On the job market, it seems demand leans towards Business Analysts with industry expertise/Subject matter experts.

However in my experience and having had a similar background to Jonathan at a large technology consultancy firm, it is my opinion that having technical know-how and Business Analsis skills make the best BA's.

What I mean by this is the BA needs to understand quikcly WHAT needs to be done – to have great soft skills to be a representative of users, to champion their needs while following a relevant process to deal with these needs AND understand the HOW this can come about with technology.

Let's face it, many almost all projects are technology projects, or have a large technology aspect to them. I have worked with BA's that came from the user community originally and although they are excellent, often there needs that extra level of understanding to gain credibility from IT also and when it comes to solution design.

So my blueprint for an ideal Business Analyst is a generalist, who has the technology understanding and knowledge of best practice, particularly at an enterprise level. Like those who have come from technology consultancies etc.

I, as one of these people, beleive that most business problems are identical: whatever systems are involved, whether it is integration or consolidation or whatever of systems it is almost always the same issues, of cost of hardware purchase and maintanance and data.

However as I said at the top of my comment, the market prefers BAs as SME's in that particular strain of that particular field, rather than any BA or technical ability or qualifications.

I have a feeling this is somewhat different in the United States and would like to hear about BA experiences there.

My recent post Business Analyst Book List

I think BA's should be more of a generalist as it will allow them to focus more on the business domain and not 'jump the gun' by already having pre-conceived ideas about the system or solution impeding the BA process to go through its steps. Of course, having the technical experience or background is an advantage as it enables the BA to communicate with the technical domain experts in the later stages of a project. However, I don't think that BA's should be expected to be systems experts themselves as well. Unfortunately (or fortunately), however, it seems as though this is becoming more prevalent. I had a look at a few job sites to check out available BA positions and I was a little surprised by some of them requiring more technical and systems expertise than I expected. I guess the current financial situation is to blame as companies consolidate roles especially in departments usually considered as cost centers like IT.

Honestly, I am still fleshing out how "I" want to define the various "domains" of BA knowledge/skill – which may be non-standard anyway, so you're right I'm not sure that my usage of "domain expert" in this context is the best.

I think I'm pretty close to getting my stuff together, though, and if I can get some time this evening after the kids are down & before I crash, I'll try to post my thoughts.

Re: the differentiation "between between an analyst who focuses on a particular business domain as opposed to one can apply themselves to any domain" in career terms – I think that's part of where David wants to take the conversation. I'd certainly be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on that as well.

Maybe a topic for a round of posts on our respective blogs?

To me, the more useful differentiation is between an analyst who focuses on a particular business domain as opposed to one can apply themselves to any domain. As a freelancer, I would put myself in the latter category but I see there is greater value in becoming more specialised.

In this case you can sit on 'both sides of the fence' by understanding the business requirements but also pointing out pitfalls and opportunities through your domain knowledge.
This article descibes the various breeds of business analyst – http://businessanalystmentor.com/2009/03/17/trend...