Now on the serious side. Ok you’ve finished uni and have gained employment in an office job in your career path or at least something interesting. What to do next?

Whether you are in your desired role or not, the process of developing yourself has not finished, in fact you are probably less than half-way there despite your recent three years at university.

I recommend finding a professional organisation for your industry if one exists. Becoming a member of a professional society can do a number of things for your career. First of all, you can get recognised in your profession and commence your path to become a certified professional. It allows you to come into contact with peers in your industry. Thirdly, you are then more aware of continuous education opportunities.

While it’s great to have a degree, so do most people in professional employment. Getting certified, taking on further studies and creating networks will help you excel much faster than your average graduate.

Once I graduated, I joined the Australian Computer Society (ACS). Due to the degree I studied, I was able to get recognition straight away. I became a certified technologist and ICT practitioner. As long as I continue to invest 20 hours each year in my personal development, I will eventually be granted the title of ‘professional’. In this time, I’ve become aware of what types of work exist in my industry and have attending interesting lectures.

A professional isn’t automatically a professional just because he/she was able to pass all the units in that course and receive a degree. Having an external body recognise your industry qualifications compliments those letters that appear on your business card after your name.

In my last year of studies, I was so desperate to have a post-student life that I didn’t contemplate going back, not until I had spent a few years in the workforce.

After working in the public service for 15 months, I’m still unsure of when to pursue further formal education. I have been told that it’s best to work for a few years as a career path will become clearer once I have some industry experience. This makes sense as then I’ll be able to decide whether I’d like to specialise in one area or study a new stream altogether. It also allows me to explore what options are available to study while I work.

At this point in time, I’m not sure what area of studies I’d like to pursue. One interest is to learn more about accounting and ensure I have financial knowledge to complement what I’ve already learned. It’s known that once you get to the managerial level of ICT, budgets and cost come in to play much more. Being financially literate is an advantage when justifying expenditure and conveying ideas. The only issue with studying accounting is that I may be planning too far ahead.

So the other study streams I think are plausible would be to pursue project management or business analysis courses. While both are expensive, they would be a step in the right direction. Prine2 or PMP courses would be great to have under my belt. Similarly, specific courses relating to business requirements and business analysis would put me in good stead also.

I’ve seen people complete their Bachelor’s and post grad diplomas all at once before entering the workforce as a graduate. While this would be desirable, I didn’t have any fuel left in me to continue studying at the end of my degree.

I hope to check back in a year’s time to see how I feel about it then. Maybe I’ll have some courses under my belt by then. Here’s hoping.

The first thought that came to mind was “I don’t have a vocation, I’m not a teacher and not a nurse” so I asked if he meant what’s the motto I live by.

It was then established that neither of us had a clear grasp on the word “vocation”. One of us thought that vocation meant your occupation or career aspirations while the other thought it meant some sort of principled attitude to life.

So the reasoning behind the question was that besides our occupation, there isn’t much else that we contribute to during our lives. I made the comment that when we die, nobody stands up and remarks at how good you could code in SQL, implying that our jobs are of minor importance in the grand scheme of things.

Our current job is just one aspect of our lives but it doesn’t define us as a human being. That’s not where we have our biggest impact on humanity (for most of us at least).

This is what my friend wrote on the matter:

I think an occupation can fall into 3 categories: a Job ( lil satisfaction) a Carear ( career improvement and life fulfillment until retirement) and then your vocation (the activity that is your birthright and something you were born to do, complete life fulfillment)

I’ll finish with a quote on vocation that I found on the web:

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

-Viktor E. Frankl

The purpose of this blog was to document the concepts I was learning towards the end of my University degree.

Obviously this hasn’t happened but it’s never too late to get things started. As I have other internet profiles of a more social nature, I’d like to turn this blog into a repository of the topics that are of a more professional nature.

Without further ado, I’d like to kick off a series of BA related posts by starting with my enthusiasm for the job title.

So at University, I was first introduced to the position of Business Analyst. “You’ll tell the IT programmers what to do”. This is what some of the lecturers would tell us. There was a gap between the business and IT areas of an organisation. This barrier was perhaps a communication issue or even a cultural issue.

We were told we’d be the problem solvers in the organisation. Understanding the business needs while also being familiar with the technology and its limitations. It was a good fit for me at the time. I was very interested in IT yet I struggled with programming and preferred learning about business. That’s when it all made sense. I didn’t need to be a programmer to work in the ICT field. I could also study business related units whilst having a specific target industry.

So here I am. Graduated from the Bachelor of Business Informatics. Along the way I’ve acquired an interest for Disaster Recovery Planning, information systems, IT project management and Information Security. I’ve also realised there are areas that I didn’t develop so well such as accounting and cost benefit analysis. I have a few skills, a few interests, the desire to learn more still.

Despite my education, I feel that there is a lot for me to figure out. The career path of Business Analyst isn’t clearly defined. While we have thousands of BAs in Australia, the position hasn’t been around long enough to really understand what the specific streams are and what qualifies you to enter this field.

As I attempt to become a business analyst, I look forward to sharing what I learn along the way.

The other day I realised that out of the seven jobs I have attained in my life only one of them was achieved without networking. I don’t think this reflects badly on nepotism but demonstrates the relevance of networking and establishing relationships with people from all walks of life.

Not all networking needs to be related to careers and ambitious people. You can establish meaningful relationships with people without ever calculating the benefit you can obtain. The jobs I have done in the past came through people I knew directly but every person was known through a different aspect of my life.

The truth is that it is much easier and sensible for organisations to hire people that are trustworthy, well known by someone or recommended to the organisation. Some workplaces even offer a financial reward to employees who bring along someone who is an asset to the organisation.

Tips on how to expand your network

Start at home
Do you know your next door neighbours, chances are they work in a steady job and are in contact with friends who work in different industries. It doesn’t hurt to create good relationships with your neighbours. It makes christmas time more pleasant and it can avoid irritating behaviour caused by getting off on the wrong foot.

Know your family
There are relatives we love to be around and others we don’t even know where they live. Nevertheless, the family is the first place to start when needing help in employment. Who else is more concerned about your well being than your immediate and extended family.

Kept in touch with old classmates?
Friends from school go off and do different things. Some succeed before others but by staying in touch with close friends from school, you can always maintain a window of relationships open for the future.

Do you play sport?
Hobbies and leisure activities is the one place that offers the most diversity in people relationships. Whether it’s the dog owners at your local puppy class or the parents at your son’s soccer club, the most interesting relationships are formed from this aspect of your life.

Things to remember

While it seems logical to create as many relationships as possible to enhance your career, it should always be done with sincerity and good intentions. The most important aspect of networking is that you should establish links with people that you like and have interests in common. Seeking friends or maintaining links for pure benefit is not a path that will reward you in the long run.

Always smile

If you aren’t already, become sociable. Try to leave a good first impression and any opportunity to meet or be introduced to new people should provoke a sense of excitement and joy. It never hurts to know more people. Creating an solid network isn’t as hard as you may think.