What exactly is an IT analyst?

[JS80]

Your description is of a Business Analyst. Project managers manage timeline, budget and resources. Often times PMs and BAs are the same person, but the role is different.

I suppose the problem is that people don't understand the industry terms and misuse them or their individual company calls the position whatever the hell they want (which is what everyone does), so the naming is different between each company and sometimes even teams.

Yup. Agree. I think for many companies you don't need a dedicated PM to do the traditional PM things so they end up being a PM+BA in one to maximize productivity.

 

[OogyWaWa]

Interesting. At the places I've worked it was always Associate(junior) -> Technician -> Analyst(senior)/Administrator ->

Well - actually at the last place it was
Assocaite -> Techncian -> Manager - Director -> CIO
_______________________Administrator ^

Yah, it's different for every place, but by the looks of that totem pole it must have been a relatively small company. Managers almost never do hard technical work in a large firm.

I've heard Senior analyst before, which could refer to what it implies, but never seen the first specific organization you listed. I suppose this is another small-ish firm thing. I could see them having less contractors and calling the hourly/low levels associates/technicians.

Also, some companies refer to all employees as associates (walmart), which totally throws things off.

Either way, there are industry "standards" for this kind of thing, but the problem is no one follows standards

 

[JS80]

while this certainly is the case for most full-time IT employees, someone without the "analyst" title can certainly do (and often does) the same thing (get requirements, study existing systems, etc.

Listen people, the analyst is almost always a simple way to express pay-grade.

Analyst(junior)->Associate(senior)->VP(manager)->director->senior director->(possibly more levels)->CIO/CTO, etc.


Also, I agree the naming is completely stupid. If you're not analyzing something, you're probably not doing your job (regardless of job name)

Analyst -> Senior -> Manager -> Director -> VP -> C-level

 

[OogyWaWa]

Analyst -> Senior -> Manager -> Director -> VP -> C-level

yah, sorry, i was listing a finance sector thing. I don't know why, but the finance industry has completely retarded names for pay/responsibility levels. the order i listed is correct though

 

[FearoftheNight]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the great responses. Currently I have my bachelors in science in psychology and I have some background in languages Chinese/Spanish if that matters and I've been for the past few months with an IT/Computer Information System company on the support staff working with enterprise payroll/workforce systems. I've learned a bit of SQL and I'd like to do some prep work on the side to move on to a different position like I indicated in the OP. What kind of study or certificate would be most conducive to this goal? thanks!

 

[OogyWaWa]

Yup. Agree. I think for many companies you don't need a dedicated PM to do the traditional PM things so they end up being a PM+BA in one to maximize productivity.

yah, I suppose there are two schools of thought. You have a PM+BA which handles an entire project(s) from scheduling, scoping, technical design, etc. The problem is that its difficult to focus on one task or multiple projects (if they are big).

When you use separate BA's and PMs, they can focus on multiple projects and specific tasks. If the BA needs more resources he tells the PM to work it out. PM adjusts schedules, deadlines, etc. BA(s) adjust to deadlines and get their resources.

The people you really want though is someone who works in the business unit, but came from IT. Worked with a BU guy once who was a BA on my team before. Needless to say, his IT projects always went smoothly and on-time. It's nice when people know what they want

 

[OogyWaWa]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the great responses. Currently I have my bachelors in science in psychology and I have some background in languages Chinese/Spanish if that matters and I've been for the past few months with an IT/Computer Information System company on the support staff working with enterprise payroll/workforce systems. I've learned a bit of SQL and I'd like to do some prep work on the side to move on to a different position like I indicated in the OP. What kind of study or certificate would be most conducive to this goal? thanks!

I don't think certs help unless you want to do something highly specific. And even then only "real" vendor specific certs matter (CCNP, RedHat, Teradata/Sybase/DB2, etc.). Don't waste your time with A+/Network+/etc. You just need some more practical skills (programming, sys admin, general troubleshooting, etc.) No matter where you go they are going to have to train you (to some extent), so getting very very specific is not advisable unless you know precisely what you want to do.

With a background in SQL you could learn about DB admin, design, etc. and become a DBA somewhere. At larger firms, DBAs can make well over 100k. You could also try to get on with a RDMS manufacturer and consult or support. Teradata, Sybase, IBM, Microsft, etc.

With a psych degree, you should look into user experience/gui design, you might find it appealing. Check this out: http://www.whatmakesthemclick.net/blog/

 

[Dr. Zaus]

a pile of certs + an MBA = money.

 

[OogyWaWa]

a pile of certs + an MBA = money.

mba can definitely help get more pay. Again, certs only matter if you want to do something highly specific and related to vendor technology. Having a bunch of unix certs is not going to help if you want to use your MBA to manage a windows programming group. although it certainly doesn't hurt. if you want to manage a unix engineering team though, it certainty can..

 

[BoberFett]

while this certainly is the case for most full-time IT employees, someone without the "analyst" title can certainly do (and often does) the same thing (get requirements, study existing systems, etc.

Listen people, the analyst is almost always a simple way to express pay-grade.

Analyst(junior)->Associate(senior)->VP(manager)->director->senior director->(possibly more levels)->CIO/CTO, etc.


Also, I agree the naming is completely stupid. If you're not analyzing something, you're probably not doing your job (regardless of job name)

Not necessarily, there are plenty of IT jobs which are strictly operations, run by the book, and don't really involve a whole lot of judgement.

But really, it just depends on the company and what they want to call things. I've been an IT Director at a small privately held company, which to them meant I was involved in strategic decisions. During my time at the company I reported to various other positions as the org chart changed. I started out reporting to the VP of Operations, then to the CEO, then later to the President until I was downsized and the position eliminated, LOL.

 

[Oyeve]

I call myself Senior IT Support Specialist. Been doing IT crap for 15 years. Made it all the way up to IT Director when the layoffs started hapenning. That was in 2004 and I am now a freaking consultant. Man, I miss the money!

 

[Ns1]

<---- systems analyst (functional)

analyze business processes, ask a lot of questions, write requirements, write FDS's, draw lots and lots of diagrams (flowcharts, fishbone diagrams, etc)

look at existing problems, find new problems/opportunities, think about solutions for said problems/opportunities. this may or may not involve computerized systems (in my current project it does)

I don't deal too much with the IT side of things except to say that "the program needs to be compatible with IE 8.0". That said, I'm under the MIS umbrella.

A business analyst is a specific description of an (industry wide) job function. This person usually sits between a development team and the supported business unit. They define projects, requirements, test cases, sometimes project management, all kinds of fun stuff. The actual tasks vary between team/company, but in general they balance the relationship between IT & Business customers and develop requirements for projects.

yep, that's me

 

[RichUK]

You typically only find a combined role of PM/BA in smaller organisations.

Where I work, in the analysis practice, we have:

Requirements manager: Responsible for scoping and defining the requirements strategy

Business Analyst: Defining business requirements and analysis feeding into the business case. Products include: Outline, high level and detailed business requirements in collaboration with the business, as well requirements traceability matrix, statement of requirements for ITTs and RFPs, etc, etc.

Technical (IT/system) Analyst: Defining functional / non-functional requirements as well as working in collaboration with the design practice to produce the high level and detailed design and build/test practice.

Analyst (junior): Chimp working for either the technical or business analyst (depending on size of the project) and also someone who does my bidding in lieu of a project admin/coordinator.

I wouldn’t say Analysts earn a great deal, although I did have a contract BA working on a previous project I was managing who was charging £500/day and contract technical analyst charging £300/day.

 

[Exterous]

Yah, it's different for every place, but by the looks of that totem pole it must have been a relatively small company. Managers almost never do hard technical work in a large firm.

Either way, there are industry "standards" for this kind of thing, but the problem is no one follows standards

1700 employees but a very (very) small IT group. You're right no one ever seems to follow the standards in the IT title world

The funny thing is that I went from Network Administratorat one company to another company as a Support Analyst and it was a promotion (As I now do everything not just network administration) :hmm: Perhaps I will need to discuss a title change

 

[Rudee]

The only "Analysts" in IT that are well paid are Business Analysts. The Business Analysts in our company earn 6 figure incomes. The other so called Analysts, i.e, support Analysts earn maybe $55k year tops.

 

[Ns1]

The only "Analysts" in IT that are well paid are Business Analysts. The Business Analysts in our company earn 6 figure incomes. The other so called Analysts, i.e, support Analysts earn maybe $55k year tops.

holy shit, what company is this and are you hiring? LOL

 

[Gibson486]

Sounds like it is consulting...

Go to a place. Find stuff that is not perfect (nothing ever is). Make claims that you can improve their process and make life easier. Get hired to do work. Budget is put down for project and split up amongst team. Project Manager (PM) is assigned and does an aggressive schedule so he can maximize profit. Team starts. Discussions happen. PM wants to get involved, so he interrupts work to do a "progress check". PM is oblivious to the fact that he bills at a rate of $200/hr, but he stills hold a 2 hour meeting anyways. PM now notices that the budget is getting smaller and wonders why. PM calls another meeting. It's another progress check...to check on the progress check they had last week. Discussion ensues to see how corners can be cut while still giving the client what he asked for. Team members start arguing, everyone is now getting pissed because the solution is to cut the budget, which translates into team members working for free. Those who refuse to partake are seen as "not team players". Due date is looming...stuff needs to be done "efficiently" (ie done at lowest cost possible). Someone has the bright idea that since entry level person bills at a much lower rate, we can just tell him what to do. They pursue idea. entry level person finishes, but it's not top notch quality because, well, he is an entry level person. Non entry level person fixes bugs and suggests edits. This goes back and forth 5 times. PM sees project is over budget. PM tells everyone that it must be done. Everyone works after hours to be team players. Project is done only a hair over budget, so project is still profitable. Client's process is improved by 2%. Everyone (except the client's workers) is happy until some else comes along and to suggest more "improvements".

Rinse, Wash, Repeat.

That, my friends, is consulting....

 

[RichUK]

Sounds like it is consulting...

Go to a place. Find stuff that is not perfect (nothing ever is). Make claims that you can improve their process and make life easier. Get hired to do work. Budget is put down for project and split up amongst team. Project Manager (PM) is assigned and does an aggressive schedule so he can maximize profit. Team starts. Discussions happen. PM wants to get involved, so he interrupts work to do a "progress check". PM is oblivious to the fact that he bills at a rate of $200/hr, but he stills hold a 2 hour meeting anyways. PM now notices that the budget is getting smaller and wonders why. PM calls another meeting. It's another progress check...to check on the progress check they had last week. Discussion ensues to see how corners can be cut while still giving the client what he asked for. Team members start arguing, everyone is now getting pissed because the solution is to cut the budget, which translates into team members working for free. Those who refuse to partake are seen as "not team players". Due date is looming...stuff needs to be done "efficiently" (ie done at lowest cost possible). Someone has the bright idea that since entry level person bills at a much lower rate, we can just tell him what to do. They pursue idea. entry level person finishes, but it's not top notch quality because, well, he is an entry level person. Non entry level person fixes bugs and suggests edits. This goes back and forth 5 times. PM sees project is over budget. PM tells everyone that it must be done. Everyone works after hours to be team players. Project is done only a hair over budget, so project is still profitable. Client's process is improved by 2%. Everyone (except the client's workers) is happy until some else comes along and to suggest more "improvements".

Rinse, Wash, Repeat.

That, my friends, is consulting....

Assuming this is based on experiences from your past/present employer, it sounds like you have a bunch of retarded/amateur PMs managing projects with no project governance or quality assurance in place.

 

[Ns1]

Assuming this is based on experiences from your past/present employer, it sounds like you have a bunch of retarded/amateur PMs managing projects with no project governance or quality assurance in place.

this.

what gibson described would most certainly not cut it in my workplace.

 

[Gibson486]

Assuming this is based on experiences from your past/present employer, it sounds like you have a bunch of retarded/amateur PMs managing projects with no project governance or quality assurance in place.

I am not going to argue with that

 

[JS80]

this.

what gibson described would most certainly not cut it in my workplace.

Uh yea that may have worked back in the slush money days but I doubt that consulting bill would be paid if someone pulled that shit today.

 

[OogyWaWa]

The only "Analysts" in IT that are well paid are Business Analysts. The Business Analysts in our company earn 6 figure incomes. The other so called Analysts, i.e, support Analysts earn maybe $55k year tops.

it analysts in the finance industry make from $55k-$95k. so, again, depends on the industry and how they are using the word (pay grade or job definition)

 

[timosyy]

My job title is "IT Analyst".

Just means entry-level IT position, typically in a consulting company (think Big 4).

 

[Red Squirrel]

I used to have a job called Network Analyst. We were not allowed to touch anything to do with networks. That was the network guy's job. Go figure. We were server techs. lol

I basically have the same job now but in another department, and they call it Network Admin. I don't get these weird job descriptions that are not consistent with the actual job. It's like calling a mechanic a traffic engineer.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

It's like calling a mechanic a traffic engineer

Shush!

If people figure out that computer hard ware is about as complex as car hard-ware you're screwed!