How to Start a Business Analyst Career Even if You Have No Experience 

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I can so relate. I did not have a job at the time and was on vacation. I was on the lookout for DBA job. I was approached by a company and they were in need of a business analyst. I had no prior experience or any knowledge of the domain. But I said yes, and I've been a business analyst for over 5 years now.

I love how you are honest - It just happens. It becomes difficult to help those trying to come in. I'm glad you started sharing as you inspiring those at the door.

Hi Laura, thanks for this video! I've been interning at a company for nearly a year and recently got offered a job at another desk as a junior BA. Your channel has been very useful in helping me understand this role :)

As someone who has done work as a BA, this is really good advice. After stepping away from doing BA work for some time, this has really helped me what direction I want to go in updating my resume. Even after leaving the field for some time, this video gives me more confidence in that the skills I've gained over those years are still relevant in today's world.

Quality Assurance to Business Analysis - That was my path too many years ago!

Thanks Laura, i sure am taking the very important first step

New to the BA career path and I am trying to gain all the knowledge I can to assist me in my role at work. I was brought on as a SME and am working on many of the things you describe here, just wanting to get a better handle on this new role.

Amazing advice Laura, I'm currently working for an animation studio doing technical work and never in a million years would I think to start analyzing the data I already had at hand. I was thinking about doing experimental testing data crunching outside of work but this idea is so much better. Thank you!

Laura, I turned towards this channel exactly 3 years ago when I was offered a Job as a BA because I took it as a challenge even though I had no hands on experience. I came a long way and now I am in marketing / business role and I lecture at an institute for a BA topic as well. Thank You!

You are absolutely right. Just take the first step with some dedication and everything starts working automatically. I am experiencing this.

Great video! I started at my company earlier this year (a small AI tech start-up) as an intern after my postgrad, doing market research. I made a good impression with my analytical skills and ability to decode lots of different perspectives, and they offered me a job as Associate BA just six weeks in. Fast forward 6 months and I've been promoted early to a full on Business Analyst amidst all the challenges of covid and working remotely. You're right, sometimes these things 'just happen'! I was a bit worried I wasn't a 'real' Business Analyst, because there's no senior BA and I'm just making it up as I go along or learning from colleagues who have some BA experience. However all the skills and activities you mentioned in the video are very much part of my role, so hopefully I'm on the right track! Keep up the great content :)

Thanks for this video. I’ve been in the music and entertainment business for over 10 years but now moving into the analyst direction and this video is encouraging for someone with no ‘formal’ training but has the interest and energy to apply my work experience and personality type and work on business analytical projects 👍👍

I've just had the greatest epiphany! I'm currently an Academic Advisor and have been so for the past 2 years. During this time I've taken on the responsibility for creating and reviewing a significant amount of our business processes and detailed working instructions (we use both). I became heavily involved in a major project which continues to this day. I enjoy analysing data, identifying gaps in business processes, creating detailed working instructions... Unfortunately there aren't many job opportunities with my current employer, to move upwards or even sideways. Now I know I've been doing what feels like two jobs for the price of one! I have experience as a Database Support Officer, assisting a DBA, but my qualifications are unrelated (Bachelor of Biomedical Science & Masters of Forensic Science) so I'd hope to be considered based on experience and the willingness to learn new skills.

I am about to start new career as business analyst. Hope your vids would help me. Subscribed thank you Madam

Great videos on BA, Laura! I'm currently looking for BA positions in Columbus OH area. So your videos are a great lead, thanks!

Thank you for your input, I’m taking an online course for a business analysis. I need to find a job right after completing the class but I was skeptical now thanks to Your video I’m so motivated and confident to find a job.

Incredibly useful - thanks for the help.

Thanks so much for your video! My background is in Economics, English is my second language which I started to learn 6 years ago. 10 months ago I got an intern opportunity as Junior BA. It's been so hard and I thought I was doing good until my PM told my that my requirement document is a piece of garbage. Listening to you made me feel that this skills will come with more experience and time. Thanks for your video! It made me feel so much better.

Thank you so much for information ma’am, very important information. God bless you.

I was so blessed listening to this. Just wondering if you could sequence the videos to take you from beginning to the end as required..Thx again

I love this so much. You make BA path, responsibilities so light and easy. I can't stop from smiling while watching this video. :)

Well, this week I will try to write the requirements for my most visited web site. A year ago I was asked at my current work to make the business process description. So I've learned how to do this and started. It took some time for me to achieve a good result.

Thank you, I appreciate it, I will start applying as Project Coordinator in order to begin the role of a business analyst.

Most knowledgable video for beginners to understand the role of BA...loved the way u described n encouraged ...thankful...

Hello, I am a student from Vietnam. I am about to study MIS at university and plan to become a business analyst. At the same time, I also need to learn English. Your video is the first one I chose to start with, and it has helped me a lot. Thank you very much, wish you good health, and hope you will release more great videos.

Thank you for this. I'm already a data analyst, analysing financial data and doing some reporting, but I want to graduate into being a full Business Analyst. I'll start doing these steps on Monday morning and see how it goes.

Thank you very much for this inspiring video and your insight. Exactly what I needed!

This is so helpful! I have an interview for a BA role this afternoon and have no previous official BA experience. I feel much more prepared! I’m currently pursuing a degree in data analytics.

i'm just starter at the professional world as business analyst & i've found this amazing channel... i'm definitly your daily follower thanks you so much :D

Thanks for encouraging me ☺

Thanks for this video. This is a great foundation to take the next steps into A career in BA. I am an Account Executive and sale software to companies and organizations. I was not aware of how much of my current experience and roles requirements aligns with the BA role.

very interesting and it deeply encourage me as this is one of my dream job :-)

Just came upon this video channel. Well done. Very interesting. Currently pursuing post graduate degree in Institutional Innovation & Effectiveness. BA seems to be an integral part of our programme.

Thank you! That was exactly my question!

As a veteran BA, this is actually really good advice. I've been saying for years, most BA's start off as SMEs. Once as an SME of something they find themselves contributing to enhancements of existing software or better yet, part of an implementation team if the organization is moving to new software. Once you've started using Business Analyst common practices (Requirements gathering, User Stories, Use Case, Wireframe Mockups, test cases, etc.) it's easy to then translate those skills into other processes. So then it's not dependent on you being an SME but instead, someone working with a SME as a Business Analyst. I personally did this type of transition first helping with enhancements and then part of the implementation and then I was the one writing Use Cases, Requirements, Wireframes etc. I personally find it often very rewarding being a Business Analyst.

Amazing, just by what you've described in the video, apparantly I've been doing BA work in my role as Risk Management and Compliance as well! This will certainly help my resume when I thought I've had zero BA experience! Thank you!

Thanks this vedio encourage me to move more close to my new dream role of business analyst, I am currently working as a QA lead, and doing gap analysis for business requirements and functional requirements, creating user stories, client intrection, QA team clarification for functional understanding, hope I can learn more on domains, to go deep into the back roles. Thanks for the vedio, appreciate.

Hi Laura. Thank you for the Video. i was working as QA engineer and moved to business analysis role and can relate to you. Its great information.

New subscriber 🚨 Love this video. This coming week I’m going to do something I thought about for a while now. As a digital printer operator (currently) I wanted to make a planned maintenance sheet for our digital printers. Thanks to watching this I’m going to make it happen starting now

This is fantastic, and REAL! Great advice and thank you for the guidance, I already have some ideas on what processes we have that could use some mapping and analysis!

Hi Laura, I appreciate you taking the time to put together this video. There was a lot of good info, however, this advice seems tailored to an individual that already finds themselves in an environment where they can take on BA like tasks or integrate themselves into BA like functions. Not everyone finds themselves in that position or has those opportunities, so I think that an expansion of the subject would benefit a lot of viewers. Thanks!

Thank you so much. This was helpful

I’ll start creating templates for requirements and glossaries for the projects I’m involved. Thanks for the tip.

Thank you so much for your insight. Very clear and useful message.

Great video! Thanks Laura for this!

I am looking to transition into a business analyst. My previous role involved a whole lot of communication using the right information (Marketing). I believe this will be an easy career change for me considering this. I cant wait for this whole new exciting career experience

I’m sooo glad I found this video!! I’ve been looking for this title for so long. I know exactly what I want to do as a career but didn’t know the exact title!! Thank YOU #USMCVET

i m a BA and I m going to focus on wireframes and paraphrasing

Thank you for the tips and advice 😊🙏🏻

Thanks, this video was a lot of help. I am currently an insurance broker with no experience at all. Just listening to you, you have helped me figure out how I can analyze the processes at the company I work at and make it a fulfilling task while I slowly work on my resume.

This was so helpful,thanks Laura . I was retrenched in march this year ,I was working as an underwriter and subject matter expert in all our department projects and worked closely with IT department ,I want to be a BA I fell in love with the role whilst involved in those projects etc .crossing fingers that I get a break I need ,I have been applying and the stumbling block seem to be the BA qualifications which I don't have but just registered for one now ,so I am taking all the necessary steps to make this possible.

Great thank you I have an interview this afternoon and you helped me

Super helpful and insightful information for a newbie BA. Thank you so very much.

Great video, thanks for the tips!

Great information. Thank you!

Thanks Laura, that is motivating..

Thank you so much for this! :)

Awesome tips Laura. Tku

Inspiring, even applicable to other subjects

I will use your tip and use it for my next interview. Thanks for your video

This was really motivating thank you!

I’ve been an administrative assistant for a few years and I feel My job has become pretty stagnant. I realized that I’ve been asking some of these questions already of “How can we make this better? “ and “How can I make this easier for you?”.I think I was meant to be a business analyst. Thank you for laying it out so easily.

I appreciate this! thanksss! looking forward to interviewing for business analysts jobs. Currently working in retail and seeing if I can get my foot in the door soon.

Very helpful!!! Thank you

Very informative thank you

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ You are Fab...

Great advice!

I can't appreciate more to you for sharing your story and advices with us. I got a invitation of interview for BA because they need someone who speaks both English and Japanese. I am quite interested in that offer but have no clue how to start. Your vedio encouraged me a lot. I will do more research and try to apply for that job. Maybe something incredible will happene, who knows! 😁😁

I can so relate I just fell into the role and sometimes I feel like a sitting dark

I am looking to get a Telecommute Business Analyst , this was extremely helpful!!!

Seems great

That's insightful. Am interested in Business Analysis in Mining. I have experience working in the industry, just looking for a start.

Thank you so much I will reply to your questions soon

Many thanks!

Love from my heart

Hi, Im business analyst trainee. It has been 1 month since my boss offer the BA position. Honestly, I'm in the stage of confusion 😅. I have no idea what Business analyst role is. Thanks for this video. I really appreciate.

These are basically tips on how to get noticed by your current employer. Once noticed, I suppose, the employer has to create a whole new position of BA specifically for that person.

hello thanks for the video. We recently changed the ERP software in our company and it had a lot of problems. We gave a lot of feedback and most of the problems got fixed. I could start doing some BA actions like you proposed, but the truth is that there is no person or manager in our company to appreciate it as there are such roles in our company.

Thank you

Thank you!

Hi Laura. The lecture you delivered is fantastic. I am into Quality Analyst role for the last eight years. Am working on a Business-to-Business e-commerce site right now. Would appreciate if you guide me how I enter BA field. My communication skills are good. I have helped our project on-shore BAs to write user stories. I would really be grateful if you answer in as descriptive manner as possible :) :)

I've been taking those steps without knowing about It 😲

wow, very cool !

Safe and sound

Thank you I follow these methods for becoming an BA

Hey! thanks for the time you took to share your experience, I am in Colombia and as soon as I knew about this kind of role I got interested to it, I haven't been able to find a job on this role, because here usually companies ask for a certification or experience, is there any certification you can share?

Hello I see your video in my RU-vid suggestions. Thank you for posting.

I will have an interview as a Junior Business Analyst on a Consultant, wish me luck, Laura! Thank you for the information.

It's one of my dream job years ago. But I lack communication skills very much, so I hit a brick wall. 😅

Thanks very much for elaboration around business analysis. I am new to the role and trying to understand the RnR of it and how can I help my team. interested to hear more from you.

very good video

Taking Notes, Problem Solving , Asking Questions!!

I am trying to take that first step as well. I have software development background followed by formal education in Finance and then currently employed as a QA Lead but I would like to get on the functional side of things leveraging my education to serve as a BA. I hope I have the right mix for it. Only problem being my QA Lead role domain is not on the Financial Services side which makes getting in without experience a little more challenging.

Well yeah, that's what we expected

So I’m a fairly young single parent and 6 months ago I decided I wanted to start pushing for these respectable careers to care for my kids. I do not have any kind of college degree, however, I enjoy seeing how things work and flow! Currently I do order entry and counter sales for a company and I am working on creating a way to better plan our truck drivers day ahead of time to improve efficiency! I believe this would be a good career for me! Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe by creating this program would be a step in becoming a business analyst?

I am a Mechanical Engineer. I wish to start my career as a Business Analyst,

Thank you for the insightful video Laura. Is it okay to get BA certifications without BA experience? I'm presently studying MBA in Dublin, I have over 4 years working experience in Business Development but want to change to a BA career. Which certification would you advise to get first? ECBA, CCBA or CBAP?

Where I work, I'm just a secretary and I've been passed up for a promotion to an analyst for years. I'm almost done with my bachelor's degree so I have all the basic MQs. I've also been pushing management to let me do more analytical things for them until now, I'm doing more analysis than any of the analysts working there. I took extra classes at Udemy to learn business analysis, Microsoft Viso, SharePoint, and lots and lots of Excel. Now, they think I'm a programmer because I can make formulas in Excel and do things in SharePoint that they think only a programmer should do. So, again, I'm feeling that after all my hard work, I will still be denied an opportunity for promotion. And believe it or not, I work in a public sector job for the State of California where this kind of thing is not supposed to happen. I realize now I have to work in the private sector. How do I break the image that I'm a programmer and get them to realize that I want to be an analyst?

I have discovered today this channel and the web page, it's great, congratulations, it is the bible for the BA :)