Next year, I will be 40 years old and I’ve always regretted not getting into the career I longed for so my question is: with me working a full time job, will the program you mentioned above land me a position even though I can only commit to the program part time?

What kind of resume should I be making, and how should I craft it to get the most desirable reaction from potential employers?

Also, how should I answer questions regarding the time since I got my degree and now as well as the few previous one off jobs that I have had related to IT since most of them were just PC refresh or OS migration jobs in which I had a fairly basic role?

As far as Kanban goes, in the DC area no one’s really using it yet. SDLCs being used are all based on geographic location. I bet most Kanban is in the western part of the United States where people aren’t as dumb as here because there are less military people there.

If it takes you a whole year just to learn the basics of C# and after two (2) years of trying to get a job, you manage to get just one (1) interview and then you realize you still can’t do the job within two (2) minutes … You Must Be Doing Something Wrong!

I guess I can get into the details of what you are doing in the next comment/reply I leave for you, hopefully today.

… Did you ever get a chance to read my e-book “The Street Smart Guide To Computer Programmer Careers”?

As much as I love your articles I believe this one is just too vague, I have been trying to get into programming for over 2 years now, and (in the UK) without a degree companies wont even reply to job applications. I did get one interview, but it was obvious within 2 minutes I could not do the job.

To say you can learn about all these languages in 6 months is ridiculous. It took me over a year just to grasp the basics in c#, let alone in all the things you list above (I consider myself well above average intelligence too).

Ask any programmer and they will tell you it takes years to master one language, and even then its a continuous learning process.

I love your site, but think you are sugar coating it a lot when you talk being able to get a job that fast.

Thanks

How do I look for a job as a BA

The best of my experience is with B2B but will consider B2C for a company willing to overlook my limited experience in SEO and social media.

I feel like I’m spinning my wheels in my search and am looking for a more efficient strategy to get interviews and land a position.

Some significant challenges I’m looking to position in the right light are a few recent job hops and the fact that I am now unemployed.

The most significant tenure I have on my resume is with ACDelco from 2004 – 2009 where I deployed ecommerce for their distributors in North Central region. When General Motors conducted large scale layoffs in 2009, including my team, I did a lot of moving around to survive and keep my skills fresh.

An unfortunate gamble I took and lost was in 2011, where I left a position as eCommerce Marketing Manager for ACDelco’s largest distributor to accept a role as Business Intelligence Manager for an auto parts buying group that recruited me.

After accepting this position, it was eliminated within 8 months because the data I was to work with was not reliable.

Data cleansing and normalization at this company was overseen by the Director of Supply Chain and out of my control.

After the Manager of BI position was eliminated, I quickly accepted a sales job with Time Warner Cable Business Class, selling their voice, data and cloud services.

Although this was a huge departure from what I did before, this job was offered to me through a friend, and I accepted it because my mom needed open heart surgery and I had neither the time, nor the mental energy to conduct a full blown job search for a role in B2B ecommerce when I needed to travel back and forth from TX to NW Indiana to visit her in the hospital and arrange for her rehabilitation.

I finally left this role, because quite honestly it was a bad fit and I wasn’t making quota, so I left before I was told to leave.

In spite of what appears to be some messy job hopping on my resume since 2009, the experience I gained since I left ACDelco was enormously valuable and I know I can make a great contribution to the right organization.

I don’t want to keep accepting positions to survive and want a role where I can stay as long as possible. I just need to get in front of the right hiring manager who will have empathy for my history.

I’ll attach my resume. Any direction you can point me in will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Your first step will be to research the industry you are interested in and then pick a Software that you will specialize in.

Then get lots of hands-on experience in all aspects of that software especially in areas like planning, configuration management, installation.

Now, the question for you is: “what enterprise software system” are you interested in specializing in and why?

I am a Business Analyst working in the HR domain. In my current role, I gather requirements to implement HR systems.

I prefer to go the Implementation Functional consultant path than traditional Business Analyst career path.

How do I go about pursuing this?

What you need to do is:

Find a good representation a banking business resume and see what the gap between your resume and that of the model resume is.

Don’t worry about the years of experience … focus on the skills and ask yourself this question … “what can I do to get those skills in the shortest possible time”.

The answer to this question is the solution to your challenge 🙂

In terms of certifications you may look into the IIBA’s CCBA / CBAP or the ISEB in the UK

When I graduated college with a bachelor’s in pre-law I instinctively knew that law school was not for me.

So I took the first entry level job that offered tuition reimbursement. I figured I’d work full-time and earn a generic MBA, until I figured out what I really wanted to commit to.

That entry level job turned into 5 yrs at a Fortune 500 supply chain. I started out as a buyer and gathered all sorts of experience.

I participated in projects ranging from market research, cost analysis, price control, auditing/compliance, best practice implementation, inventory management, and even got to beta-test the purchasing and inventory modules during a major ERP transition.

It basically gave me a chance to work alongside nearly every operational dept (marketing, R&D, corporate finance, exec mgmt, IT both devs and dba’s, logistics, AP, sales, cs, etc.)

Having completed the mba with a 3.8 gpa, I think I’m well suited to finally commit to a career as a business analyst.

My biggest obstacle is that I have absolutely no experience or knowledge with computer programming and coding.

Nearly every online guide I read about becoming a business analysts seem to stem from an IT professional with a hard background in developing, expanding into the role of a BA.

What is the best course of action for someone in my position?

I do have the luxury of going back to school if needed but was wondering if I should just dabble into online certificate courses for computer programming.

Are there any subjects or programs in particular you would recommend?

Any help would be greatly appreciate.

Thanks in advance!