Career Change Options for a Subdued Business Analyst?

October 29, 2013 6:02 AM

Hi All, I am suffering from major career burnout and I hope you can help. I am a 31 yo chick who has been working in IT for the last 8 years. The first 4 years were ok, since I worked in software consultancy and did not get involved in politics and silly meetings. I was never planning to work in IT, I just fell into it, working in support and working my way up to Consultancy. I have made the dumb but financially viable choice of becoming a Business Analyst 4 years ago. I hate every single minute of it; the politics, the lack of career prospects, the boredom, the lack of creativity and constant role playing. I am a creative person at heart; but I have no idea how to branch the hell out of IT. Hope someone has gone through this and can provide some advice? Thanks!
posted by superscribe to Work & Money (5 answers total)

The most important thing is to figure out what you like and be able to really articulate it. From your post, most of what I get is what you don't like. The only thing I know about what you might like is that you are a creative person at heart.

This isn't just a clarifying question so we can help you better. You need to look at who you are and what you like and really pin it down. We often get weighed down by where we are and how we feel stuck, but that doesn't help. Sure, it can be somewhat motivating, but motivating towards what?

If you could be anything, what would it be? Quiet all the voices telling you why you can't and really hone in on what that would be. Sure, some things won't be possible, but when you know what that dream is, you can often find inspiration in those dreams to find something where you find yourself happier.
posted by advicepig at 6:53 AM on October 29, 2013

I'm not sure what "Consultancy" means in your regard, but have you thought about working for a consulting company? It allows you to change roles much more often, make more money (probably), and allows you to get a little more out of the political game (your mileage will vary).

Another option, which depending on your company, can allow more creativity, is to be on the technical side. You can help design solutions and work with different teams.

Speaking as a 31 year old BA in IT.
posted by sandmanwv at 6:55 AM on October 29, 2013

Web design/development allows a measure of creativity in the right situation. You might look into going that way to avoid some of the politics, back and forth, meetings, etc. in business analysis.
posted by cnc at 10:18 AM on October 29, 2013

Best answer: Yeah web design and/or some other kind of coding might be a good place to start looking; there's lots of free learning material out there if you need to build up some skills, like Codecademy.

If you're looking for more of a drastic change.. do what you can to carve out some time to pursue your creative interests, whether that means scribbling something every lunchbreak, getting yourself to put some time into it every evening, or maybe even arranging something like a four-day workweek or at least the occasional day off to devote to your craft, whatever it is.
posted by Drexen at 11:08 AM on October 29, 2013

Response by poster: Many thanks all!

Working four days a week would definitely help, but i am not sure how realistic this is to implement - but definitely worth trying.

I was wondering if other IT professionals had successfully managed to branch out of IT. I love writing and anything to do with editing / content, so I thought maybe web content editor might be good... But the transition is not seamless...

Thanks again
posted by superscribe at 2:23 PM on October 30, 2013