I do think you can get by as a business analyst without much knowledge of a specific client’s business or technical domain if you have great BA skills.

The thing is, the way to get better as an analyst is to be an analyst, and to do… well… analysis. And that experience and improvement come over time – and over time you’re naturally going to acquire business and technical domain knowledge.

So, I think that the notion that you don’t necessarily have to have domain knowledge skills/knowledge really applies more for experienced/senior analysts who have been around enough other biz/tech environments to have developed relevant knowledge even if it isn’t a perfect match for the business or technology in use for a specific client.

And you’re absolutely right about the hiring practices. Companies certainly seem to see a need for experience in their industries and/or with their technologies if their job postings are any indication.

Again, a seasoned analyst with a wide variety of experiences and a proven track record may be able to skirt around some of those requirements.

I think I’ve said it before somewhere on my blog, but I’ll take any kind of business or technical domain knowledge I can get because – to your point – having it certainly won’t hurt your analysis skills, but you never know when it might come in handy.

1. I’ve read posts by well-meaning business analysts saying that domain experience is irrelevant for business analysts.

The contention is that a good business analyst should be able to pick-up and run with any domain based on their analysis skills. In the end, these BAs asset that all you need is good analytic skills and that a BA with domain experience is less relevant because the domain expertise somehow biases them or makes them less open to improvements or better solutions.

Does domain knowledge make anyone less open to better solutions? I don’t think so. My opinion is more in-line with yours in the sense that, I will prefer to a hire a BA with domain expertise than one without (assuming that they’re equal in the other three (3) quadrants).

The employment market or hiring managers are folloing the domain expertise required path in a lot of job postings anyway.

I’m refreshed to read that your views are similar to those I’ve published.

What do you say?

Thanks