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I’m pretty new here. Many readers post their situation or desire to migrate from their current position to an exclusive BA position. Im one of those - currently a “financial” business analyst (budget, forecast, report and some business process modeling and optimization). Its a very unprofessional environment, no formal PM pr BA, im on my own. As so my members here im making efforts towards a BA position.

I read that for interview its a good idea to have an artifact portfolio.

• What (contents) makes a good artifact portfolio?
  • I’m brainstorming what I can use from my current tool set but what else could I use or generate on my own time? Im willing to do homework or mock use cases for ex..
• What would be good to have present in a portfolio from anyone’s experience here?
• Also, should there be a concern of too many certificates? A year or so ago I started taking classes for a PM certificate from UC Extension, currently I want to undertake the BA equivalent certificate program? Should I dump the PM program in pursuit of the BA program?  Would having both certs present on a resume be too much?

I've found that its my experience and skills that get me interviews (and therefore more work), and the certifications take second-place.  While I can certainly recall times when someone has said "oh, you've studied XYZ", the XYZ doesnt normally clinch the deal.  But, with that said, I'm always looking to keep my skills fresh, with or without a formal certification.

I dont think you should be too concerned about too many certificates, but it is important to bring the studies to completion.  You mention a PM certificate but it sounds like you havent finished it yet; perhaps you wrap that up before embarking on the BA certificate, otherwise all the work is for naught if you dont conclude.  If you read the recent article on this Modern Analyst website (Top 10 Key BA Trends for 2012), you will see that a trend for last year and this year (2012) is to be multi-skilled, therefore, having both BA & PM should serve you well.

Donald

Donald, Yes, im finding that with a family and life, it can be challenging to bring certifications to a close, but this is important to me as I yearn for the formalities, for the theory and just as a lot of it can be dry (I was warned about the PMBOK!!!),  a lot of it is equally intriguing to me.