What am I?

What am I?

I'm looking for a job/contract but I don't know what to call myself. Industry terminology seems to have changed, and I don't feel the new labels fit me properly.

In the 90's, a Business Analyst was a title that garnered respect. A good BA had a deep understanding of the business problem/requirements/etc., backed with an equally deep (often quite formidable) technical skill set. These people were very capable of conversing with users, developers, system admins, and management. They would usually be a key player in any solution of any decent size.

These days, most BA work seems to entail note taking. It's mostly a case of, “I went and spoke to the users. They told me what they do and I typed it up into this document.” Or worse, “I went and spoke to the users. They told me what they want and I typed it into this document” (users rarely make for good BAs).

Another part of the modern BA role seems to be simply acting as intermediary between coders (who often seem reluctant to engage with the users), and users (who often shun any mildly technical conversation). These people should be quite capable of talking to each other – when was the last time you saw a job ad that didn't list “good communication skills” as a requirement? A BA only needs to get involved when there's a serious misunderstanding – not when discussing whether a field needs to be widened or whether the OK button should be at top or bottom.

In the old days, a BA could (if pressed) knock together a proof-of-concept app, or challenge a DBA on some data-modelling intricacy, or challenge a user on why their current process is wrong. But more importantly, they were creative thinkers, and they were problem solvers. They were like a kind of corporate super-hero. This is the kind of person I aspire to be in my workday life. Recently I've had a BA actually say to me, “I'm not a technical person” when I tried to engage them on some detail.

Also in the 90's, a good coder would be known as an Analyst/Programmer. As the name suggests, they would have some capability for business analysis. I see job ads still call it “Analyst/Programmer”, but the analyst part seems to be disregarded. Modern coders expect a fully detailed specification and do not seem to enjoy developing or using their analysis skills, and they don't seem to want to take an interest in what “the business” is really trying to do.

To add to my problem, I don't really consider myself an “I.T. Person”. I'm a Financial Markets/Capital Markets/Treasury person. I've spent 20 years in this area, and having that experience is one of the ways I add value. I've been on the client side and the vendor side. I've done it all around the world. I solve problems. I automate processes. I invent new workflows. I integrate systems. I'm a creative person. It just so happens that technology is a good tool for doing this sort of thing.

Today I had a recruiter tell me that I should write two resumes; one for applying for BA roles and one for applying for developer roles. Is this crazy? Recruiters seem to think BA is related to Analyst/Programmer as much as Panel Beater is related to Dentist.

Alas, it seems this is direction the industry is heading – instead of removing layers, we're creating them. BA's are not expected to be technical and developers are not expected to understand the business/users. So now there's another layer of abstraction between the real-world and the solution. But I don't want to be a part of that.

So, what am I?

Business Analyst?
Analyst/Programmer?
Dinosaur?
Something else?

It would be great if someone could tell me, because I know I can add value to an organisation but I seem to be behind in my terminology.