Jr. BA seeks advice
This isn't the typical "hate my job" post. On the contrary, I love my job. I'm a business analyst working as part of the product management team for a cutting edge Web 2.0 startup, and it's been great. I'd love to do this or something like it for the next 10 years. I'm only considering a career switch because my wife and I are considering a move from ultra-expensive Northern VA to something more affordable. We're expecting our first baby and life is moving faster than the salary I can currently command. Housing is just too high in the area for a young couple on one income, with rent + utlities taking just over half my monthly take-home. My question is this: what kind of career options would be open to me given my experience? If we do decide to move, I need to evaluate locations based on the job market. I'll list my experience very briefly (everything after college is with one company): - business analyst under product management - requirements, documentation, market research, some pure product design, and lots of straight project management mixed in with the product management - editorial role with same company (on hire), bug management - pinch-hitting for customer service and also tech support - intern for USATODAY.com (journalism degree) - resident director in charge of male students and male RAs while in college - middle management (two years between high school and college) Total BA experience: 1.5 years. Total work experience: 4 years I'm willing to try almost anything except sales or marketing, although I've brushed up against both functions enough to understand how they work. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, let me know. Thanks! Unfortunately, your question is too open ended to answer. It all depends on where you go. There are Project Managers and Business Analysts pretty much all over the place and certainly in every city with good sized companies in it. Will you find that in Brookings, SD? Probably not but the cost of living is next to nothing compared to where you come from. So, start with narrowing down where you'd like to be, then look up the local newspaper on line and use Monster and similar services to check out the job prospects.
Tess
Thanks Tess, that's good feedback. I can narrow it a little bit. I have a journalism degree, and I feel like most of my value to my current company comes from being there from day 1 and knowing it inside out. Without any kind of business degree, how well does that experience translate to another PM job? I'm questioning my lateral mobility and value to a different company. That's more of a concern than "omg where do I want to live?" :) Again, without knowing what company we're talking about, we can't answer that, but in general terms, a Business Analyst with 1.5 years of experience is a Junior/Entry-level position. 4 years overall work experience is of course 4 years better than none, but is still in the entry-level/just approaching full worker bee stage. Some companies/hiring managers will have issues over the major of your degree because you don't have much other background to off set it, some won't. If you were in Brookings, SD and they really wanted a Business Analyst, they may be much more willing to take a chance on you than Chase in NYC.
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