When I look around at job ads, I regularly see contract business analyst roles paying sizeable quantities of cash, certainly more than that paid to those who are actually capable of writing code (Hello World doesn't count)I've (reluctantly) worked with plenty of BAs - my estimation of them generally is not high, but they seem to be present everywhere, particularly as so much development is now sent to locations far from London / NY to places where developers are cheap or there is a corporate institutional belief that developers do not know how to PV a bond and therefore should not be allowed anywhere near a trader.Spending all day writing business req and functional req docs with the capacity to write a bit of SQL being deemed 'technical' all seems rather like a 'lose the will to live' concept, but the money sometimes seems quite a bit better than those who actually write code.Is moving from dev to BA in order to pick up more cash essentially a kiss of death for one's career as a dev, or is this the way things are going these days ?

Dude !!!! You got some serious problems. Or you have worked with the really dummy BAs. I would not use vampire tooth to describe their job profile."Spending all day writing business req and functional docs "Can I compare you to the ones who just pass enough Java to write 1+2=3 and live their whole life just copy pasting the codes.Well, insults apart. You do have Quant BAs who get tot write Pricing methodologies, product on-baording strategies, simulation methodologies, regulatory requirements and methdologies, Stress and Back Testing approaches. In short, Methodology BAs.Clearly you have not been approached for those roles. Try to research that possibility.

He probably means BA's in technology. And he is probably right about pay at junior to low-mid-level. You make more money as a programmer when you have rare skills at a given point in time. The reason some BA's make more money is because they have good communication skills, combined with Business Knowledge and some understanding of technology. 3 Skills are more valuable than 1. But then there are BA's who are testers. They don't make more money. BA is very generic term so all this depends on specifics. Is it a suicide. If you are really good programmer yes it is. If you have good communication skills + Math + Programming skills then no way a BA will outdo in the long run. I think you are junior to mid-level. From upper mid-levels to Senior Levels a good programmer as more mobility and also more pay.

Tricky. programming is really good skill to have. But, unless you are working on new projects, developer roles in investment companies can pigeon-hole into maintenance role with nothing tangible to carry over in your CV when you move on. Also, it's very difficult to see a step up for a developer in most financial organizations (ultimately you need to move up to get a pay rise). There are development manager role, which is above development role, but that will take into people/project management than anything else. I see there is a good structured path for BA role. Again, like others said, BA role is very generic, some BA's end up just testing and writing documents. You will have to clarify role description with the recruiter.

Unless you are at some of the major tech companies or have the skill set to be at one: either of BA/Dev have limited upside 200-300k USD at the maximum. Go the MFE/MBA route from a top tier instution if you plan to make some serious money.

QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJUnless you are at some of the major tech companies or have the skill set to be at one: either of BA/Dev have limited upside 200-300k USD at the maximum. Go the MFE/MBA route from a top tier instution if you plan to make some serious money.i'm not trying to defend BAs here, but a 200 - 300K salary is very good compensation. and getting an MFE from a top tier institution is no guarantee that you'll be making more than 200 - 300k/yr, or even that much to begin with. how many directors/MDs etc at banks have MFEs, or an MBA from a top school?

QuoteOriginally posted by: ElysianEagleQuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJUnless you are at some of the major tech companies or have the skill set to be at one: either of BA/Dev have limited upside 200-300k USD at the maximum. Go the MFE/MBA route from a top tier instution if you plan to make some serious money.i'm not trying to defend BAs here, but a 200 - 300K salary is very good compensation. and getting an MFE from a top tier institution is no guarantee that you'll be making more than 200 - 300k/yr, or even that much to begin with. how many directors/MDs etc at banks have MFEs, or an MBA from a top school?good is very relative. What are the work hours? work environment? potential to learn? potential for advancement? a static 200-300K in an inflationary environment may not be so good.

Like capafan2 said before in back office IT and even most of the front office IT, BA does the testing / writing use cases. The very good ones in the front office IT tend to be very good at office politics and make good money, so as the top tier developers.However bear in mind that there are some firms / banks out there who do not need BA at all - they hire graduates who can do anything and everything - dev / BA and support (sometimes it is just level 1 support as traders speak to the developers directly rather than the application support / BA)Also BA does not normally lead to any FO role - at least i did not know anyone who moved over to the trading desk from pure BA background. However there are some decent roles on the trading desks that you need development experiencebut abhij points out one thing, both roles have a limited upside - and the pay can be very similar between the two roles on the top end of the curve I am in the uk and 200 to 300k usd per year sounds a bit too much

I am on the UK and 200k - 300k for a good and senior BA is reasonable, but normally as a contract role. You don't get many but they should be (and often are) good for that amount. They normally have more than just BA skills - e.g. they have done project management, coding, line role - whatever.I agree with AV - if you contract that is what you are worth and rate rises can be tricky.I wouldn't concentrate on the cash, but what do you want to do? If you enjoy coding - stick to coding. If you enjoy the softer/business side of things do that. Simples.

In very general terms BA roles will only work out if you have good communication skills. My experience with BA roles in lending finance (Corporate and Project Finance) is that you could get into a role like that at a junior level if you're friendly and fairly normal socially and have the technical skills and a bit of attention to detail. I'm not sure how much this applies to BA developers, but there is also the factor of front office politics - this is where there is a more intensely political atmosphere than middle office and the attention to detail required for work, which only gets worse as you go up the line - if you're someone that can switch off the panic mode when clients drop you in the brown stuff then BA roles are fine for you.I wouldn't look at salary rates, as you will find that being in the wrong career these days isn't about 40-50 years in a miserable job, in finance it usually means finishing up unemployable within a time frame 3-7 years depending on how bad the choice is. I've been through it and I saw people going through it long before the credit crunch. In the face of 0k per month for 1-2 years (as is happen to many now) I wouldn't read much into salary rates and more into careers than "jobs".Just ask which role you would hire yourself in now and stick with it (similar to a question I used ask myself when doing telesales in uni). Thing is usually screwing up these kind of roles means risking going from employed on XXXk or XXk to unemployed and on 0k p.a. particularly in the current market and necessitating a career change to become employable again. It all depends on the size of the market you leave, but changing career is very, very tough although not impossible.

Now it all depends on you - what do you want to do? and what are you good at? when I was a BA very long time ago it was all about mocking up screen on paint, writing word doc, liasing with internal clients, you may find it interesting and exciting speaking to people everyday but of course the pre-requisite is that your communications skills have to be damn good. Otherwise you may find yourself good at coding and you may stick with that for the rest of your career, for me I find that I only focus on my own project and is easier as I can control my style / the way I code. There are a lot more things that you cannot control as a BA, and you probably find that you are happier as a developer since you only focus on your own stuffIn front office we traders see you as sucking money from our pnl reducing our year end bonuses, and my colleagues will gossip behind you that why we tell IT to do project xyz, it takes IT 50 man hours to do the work and I can do it in 5 hour on excel bla bla bla. So you will need to communicate very well and justify why we need to pay you 5 million for your strategic project + "buy-in" etc for an IT project that you have 5 IT guys in NYC, 5 guys in the UK and 5 more in India and will probably end up in a failure when you moved on to a new role while your project just died as everyone expected and get stuck in the UAT stage for the rest of its lifeMoney is not everything. Btw your pay cheque will look ok but there are better opportunities outside banking / finance that you can make more money anyway. After the income tax you don't get much left at least it applies to me

QuoteOriginally posted by: BankingAnalystthere are better opportunities outside banking / finance that you can make more money anyway. are you suggesting there are BA/dev roles outside of finance paying 200 - 300k/yr? there are some senior engineers at google that get that kind of money perhaps, but i find it hard to believe that that kind of compensation for BA/dev work outside of finance is common.

QuoteOriginally posted by: ElysianEagleQuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJUnless you are at some of the major tech companies or have the skill set to be at one: either of BA/Dev have limited upside 200-300k USD at the maximum. Go the MFE/MBA route from a top tier instution if you plan to make some serious money.i'm not trying to defend BAs here, but a 200 - 300K salary is very good compensation. and getting an MFE from a top tier institution is no guarantee that you'll be making more than 200 - 300k/yr, or even that much to begin with. how many directors/MDs etc at banks have MFEs, or an MBA from a top school?http://poetsandquants.com/2011/06/14/mb ... llion/Note: This compensation doesnot include bonus/stock options etc. The data is backward looking that is it is for MBAs that graduated 20 years ago.As far as MFE is concerned Berkeley MFEs make 150k to start with and if you are good 300-500k after 10 years should be very probable.

QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJQuoteOriginally posted by: ElysianEagleQuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJUnless you are at some of the major tech companies or have the skill set to be at one: either of BA/Dev have limited upside 200-300k USD at the maximum. Go the MFE/MBA route from a top tier instution if you plan to make some serious money.i'm not trying to defend BAs here, but a 200 - 300K salary is very good compensation. and getting an MFE from a top tier institution is no guarantee that you'll be making more than 200 - 300k/yr, or even that much to begin with. how many directors/MDs etc at banks have MFEs, or an MBA from a top school?http://poetsandquants.com/2011/06/14/mb ... llion/Note: This compensation doesnot include bonus/stock options etc. The data is backward looking that is it is for MBAs that graduated 20 years ago.As far as MFE is concerned Berkeley MFEs make 150k to start with and if you are good 300-500k after 10 years should be very probable.Am I missing something. 3 Million is the total pay over 20 years. The median pay after 20 years does not even look remotely interesting or non-IT like 200K. Even after 10 years is very IT-like. Sure some people will make millions but I know more IT guys who made millions becoming Body-Shoppers than Finance guys in my own acquaintance. The top end of IT curve has never looked any different from the top end of finance to me. Just that the folks in IT who make it do not usually enjoy high status or are objects of envy. In the latter case I have to admit Finance shines.

QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJQuoteOriginally posted by: ElysianEagleQuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJUnless you are at some of the major tech companies or have the skill set to be at one: either of BA/Dev have limited upside 200-300k USD at the maximum. Go the MFE/MBA route from a top tier instution if you plan to make some serious money.i'm not trying to defend BAs here, but a 200 - 300K salary is very good compensation. and getting an MFE from a top tier institution is no guarantee that you'll be making more than 200 - 300k/yr, or even that much to begin with. how many directors/MDs etc at banks have MFEs, or an MBA from a top school?http://poetsandquants.com/2011/06/14/mb ... llion/Note: This compensation doesnot include bonus/stock options etc. The data is backward looking that is it is for MBAs that graduated 20 years ago.As far as MFE is concerned Berkeley MFEs make 150k to start with and if you are good 300-500k after 10 years should be very probable.150k where? in NYC that is decent but nothing extraordinary - you can live ok as a single guy in manhattan but don't try raising a family there on that much. considering that a developer with just a bachelor's degree from a no-name school can make that much a few years in, what is the value add of the MFE? there are plenty of IT contractors in the industry charging 120 - 150/hr and that puts them well above the 150k/yr mark.the 300-500k (after 10 yrs) figure that you've cited - is that for someone with an MFE but at the same level (ie, "individual contributor") after 10 yrs? or would that person actually be managing a team? if they're managing a team, then i'd argue that that sort of career trajectory is available to ppl in IT as well, with similar pay if they climb the ladder.finally, you didn't answer the final question, ie, how many directors, MDs and C-level execs have MFEs or top-tier MBAs...