem-solving, communication, listening or stakeholder management.
• Avoid simply listing skills.
• Give examples which demonstrate how you have used them.
• Include both analytical and people skills.
• Relate your strengths to the requirements in the job description.

For example, rather than saying you are a good communicator, explain how your communication helped stakeholders resolve conflicting requirements or reach agreement.

Are you ready to become a business analyst?

After reading our steps above, are you encouraged to make a change in your career? If yes, we can assist you in your new career journey. Check out our classroom business analyst courses for a course which helps you get the business analyst qualification you need.

References

[1] BCS.org, 2022. Junior Business Analyst. [Online] Available at: https://www.bcs.org/it-careers/business-analysis/business-analyst-career-pathway/junior-business-analyst/ [Accessed 07 September 2026].

[2] BCS.org, 2022. Business Analyst. [Online] Available at: https://www.bcs.org/it-careers/business-analysis/business-analyst-career-pathway/business-analyst/ [Accessed 07 September 2026].

[3] BCS.org, 2022. Senior Business Analyst. [Online] Available at: https://www.bcs.org/it-careers/business-analysis/business-analyst-career-pathway/senior-business-analyst/ [Accessed 07 September 2026].