Career in Business Intelligence: 3 Steps to Getting Experience

I have written a few articles on breaking into the Business Intelligence sector, as well as given specific advice to individuals in my day-to-day life. Two subjects keep rearing their heads: a. What is involved in Business Intelligence analysis? b. How do I get experience? The first one is beyond the scope of an article, or a series of articles even and unfortunately I cannot even recommend an existing book, because there are none at the time of writing. For now, all I can say is that it becomes apparent as your experience increases. The second one is more approachable and can be solved with hard work and some know-how. 1. Know Your Stuff! The first step is to make sure you have all the basic knowledge to do the job of a BI analyst. I have listed the basics in previous articles, so will not get into specifics here, but suffice to say that it makes sense to be able to do the job you are trying to get practical experience in. At the very least, be comfortable with the reporting software you intend using. 2. Let Businesses Know Who You Are Advertising in your local area may seem overwhelming at first, but if you target smaller companies you will be pleasantly surprised by the feedback. Why? Because Business Intelligence is a powerful tool which will help any company and is a new miracle cure to smaller businesses. And advertising does not have to mean paid advertising. Most areas have local business networks which can provide you the access you need to boost your local economy. 3. Make the Most of Any Opportunities The whole point of this approach is to gain experience, so every opportunity to increase your experience should be seized with both hands. As obvious as this sounds, when faced with new challenges or work which may seem pointless, it is too easy to make excuses and avoid things which are challenging. At this point in your career everything is an opportunity to learn, whether this is talking to a potential client about what data they store electronically and how it can be used to aid their business…or creating a new type of report for an existing customer. Everything is a challenge, but should be seen as an chance to grow your career and get an edge over the competition. Summary Lack of experience is the number one culprit which can ruin all the years of study and lay waste to your technical knowledge. As such, it should be given priority as a problem which needs solving. With this handled, everything else will fall into place and the benefits which should be part and parcel of an IT based career will be available for the taking. About the Author Jason Dove is a senior consultant at Scry Business Intelligence and the author of

'Crystal Reports Formulas Explained'

Jason is also the mastermind behind the revolutionary Scry Career Primer, the only product on the market dedicated to launching your IT career, covering everything from gaining industry experience and writing a killer résumé to exploiting the most popular IT sectors.