Training courses for Banking and Finance

[gary666]

Well I don't know what line of work you do (PM? BA?) But I'm not finding that at all. I work in a retail bank in a team of 4 contractors, I commute from 50 miles away, one drives from 40 miles away, the other two live here during the week then train/fly back at weekends. i.e. there's a skill shortage.

Back to OP's question, personally I don't thing a qualification would amount to much, better getting your hands dirty and if you can throw a few keywords round in an interview related to what they might need, you should be OK.

Thanks. This was more along the lines of comment I was looking for - and not even any needy posts about being thanked from you either I'm currently in contract as senior BA mostly WFH so commute not really an issue. The approach of getting my hands dirty and learning more on the job seems to be working ok so far was just curious if there was anything else could do as background. Cheers

[gary666]

Not even a thank you for my recommendations?

You had better learn some respect before you enter my world pal. And get rid of that pony tail. You're going into a mans environment with the men. For example, in banking it's common to share urinals. Someone might even piss across you because they are busy and need to get back to the desk. That is what you are getting into. Learn to love it.

Needy much? 😂

[Fronttoback]

Thanks. This was more along the lines of comment I was looking for - and not even any needy posts about being thanked from you either I'm currently in contract as senior BA mostly WFH so commute not really an issue. The approach of getting my hands dirty and learning more on the job seems to be working ok so far was just curious if there was anything else could do as background. Cheers

You say you are a senior BA? - what's that then? The business analyst is a interesting beast. Hard to pin down. "BA" is a broad spectrum of roles in banks. At one end, you have jumped up testers, then failed programmers, then smart grads who know nothing.. And at the other end you have ex-traders, subject matter experts, etc. Where do you see yourself on that spectrum?

A useful (and rare) business analyst in a bank will be able to talk the lingo to the business - and if you are talking IB that subject matter can be extremely complex. Not many BAs can handle that. A few developers can- that's me. I don't deal with BAs, I deal with the business directly and explain it to the BA later so they can write test cases for me, which they will execute, many times. It ain't glamorous pal. I have to do this because 9/10 times if I rely on the BA it backfires due to lack of analysis skills. And this is common knowledge amongst the clued up. The common BA is a fact gatherer really. So just brush up your Q+A style and your JIRA skills.

A technical BA will be doing interfaces between systems. So, working out what a piece of data means in one system and how it maps into the other system. Is that your bag? Or are you into "stake holder management" and all that waffly poo?

[MrMarkyMark]

You say you are a senior BA? - what's that then? The business analyst is a interesting beast. Hard to pin down. "BA" is a broad spectrum of roles in banks. At one end, you have jumped up testers, then failed programmers, then smart grads who know nothing.. And at the other end you have ex-traders, subject matter experts, etc. Where do you see yourself on that spectrum?

A useful (and rare) business analyst in a bank will be able to talk the lingo to the business - and if you are talking IB that subject matter can be extremely complex. Not many BAs can handle that. A few developers can- that's me. I don't deal with BAs, I deal with the business directly and explain it to the BA later so they can write test cases for me, which they will execute, many times. It ain't glamorous pal. I have to do this because 9/10 times if I rely on the BA it backfires due to lack of analysis skills. And this is common knowledge amongst the clued up. The common BA is a fact gatherer really. So just brush up your Q+A style and your JIRA skills.

A technical BA will be doing interfaces between systems. So, working out what a piece of data means in one system and how it maps into the other system. Is that your bag? Or are you into "stake holder management" and all that waffly poo?

This +1.

Very few good BAs, especially in banking, with the required understanding of complex systems about.

The mistakes cost big, especially when there are 100's of people involved on the projects.

[gary666]

You say you are a senior BA? - what's that then? The business analyst is a interesting beast. Hard to pin down. "BA" is a broad spectrum of roles in banks. At one end, you have jumped up testers, then failed programmers, then smart grads who know nothing.. And at the other end you have ex-traders, subject matter experts, etc. Where do you see yourself on that spectrum?

A useful (and rare) business analyst in a bank will be able to talk the lingo to the business - and if you are talking IB that subject matter can be extremely complex. Not many BAs can handle that. A few developers can- that's me. I don't deal with BAs, I deal with the business directly and explain it to the BA later so they can write test cases for me, which they will execute, many times. It ain't glamorous pal. I have to do this because 9/10 times if I rely on the BA it backfires due to lack of analysis skills. And this is common knowledge amongst the clued up. The common BA is a fact gatherer really. So just brush up your Q+A style and your JIRA skills.

A technical BA will be doing interfaces between systems. So, working out what a piece of data means in one system and how it maps into the other system. Is that your bag? Or are you into "stake holder management" and all that waffly poo?

It is probably more of a tech role but with the interesting addition of some stakeholder waffly poo, (I assume that's why they've tagged senior on it!) Or talking the lingo as you also put it. Defo not investment banking and although I'm newish to finance I've been working in these kind of roles across different sectors for many a year so I have no concerns abiut q&a style (though very true this major part of role). A system is a system in terms of learning the nuts and bolts all I was initially looking for was some sector relevant reading to tag onto what I'm learning as I go, which I think you initially gave so thanks.

As for cutting out the BA and going straight to business , certainly not the first developer I've heard/met who does that it's often quite a strained relationship I've found at times even when I've been a SME/BA and it generally depends which side of the fence you are as to where the blame lies but hard to generalise either way, plus it probably opens up a whole new thread 😉