Hi folks,

I am so glad I stumbled upon this website and thought perhaps some of you could give me suggestions of the best way for me to become a BA given my background.   I have a music degree and have been working as a music teacher for a while.  I do not have any experience whatsoever in business nor IT. Recently, I have decided to make a career change and have been thinking about becoming a business analyst or financial analyst.

My question is given my background, what would be the best way for me to become a BA?  I am struggling to determine whether getting certification to BA is the way to go or get an MBA in Decision and Information Science at a local university.  How do the two different ways determine the prospect of finding a job at a good company? 

Much appreciated if anyone could provide some insights.  Thanks.

Hi Adrian,

Thank you very much for your input.  To answer your question, I have always been interested in business and finance although my profession is music.  The only regret that I have about my career path is that I did not make the decision sooner to get into business/finance.  I am very interested in how the financial world works and how business processes work (The first thing I do every morning is read the financial news and the stock and bond markets, intead of listening to classical music!).  I am very people-oriented and communicate well with people, given my education background.  I can also be analytical since I enjoy music theory very much.  Therefore, I think I may have the qualities of making a good BA or FA.

The reason why I am thinking of getting an MBA is because I do not think without a degree in finance or business, I would not be able to find a job in either finance nor business analysis.  Furthermore, studying full-time would allow me intership with a company, which will help me to gain some experience and perhaps transforming the temp position to a permanent one.  What is your take on this?

I have considered of attending the IIBA chapter meetings in my area and I will do it asap.  Thank you for the great idea of leveraging my educational background with school district, I am also thinking of perhaps working for the governments or the non-profit organisation.

Appreciatively,

Jason

Adrian,

Thanks for more thoughts on the best way for me to go about it.  Would you recommend getting an MBA in Decision and Information Science or get an MBA with any focus as long as I take the BA courses at a training institute?   I am wondering because I also have interest in Finance and thought maybe MBA in Finance plus the BA courses would allow me to kill two birds with one stone.  Perhaps I could get myself into Financial System Analysis in the future.

I really appreciate your help.  This is a great place for people like me to want to know more about BA.  I definitely would refer friends who are interested in becoming a BA to this place. 

Jason