Every professional wants to be satisfied with the job they have. When you’re satisfied with your job, you feel more energetic and motivated, and you also tend to perform better. However, you may inevitably find yourself unhappy with your current job and desire a fresh start on a new career path.
Business analyst roles are excellent professional opportunities for those with strong financial and analytical skills, but are those employees happy in their career choice? In this guide, we’ll dive deeper into the career path of a business analyst and their overall job satisfaction rating.
What Is a Business Analyst?
A business analyst helps a company achieve its goals and objectives. With their support, a company can increase employee productivity, implement solutions to any business issues, and ensure they stay on track to meet their goals. Business analysts study and analyze every sector of a business to provide technical solutions that will increase the company’s sales revenue.
Is Business Analysts a Good Career?
A business analyst is a promising career if you want to evaluate and analyze business processes. There are also rewards that this job gives. In addition, you can experience a lot of growth and development because this is an expanding career field.
Business Analysts Satisfaction Rates
According to over 1,000 PayScale reviews, business analysts rated the job 3.8 out of 5 stars.
Professionals like that the field is fast-paced and competitive. There are also a lot of social and work opportunities. Some of the complaints were related to salaries and stressful deadlines.
What Makes Business Analyst Jobs Satisfying?
Understanding the different elements of job satisfaction is important when deciding whether or not to pursue or stay in this profession. Below are some of the benefits of business analysis that make it a satisfying career.
High Potential for Growth
As a business analyst, there’s a lot of potential for career growth if you’ve been in the field for a few years. It gives you a reason to work harder because there are a lot of opportunities waiting. You can specialize in different domains and become a functional analyst or IT business analyst, or even project management. There are lots of opportunities waiting for this profession.
Chance to See the Big Picture
As a business analyst, you can make really important improvements within companies. You get to see the bigger perspective because you’re there from the pre-sales phase until a deal is closed. You’re able to handle client correspondence, client management, and the procurement process.
Provides Fulfillment
Relating to the item above, you can be part of the organization’s change control as a business analyst. As a business analyst, you’ll share the responsibility to collect change requests, evaluate the feasibility of a change, look over the effects of project constraints, and suggest options and other workarounds. These all contribute to the overall success of the company.
Develops Soft Skills
With the work of business analysts, there are many skills developed that you can use not just in the corporate setting but also in other circumstances. For example, you can enhance your critical observation, process management, creativity and delegation skills, communication skills, and conflict resolution. Gaining these crucial skills makes you a valuable professional essential in every organization.
Exposure to Various Domains
There are a lot of domains that you can handle as a business analyst. Moreover, since your work is independent, you can take on different projects in different industries such as information technology, finance, retail, and even government.
Business Analysts Stress and Rewards
Any job has its stress and rewards, regardless of how excellent the compensation is or how high the job satisfaction may be. Below are the things you can expect when you’re on the job.
Business Analysts Stress
- Not enough compensation. There are times that the salary isn’t equal to the amount of effort the professional gives.
- Unexpected challenges. Challenges are normal. However, sometimes clients or companies make unexpected and sudden decisions that challenge you.
- Weekend support work. You must return calls or emails even if it’s the weekend.
- Tight deadlines. The deadlines are stringent without proper consideration of feasibility and time frame.
- Micromanagement. Sometimes, the team head monitors every team decision, and that may feel overwhelming if you feel more comfortable working independently.
Business Analysts Rewards
- Variety of projects. Rather than repeatedly doing the same thing everyday, you’ll get to work on different projects, which keeps the job interesting.
- Growing network. You’ll be collaborating with people across different teams to achieve business goals. This gives you the opportunity to meet top executives too.
- Abundant opportunities. There are endless ways to grow your career as a business analyst. For one thing, you can work within nearly any industry you choose.
- Learn up-to-date technologies. You’ll get to be constantly updated using software like spreadsheet applications, predictive analysis tools, and ETL tools.
- Creativity. Your job requires you to think of solutions, so your creativity and critical thinking are constantly developed and enhanced.
Life as a Business Analysts
A business analyst’s job is fascinating since their work looks a little bit different every day. While the workload may be high with long hours, that doesn’t mean there’s no room for fun and creativity within the work environment. Below are some of the things you can expect as a business analyst.
Business Analysts Work Environment
Business analysts spend most of their day within the company. You’ll work there as someone who gives creative solutions to improve business procedures and increase revenues. There are times that the business analyst needs to travel to gather some business details by themselves. They also meet with different colleagues for some projects they’re currently finishing.
Business Analysts Benefits
Working as a business analyst includes many benefits. Firstly, you get to grow alongside people and learn from them. Another benefit is that it helps you become an expert in the field, which will become a significant factor for your promotion.
Business Analysts Career Growth
The job outlook for business analysts, according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, is 14 percent. When you’ve worked hard over the years, you can become a senior business analyst and maybe even a business architect.
Business Analysts Job Outlook, Salaries, and Career Growth
There’s a lot of room to grow if you’re in this profession. Even though it is very fast-paced and requires you to be flexible, it’s a gratifying job.
Is Business Analyst In Demand?
Yes, a business analyst is in demand. According to BLS, it is projected to grow by 14 percent with 99,400 openings for the position every year. Numerous organizations and businesses need people who can develop solutions by improving current processes.
Business Analysts Salaries
According to ZipRecruiter, business analysts receive an annual salary of $82,343. However, this figure may vary depending on your hiring company, previous employment experience, and location.
High-Paying Business Analyst Jobs
| Job Title | Average Salary |
| Security Engineer | $112,635 |
| Software Engineer | $99,729 |
| Systems Analyst | $82,901 |
| Project Manager | $78,087 |
| Data Analyst | $67,294 |
Security Engineer
- Security Engineer Average Salary: $112,635
A security engineer ensures a space is safe. They are the ones who maintain system boundaries to keep away hackers and other attacks. They make sure that susceptible data is stored securely and determine security requirements. They also write comprehensive reports like assessment-based findings, propositions, and outcomes.
Software Engineer
- Software Engineer Average Salary: $99,729
A software engineer has experience in data science, business intelligence, data products, and business analytics. They should have experience in configuration management and big data technologies. They also recommend scalable solutions for managing large data sets.
As a software engineer, you have to know how to test software development within an agile environment. You’ll also be providing recommendations for consistent improvement. As a software engineer, you have to learn Hive, Map Reduce, Spark, Sqoop, Flume, Kafka, and Pig.
Systems Analyst
- Systems Analyst Average Salary: $82,901
A system analyst is someone who analyzes and defines system problems. They’re in charge of finding solutions and implementing testing standards. You’re also responsible for developing potential solutions by giving workflow proposals. Additionally, you’ll have to validate results by testing programs. Finally, you’ll need to provide support when needed as well.
Project Manager
- Project Manager Average Salary: $78,087
A project manager is someone who defines and identifies objectives and scope. They are tasked with preparing the budget for the resource requirements. They are also the ones who track project costs. In addition, they project project timeframes and updates to the management with any applicable adjustments. Furthermore, they manage contracts with suppliers and vendors.
Data Analyst
- Data Analyst Average Salary: $67,294
A data analyst looks at the business needs and looks at the available data to search for answers. They have to be familiar with technical issues, and they should know how to use statistical techniques through providing reports. As a data analyst, you need to clean and filter the data and propose new processes for company improvement.
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Should I Become a Business Analyst?
Yes, you should become a business analyst vs a data analyst because it’s in demand right now, and there are a lot of opportunities waiting for you. If you have a passion for finance, then becoming a business analyst may be a great move for you. You have to have analytical problem-solving skills, communication skills, and basic programming language skills.
Business Analyst Career Change FAQ
There are numerous career opportunities available for business analysts. These professionals can work as data scientists, project managers or specialize as IT business analysts.
No, business analysis is not a dying career. On the contrary, it’s projected to grow 14% within the next decade.
There are a lot of reasons to become a business analyst. One of which is that there’s a lot of career growth that can happen. When you can also work in different fields, there are a lot of opportunities waiting for you.
The next move is to apply for a higher position. You can either apply for a senior business analyst or a project manager role. The critical factor to consider is your experience and the knowledge you’ve gained as that will determine if you are ready for the next step.
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