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scmjsd
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Joined: August 6th, 2008, 11:45 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 12th, 2008, 12:30 pm

I've been a business analyst in one guise or another for 6 yrs (trying to move into quant and IB domain now). Because i had expert business knowledge in another business domain i was able to circumvent the developer stage and have never worked solely as a developer. one point worth making, is that in my experience roughly 50% of developers are incapable of building relations with business stakeholders. the role of BA has to a certain extent arisen from that simple fact. BA is more a 'people' job, working and managing multiple stakeholders and elicting requirements. the skills to do this are frequently hard to find amongst developers. the other skill is to communcate to the developer which is widely different from working with the stakeholders. a BA from a developer background will find that bit easy. another point is the variation in the role description. somtimes the BA is really a systems analyst and mainly does technical systems design. on other occasions, like a guy i know at dressdner, who is employed as a BA knows nothing about IT and works solely in the business domain. he resides with the traders and has probably alot of success communicating with the business but struggles with the devloeprs and IT in general.the quant role itself is a funny one. sometimes it seems like its a specialist developer who is his own stakeholder. so the quant could somtimes be viewed as a BA who is an expert in financial engineering with associated maths, c++ and is also the main stakeholder. mmm, anyway that's a view from a BA who wants to be a quant.
 
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Yura
Posts: 1
Joined: February 11th, 2006, 11:28 pm

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 12th, 2008, 1:27 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: scmjsdthe quant role itself is a funny one. sometimes it seems like its a specialist developer who is his own stakeholder. so the quant could somtimes be viewed as a BA who is an expert in financial engineering with associated maths, c++ and is also the main stakeholder. mmm, anyway that's a view from a BA who wants to be a quant.So, why do you want to be in a funny role? What attracts you?
 
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KackToodles
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Joined: August 28th, 2005, 10:46 pm

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 12th, 2008, 4:15 pm

business analysts are those why who wear white shirts and ties but never a jacket when they program.
 
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jomni
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Joined: January 26th, 2005, 11:36 pm

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 15th, 2008, 1:06 am

I had a two year stint with a Financial Software Firm.BA's are the ones doing systems implementations making sure they fit the nees of the Business Users (Banks).Some big banks also have BA counterparts who deal with the Software providers and internal parties.
Last edited by jomni on September 14th, 2008, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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scmjsd
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Joined: August 6th, 2008, 11:45 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 15th, 2008, 12:41 pm

the reason why i want to get away from being a BA is multi-fold. i would like to do something more intellectually demanding, BA work can be complicated but only in a broad sense not in depth. mind you my business domain has been city insurance/reinsurance and construction so perhaps financial markets software is more challenging. also i want to do something nearer to and impacting the front office, insurance and construction 'front office' is not IT critical.as i'm on a MFE, i relish the prospect to try hard and see how well i can do. as an undergrad i was pretty much mainly interesting in the 'party scene'. last but not least quants substantially more than BAs, and i'd like to able to afford a family in london which is not possible on my current salary.
 
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TraderJoe
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Joined: February 1st, 2005, 11:21 pm

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 15th, 2008, 12:46 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: scmjsd as i'm on a MFE, i relish the prospect to try hard and see how well i can do. as an undergrad i was pretty much mainly interesting in the 'party scene'. last but not least quants substantially more than BAs, and i'd like to able to afford a family in london which is not possible on my current salary.I doubt a "quant" with an mfe will make more than a BA with an mba. Party on Wayne !!!
 
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scmjsd
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Joined: August 6th, 2008, 11:45 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

September 15th, 2008, 1:00 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: TraderJoeQuoteOriginally posted by: scmjsd as i'm on a MFE, i relish the prospect to try hard and see how well i can do. as an undergrad i was pretty much mainly interesting in the 'party scene'. last but not least quants substantially more than BAs, and i'd like to able to afford a family in london which is not possible on my current salary.I doubt a "quant" with an mfe will make more than a BA with an mba. Party on Wayne !!!That film is scheiss.
 
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alexkilaz
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Joined: April 30th, 2011, 6:59 pm

What's a Business Analyst ?

May 1st, 2011, 7:52 pm

Business Analysts or Business Unit Analysts are similiar to product controllers as in a traders slavehttp://www.productcontrollers.com
 
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AbhiJ
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Joined: August 5th, 2008, 11:29 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

May 2nd, 2011, 7:11 am

There is an opportunity for cool work as a BA. They are neither code monkeys nor stakeholders. Developers don't like interacting with stakeholders for long period of time, they are happy at their desks. Stakeholders are busy people and not interested in the minute details. BA don't have any incentive for hiding anything or being partial. They can explain business why the idea is technically demanding and cannot be implemented and explain to the developers why this idea though logical doesnot make business sense. There is also the scope of BAs to become the tough nut regulator/risk management type.
 
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capafan2
Posts: 1
Joined: June 20th, 2009, 11:26 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

May 2nd, 2011, 12:45 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJThere is an opportunity for cool work as a BA. They are neither code monkeys nor stakeholders. Developers don't like interacting with stakeholders for long period of time, they are happy at their desks. Stakeholders are busy people and not interested in the minute details. BA don't have any incentive for hiding anything or being partial. They can explain business why the idea is technically demanding and cannot be implemented and explain to the developers why this idea though logical doesnot make business sense. There is also the scope of BAs to become the tough nut regulator/risk management type.These days a lot of H4 visa housewives are taking 1 month testing courses for $700 to $1000 and branding themselves as Business Analyst. BA is a cool term for being a TESTER. Just like being an ARCHITECT is cooler than being a PROGRAMMER. Thus when someone calls themselves a BA be very careful, chances are they are bored housewives in need for H1b, or someone which a non-tech background who came to the USA to get some MBA from a no name institute and could not land a job. So they took this $700 courses and became a tester and thought having a combination of MBA and Testing automatically makes one a BA. One such person actually had the cheek to ask me why I do not try to become a BA once. There was no way to respond to that without sounding rude.
Last edited by capafan2 on May 1st, 2011, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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AbhiJ
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Joined: August 5th, 2008, 11:29 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

May 4th, 2011, 8:34 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: capafan2QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJThere is an opportunity for cool work as a BA. They are neither code monkeys nor stakeholders. Developers don't like interacting with stakeholders for long period of time, they are happy at their desks. Stakeholders are busy people and not interested in the minute details. BA don't have any incentive for hiding anything or being partial. They can explain business why the idea is technically demanding and cannot be implemented and explain to the developers why this idea though logical doesnot make business sense. There is also the scope of BAs to become the tough nut regulator/risk management type.These days a lot of H4 visa housewives are taking 1 month testing courses for $700 to $1000 and branding themselves as Business Analyst. BA is a cool term for being a TESTER. Just like being an ARCHITECT is cooler than being a PROGRAMMER. Thus when someone calls themselves a BA be very careful, chances are they are bored housewives in need for H1b, or someone which a non-tech background who came to the USA to get some MBA from a no name institute and could not land a job. So they took this $700 courses and became a tester and thought having a combination of MBA and Testing automatically makes one a BA. One such person actually had the cheek to ask me why I do not try to become a BA once. There was no way to respond to that without sounding rude.Sounds like you had a poor experience dealing with BAs. The point made was applicable to finance and the possibilities given the current regulatory environment. Lots of starts, do program however thats not what they specialise in. Don't you think finance needs people with cross functional knowledge, economic intuition, and the position to get their point across.
Last edited by AbhiJ on May 3rd, 2011, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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capafan2
Posts: 1
Joined: June 20th, 2009, 11:26 am

What's a Business Analyst ?

May 4th, 2011, 2:45 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJQuoteOriginally posted by: capafan2QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJThere is an opportunity for cool work as a BA. They are neither code monkeys nor stakeholders. Developers don't like interacting with stakeholders for long period of time, they are happy at their desks. Stakeholders are busy people and not interested in the minute details. BA don't have any incentive for hiding anything or being partial. They can explain business why the idea is technically demanding and cannot be implemented and explain to the developers why this idea though logical doesnot make business sense. There is also the scope of BAs to become the tough nut regulator/risk management type.These days a lot of H4 visa housewives are taking 1 month testing courses for $700 to $1000 and branding themselves as Business Analyst. BA is a cool term for being a TESTER. Just like being an ARCHITECT is cooler than being a PROGRAMMER. Thus when someone calls themselves a BA be very careful, chances are they are bored housewives in need for H1b, or someone which a non-tech background who came to the USA to get some MBA from a no name institute and could not land a job. So they took this $700 courses and became a tester and thought having a combination of MBA and Testing automatically makes one a BA. One such person actually had the cheek to ask me why I do not try to become a BA once. There was no way to respond to that without sounding rude.Sounds like you had a poor experience dealing with BAs. The point made was applicable to finance and the possibilities given the current regulatory environment. Lots of starts, do program however thats not what they specialise in. Don't you think finance needs people with cross functional knowledge, economic intuition, and the position to get their point across.Absolutely agree! I am not discounting the role of BA's. They are very very important in their proper form. My point is these days its a way to glorify QA staff. Just like programmers who are ashamed of programming call themselves archtiects, QA's who are ashamed of their trade pander as BA's. And BTW I was talking about Finance and the Finance industry only. In other industries there is a lesser need to pump oneself up by glorifying ones title.