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Try to take on some BA-type responsibilities in your current role: requirements gathering, documentation, budget/resource estimation, project planning, etc.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's been my experience that the best business analysts come from a business background, then learn the IT side. I have seen many cases where the IT professional doesn't understand the business and has a hard time, resulting in systems that are hard to use, with vulnerabilities because they didn't know how people do their work and didn't ask the right questions.
It's really hard to make this transition, as the skills don't translate that well.
Customer Service ( Working with people)
Basic Computer troubleshooting and advanced
Learned the system inside and out
General IT Understanding and Business side
I also made documentations of any new issues I never resolved before.
etc.
Could you make the jump? Of course. Will you enjoy it? Who knows. None of us here on the internet know anything about you let alone have the knowledge to say yes or no about a particular job role. If there is a job posting, read about the posting and see if you have the required skills. Also, talk with some BAs already in your organization to see what they do day to day. This will help you get an understanding of what will be asked of you.
Customer Service ( Working with people)
Basic Computer troubleshooting and advanced
Learned the system inside and out
General IT Understanding and Business side
I also made documentations of any new issues I never resolved before.
etc.
Most of those don't translate well. An understanding of the business and general IT understanding is helpful though. The large piece that's missing is the analytical part. If I sit one of our IT techs at a desk with a set of data and ask them to give me some insight from it, they'd be lost. So, if you have any opportunity to do some analysis that reports something, tracks something, or otherwise uses data to show something that hasn't been shown, try that on for size. You can start out with just using Excel (I assume you have Excel at work).
And it wouldn't hurt to show interest in what the BA team at your org does (I'm assuming you have a BA team) and what tools they use to do it. ANd be ready to answer the basic questions, such as what interests you about this field?
You will definitely need transferable skills. Just look for titles that specifically focus on the IT field such as IT Business Analyst, Business Systems Analyst, Systems Analyst, etc. and then look at what they require. You'll just have to really pay attention to the job descriptions because companies tend to use these titles loosely. For example:
OP you can make the transition, it just depends on the kind of worker\tech you are. If you prefer to be locked away in your office\cube and only want to be bothered when you need to fix something, then this role is not for you. If you enjoy getting out there and talking to people (LOTS of meetings) and finding ways to improve how people work, you may really enjoy it.
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