What Skills Do I Need as a Technical Business Analyst?

To become a successful technical business analyst, you will first need solid skills in communication and organization. A business analyst career may not necessarily require detailed technical skills such as computer programming, but you will need a good understanding of how various types of computer systems operate. Many technical business analyst jobs entail examining a company's existing problems with information management and then working with a team of software developers to formulate the best solutions. While you may not be required to write source code yourself, you will need a working vocabulary of software architecture and good analytical skills for determining the right system that will best meet specific objectives.

Spoken and written communication skills are among the most important requirements for a technical business analyst. You will need to write clear and concise reports regarding areas that need to be addressed with changes to an organization's existing technology. In addition to written material, the ability to formulate charts and graphs with office software can be helpful for illustrating your ideas to development teams. Creative problem solving and the ability to delegate tasks are also valued skills for many business analyst positions. Good interpersonal people skills will enable you to work with technical project teams that bring a wide range of knowledge areas to a given work environment.

A qualified technical business analyst has a good deal of knowledge concerning options for software packages and hardware installations. Your analytical skills will come in handy when determining the pros and cons of having a custom set of programs written from scratch. Many businesses implement this option because it allows employees to enter and track industry-specific data with a greater amount of efficiency. When considering this software alternative, you will often be required to calculate the potential cost effectiveness and increased rates of worker productivity. This area of a business analyst job usually requires mathematical skills in order to generate these kinds of statistical projections of risk versus reward.

You will normally need to complete an undergraduate college degree to qualify for most entry-level technical business analyst jobs. Some analysts move into the profession after earning this credential in computer science or software engineering. Others may learn the requisite technology skills after completing a degree in business administration. Additional useful skills from these areas of study include project management, technical writing, data architecture modeling, and progress tracking.