Business Analyst Roles:

There are many types of roles that are required of a modern Analyst. It depends greatly on the type of industry you are in, but some fundamental aspects remain. Let's break the term Business Analyst down for a second. The term Business implies the goal of making money. But there are many types of organizations that are in business not just to make money. Take non-profit organizations or community groups for example. And Analyst means a person who analyzes something. So some people may argue that a better term for a Business Analyst is a "Organization Analyst". The most key roles for a Analyst include:

Superior attention to detail
Great interpersonal skills
Excellent communication both written and verbal
Understanding of the company's business practices and familiarity with the industry.
You should notice that these skills are not just confined to one type of industry. The main goal of any organization analyst is to define the solution that helps the organization reach its goal; it is that simple. Now days more and more people feel that the Business Analyst is involved in just I.T. solutions. This is not the case. There are many different types of business analysts and they can have varying degrees of responsibility.

Here are just a few of the titles that encompass the role of modern Analyst's.

Business
Systems
Data
Business Systems Analyst
I.T. Business Analyst
Product Development Analyst
This is just a small list of the types of roles that business analysts can occupy. If you are looking to become a business analyst in the I.T. field then you may be required to know software development or understand the structure of how networks are built. A business can be a very integral part of an organizations success or failure. It is not the type of job that you can assume has entry level positions. These types of people are usually experts or have high competency in their field.

There are however courses and certifications that you can receive to help you with credentials. I have done lots of research and have found very few formal business analyst training programs. It is hard to set up programs for roles that experts in a particular field will employ. Although there are some online courses and universities that do offer such course work. The roles of BA's are always changing and will continue to do so. As long as business is going on organizations will need people who know how to analyze what they are doing and help them achieve their main goals. These people are usually very well compensated for what they know and many can earn over 100k/year. There is no standard work week for a business analyst as many work way over 40 hours. These people sometimes have the fair of the organization in their hands and it can be very pressure driven.