Best Careers 2009: Computer Systems Analyst/Architect/Designer

Business Systems Analyst

I spent almost 20 years as an Admin. and Exec. Admin. Asst. (both for Fortune 100 and 500 companies), and as an A/P Administrator (Telecommunications). I have a thirst for learning new software applications and worked on a few Accounting software conversions over the years as well. My analytical skills have been honed over the years attending several User Conferences and Groups for business reporting. I recently was given the opportunity as a Business Systems Analyst for the company I worked for at the time (laid off after 18 months and right before Go Live! on a new ERP system). I found I really enjoy this type of work. Surprisingly the User Training was the best and I received many compliments on my sessions. However, moving forward it is difficult without the formal education or experience required by most companies(4 year degree in CS or 3-7 yrs. experience). Currently I am taking courses for MSC in SQL and have not given up! I hope that companies soon realize that someone with Business Process knowledge and not necessarily the education, can bring a lot to the table in an Implementation.

M. Ammann of OR @ Oct 31, 2009 17:52:26 PM

oh yeahhhh

of @ Oct 01, 2009 11:37:21 AM

oh yeahhhh

of @ Oct 01, 2009 11:37:20 AM

A profession in decline in the US

Almost 30 years in the software industry, first job was submitting punched cards on a Harris RJE station - JCL/FORTRAN. Last position (2008) managing $70 million (revenue) R&D project for Fortune 20 company. What I have observed in the recent years is the drive to reduce costs with cheap labor. The offshoring of jobs in software development by US corporation is epidemic! With the exception of some embedded system work - particularly in a DOD contract situation - the profession of Software Engineer is in rapid decline in the US and I would discourage this as a career option for a young person until Wall Street stops calling the shots.

Business/Systems Analysis may be a better path, and I believe the starting point now would be MS CIS for a new hire.

Lee of MA @ Sep 25, 2009 23:36:20 PM

LOST & Confused & Mislead

Fresh out of undergrad, I of course start job hunting, only to find out that most companies are looking to hire persons with 3 to 5 years working experience. How am I supposed to get any kind experience if companies are only looking to hire professionals. Even entry-level jobs are hard to come by!

So then I ask myself 'Maybe grad school is the way to go?' Say I get my masters...I still wont have work experience! just another degree and no job...

answers? remarks? something from anyone?

Lanham of MD @ Sep 25, 2009 11:27:35 AM

$$$$$

i like $!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sam of GA @ Sep 21, 2009 16:16:59 PM

Offshore may not always be the best deal down the road

As the global markets take off, so will the prices for their services. It's already happening in India. I have a close friend who is a project manager for MasterCard and he tells me the off shoring development companies prices are up 25% over the last couple of years. What goes around comes around. It's the natural cycle of capitalism. I think we will slowly see some of the development jobs stay home.

Brian of MO @ Sep 04, 2009 14:51:38 PM

Longterm View

My Dad went to work for IBM in 1959 and a Customer Engineer. In those days, a person coming out of IBM CE school had the equivalent knowledge of person with an EE. By the time he retired in 1990, the repairs that he used an oscilloscope and soldering iron to complete in 1960 were being done by a secretary with a Philips screwdriver. In 1974, I went off to college. I signed up for a Computer Science class, and quickly discovered that the college was about five years behind the technology curve. The professors were no more up to date. I changed my major to education. Spring forward to 1988. I'm now the Software Development Manager for an IBM Business partner specializing in wholesale distribution. I'm trying to hire programmers to help complete several major projects that we have scheduled. Daily, I'm interviewing people from highly respected colleges that might be great programmers, but have no understanding of business. To make things worse, the technology that they have learned is still a couple years behind what is typically being used in most businesses. I found it easier to hire people with business majors and teach them to write code than to hire programmers that I was going to have to train in business and the current programming technologies.

I think that the colleges have been a big part of the problem in the current IT marketplace. By offering employees that were knowledgeable, but not practical, they've made IT services a commodity, and the offshore programming services are often the lowest bidder. If, as a manager, I have to provide specifications that are excessively detailed because the programmer doesn't understand the business case, I'm going to go the least costly route, because the writing of the specs has been more expensive. The truth of the matter is that with modern tools business programming is complex, but not difficult. The "Ivory Tower" of IT has been deconstructed, and we are on our way to world where applications will be defined instead of programmed, and the people who rule the IT roost will be business experts and not techies.

My advice to anyone looking for a career in IT is to position yourself to be an expert in a business process. The demand for people with technical expertise will continue to decline, but there will always be room for people who understand the relationships and processes that businesses depend on.

Mark of IN @ Sep 04, 2009 09:55:58 AM