IT Business Analyst - Likely Interview Questions

[Iggle Piggle]

Looking at an IT Business Analyst role - anyone with experience applying or recruiting for similar able to list questions I can expect in interview, and/or any tips or suggested readings?

Mods - apologies if this should be in Advice Central.

[Kieron]

I've interviewed people for a BA role in my organisation, rather than typing the questions out, have at some typical questions here -
https://www.roberthalf.com.au/job-in...view-questions
I don't agree with #6 in that list though, BA roles are non technical by nature and a sensible organisation would only allow DB devs to work inside databases.

You could also be asked about your knowledge of project management methodologies, ie waterfall, Agile.

Try googling interview questions for business analyst and you'll get more mate.

[cs123]

Originally Posted by Kieron

I don't agree with #6 in that list though, BA roles are non technical by nature and a sensible organisation would only allow DB devs to work inside databases.

A good application DBA has pretty good business acumen. They are often required to turn a business requirement for "information" into "data".

I would consider it a plus if someone had database experience, at least data modelling.

[FairmontGS]

We expect all our BAs to have SQL skills else how will they do analysis and design solutions in the requirements documents? Cuts to the chase if you can relate easily to code jockeys and the business.

[Kieron]

Question 6 discussed sql query writing skills to integrate databases. Sure if a BA has those skills it's better than not having them but when interviewing, your looking for key skills rather than nice to haves like the ability to write sql,statements.

If they did have those skills, I wouldn't have that person writing sql or coming up with complex schemas, I've been in the industry for 30 years and have seen it all, many hackers out there with 'sql writing skills', I'll include myself in that group nowadays as I moved away from dev/sql in early Ingres versions/Oracle/SQL server around 12 years ago.

Strictly speaking, a DBA is a different role to a DB developer cs123 but in smaller organisations, the roles may be merged.

[cs123]

Originally Posted by Kieron

Strictly speaking, a DBA is a different role to a DB developer cs123 but in smaller organisations, the roles may be merged.

Yeah, I work for Oracle. Know a bit about databases....

[MITCHAY]

A BA needs to understand the business processes and break them down into requirements. It should be abstract from any technical detail in the strictest sense.

If they have the technical skills that is always a bonus.

[BPXR6T]

The best BAs I work with come from the business rather than from a technical background. The best of the best BAs I work with also have good tech skills.

I typically interview tech people but if I were interviewing a BA the kinds of questions I might be asking are around previous project experience. e.g. explain a business problem, explain how the solution solved that business problem. If you couldn't answer those two questions clearly then I would end the interview quickly. I am analysing how you communicate here. A BA has to be able to communicate with the various solution stakeholders including business experts, project managers, architects, and developers. They are all going to question your business requirements at some point. If all good on the communication I would probably dig into the mechanics of the business requirements you delivered on your most recent project. Then chat about any certifications and try to get a handle on your level of technical skill.

Tech skills come last in priorities for me for a BA. That's why we hire solutions architect and software developers. As a BA I want you to be the interface to the business and speak for the business. Help the business solve the problem and communicate that solution to the ones who smell like cheese. I don't want a BA giving me SQL statements. As a developer I would giggle at the funny joke the BA made. If you want to communicate business process models through UML then hey great, but that is about the extent of tech skills I expect usually. If you know what a DMZ is, what SSL is, what a relational data model looks like, what a schema is, etc etc etc then excellent as you will be able to keep pace and contribute in any tech discussions you would likely be included on throughout the project.