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Students learn about life as a business analyst

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Three people stand together at an indoor event space with a presentation slide displayed behind them reading “WHY.” Name badges and casual attire suggest a workshop or collaborative session.

When we first read about the BA School Day initiative, we knew straight away that we wanted to take part, with as many Opencast business analyst volunteers as possible.

Being a business analyst is not something many of us have heard about when we were at school. If we were inquisitive and curious, we were recommended to follow careers where we could become experts in one specific field that interested us, maybe becoming lawyers or software developers.

If we were interested in technology, we were curious and inquisitive, good at negotiations and excellent at building relationships with people – but we very rarely heard the advice to consider becoming a business analyst.

We therefore decided to make it our mission to help more students understand about business analysis and what being a business analyst entails. That has meant not just taking part for the one day that the international BA School Day initiative ran for, but making it our longer-term commitment. We’re looking to continue running fun and interactive STEM sessions around this topic for any interested schools.

Three people stand together at an indoor event space with a presentation slide displayed behind them reading “WHY.” Name badges and casual attire suggest a workshop or collaborative session.

Rolling it out to the students

We started our engagement in November at the Law School at Durham University, where we delivered a workshop on why law students make excellent business analysts. The students highlighted how much they enjoyed the interactive presentation. They got to experience how to navigate the world of business analysis, while coming up with a solution that involved the Online Safety Act.  

Following that first session, we visited Longbenton High School in North Tyneside with three business analysts from Opencast, who told students at a school assembly about their career path and what being a business analyst involved. We had great feedback from the school about the session – and we’re already talking to the school about arranging a follow-up workshop later in 2024.

We also both attended Churchill Community College in Newcastle for another school assembly where we talked about how we each stumbled upon the business analyst career path and about our work at Opencast. The students and the teachers really appreciated the insights we shared with them and we’re looking forward to bringing our workshop on business analysis to the college again in 2024. 

We also took our workshop online on why law students make excellent business analysts, with Newcastle Law School students offered a co-creation session.

Our sessions have already reached over 100 students If you know about a school where you think students would benefit from hearing from us, please get in touch.  We’d love to work with you and spread the word about business analysis being one of the best career choices you can make. (Yes, we are a bit biased!)

 

Published: 5 January 2024

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Hi Joe,  Thanks for letting me know, that sounds great.  Completely understand regarding the photos, and it would be great if you’re able to share any approved ones with us for promotional use.  Thanks for checking about the LinkedIn posts too — we’d really appreciate being included where possible.  Best, Sophie
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