Field Change

By Career Advisor

Question: I have graduated in Electronic Eng. Is it possible to
switch field to, let's say, Petroleum related. I am willing to study
further related to that.

Answer: It’s always possible to change fields. You should not feel bogged down by a career the you’re unhappy with. In Engineering it will require an advanced degree in the new field (such as Petroleum Engineering). Before you make this change take some time and really think about your career. You do not want to invest the money and time in acquiring an advanced degree and then find out that you don’t like that field. Another thing to remember is that you may also be required to take an entry level position in your new field which may impact your salary requirements. Good Luck.

Continuing Education at 49

By Career Advisor

Question: At 49 years of age would it be worth my while to finish a Bachelor of
Science degree on line? I am in the telecom industry with an assoc. degree
in electronics and would like to move into an IT career.
Thank You!

Answer: First, 49 is not old and there is no age requirement for learning. Second, because of the melt down in 401K’s and people living longer, most of us (me included) will be working past 65. Even if you do retire at 65, that still gives you 16 years. That’s a long time.

I went back to school at a later age after my time in the Army. In my experience my pay increased by 100% once I graduated with my Bachelor of Science. Would you like to increase your salary by 100% over the next 16 years? Is that worth it? I think so.

It’s not a choke when people say that you can earn a million more dollars over your lifetime with a degree.

HR Advisor in the United Kingdom

By Career Advisor 

Question:

I am hoping to become a HR advisor and I would like to know
all the necessary courses I need to do to become qualified.

I look forward to your response.

Answer:

You should start your research at CIPD.

http://www.cipd.co.uk

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for those involved in the management and development of people. This is from their website.

CIPD qualifications are nationally recognized as a benchmark for professionalism and are a requirement for many HR and learning and development roles. Our qualifications are designed to help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to advance your professional career.

Click here: http://www.cipd.co.uk/qualifications/choose/ to see a list of CIPD Qualifications.

Degree Programs:

Here are some programs for degree options in Human Resource Management.

Aston Business School: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/aston-business-school/programmes/undergraduate/courses/hrm-cp/

The University of Northampton: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/detail/?id=0268

http://www.northampton.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/detail/?id=0268

From IT to business in Health Insurance industry

By Career Advisor 

Question:

I am a software developer currently employed in a large
health insurance firm . I wish to make a transition towards the
business side of industry and many people have suggested to pursue a
masters program for making this transition. I did research a lot but
am not able to find a masters program most applicable for me.
Most of the masters programs are either masters in Finance or
Insurance or health care administration.

An Health insurance firm's line of business doesn’t fit any of the
above. Its neither an Insurance firm as is nor a finance firm. The MBA
in Health care management is more pursued by medical practitioners
looking for a career change and am not sure how much its going to help
me.

The only thing that sounds logical is pursuing a generic MBA program.

Please advice which masters education program that will suit my
situation most.

Answer: It depends on what specific position you want within the Health Insurance Company. Are you looking for Management of the Sales, Management of the I.T. Services, Management of the Financial Services part of the company, etc…

I am sure that there are several career verticals that you can aspire too. Maybe someday culminating in CEO.

A general MBA will make you prepared for all types of opportunities that may become available. A good solid Business Manager that has gone through a rigorous MBA program can be effective in any industry.

While there are MBA’s with a focus on Healthcare Administration I would not recommend them for your situation. The Healthcare Administration may limit you in the number of opportunities that become available through your career.

My advice is to try to get into a well recognized degree program at a top University. This will do more for you in the long run then worrying about a specialized MBA. Good Luck.

IT but not IT

By Career Advisor

Question: 

I am a B.tech 3rd year student of information technology
from a 'not so good' college. almost no practical knowledge is
provided. All stress being on theory. as I was a maths+biology student
in school with really good academics but with very little interface
with computers but got IT as my field of study in engg. My interest is
only in studying the theory part of IT and the coding, programming
part scares me a lot. I want 2 know any career options in IT where I
can be away from coding but still making my career based on what I am
learning in my B.tech. Please advise me on this as i m really worried.

Answer:

You can be a Business Analyst.

 

The term Business Analyst (BA) is used to describe a person who practices the discipline of business analysis. A business analyst or "BA" is responsible for analyzing the business needs of clients to help identify business problems and propose solutions. Within the systems development life cycle domain, the business analyst typically performs a liaison function between the business side of an enterprise and the providers of services to the enterprise. Common alternative titles are business analyst, systems analyst, and functional analyst, although some organizations may differentiate between these titles and corresponding responsibilities.

The International Institute of Business Analysis has the following definition of the role: "A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals." The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) describes common activities, tasks and deliverables of the BA.^[1]

Prerequisites

There is no defined way to become a business analyst. Often the BA has a technical background, whether having worked as a programmer or engineer, or completing a Computer Science degree. Others may move into a BA role from a business role - their status as a subject matter expert and their analytical skills make them suitable for the role. Business analysts may overlap into roles such as project manager or consultant. When focused on specific systems, the term Business Systems Analyst may be used.

A BA does not always work in IT-related projects, as BA skills are often required in marketing and financial roles as well.

The International Institute of Business Analysis provides a certification program for business analysts (Certified Business Analyst Professional or CBAP), as well as providing a body of knowledge for the field (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge or BABOK).

A few consulting companies provide BA training courses and there are some consulting books on the market (UML, workshop facilitating, consultancy, communication skills). Some helpful text books are:

• Customer-Centered Products by Ivy F. Hooks and Kristin A. Farry (Amazon, USA, 2001).
• UML for the IT Business Analyst: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Requirements Gathering by Howard Podeswa,
• Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn and
• Discovering Real Business Requirements for Software Project Success by Robin F. Goldsmith.

BAs work in different industries such as finance, banking, insurance, telecom, utilities, software services, and such. Due to working on projects at a fairly high level of abstractions, BAs can switch between industries. The business domain subject areas BAs may work in include workflow, billing, mediation, provisioning and customer relationship management. The telecom industry has mapped these functional areas in their Telecommunications Operational Map (eTOM) model.

Finally, Business Analysts do not have a predefined and fixed role as they can take a shape in operations (technology architect or project management) scaling, sales planning, strategy devising or even in developmental process. Hence they get a different name for the played role. Even the International Institute of Business Analysis and its associates have had several editions of the roles and responsibilities of a person undertaking the BA role.

Good luck