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Subject:Re: Tech Writers Turned Business Analyst From:Karen <ekarenski-techwrl -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:03:35 -0700 (PDT)
I have extensive pseudocode and flowcharting experience, so this doesn't seem too daunting to me. Plus, I've done some object-oriented programming. I'll check those books out since I want to see something more complex than the oversimplified examples I see on the web.
I had been avoiding applying for some of these jobs since I saw the acronym soup being thrown out there. Sometimes you figure that if you don't know what it stands for, you're not qualified. However, I think in this case I can relate my previous experience to this and take a stab at some of these openings.
Thank you so much!
Pro TechWriter <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote: Great questions, Karen.
I also transitioned from technical writing into business analysis. Here are some books that I used while working on UML projects. Just remember that the methodologies are only one more way to express information. At first, using UML and use cases was a bit intimidating, but when I got the hang of it, I really liked it and found it useful.
When you have read some of the material, you can go ahead and create use cases based on the steps in the books as samples. Use something that you are familiar with (the ATM machine has been used a million times).
Most of these books are available on Amazon.
Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn (Paperback - Jan 15, 2000)
Software Requirements, Second Edition by Karl E. Wiegers (Paperback - Feb 26, 2003)
UML for the IT Business Analyst: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Requirements Gathering by Howard Podeswa (Paperback - Jun 7, 2005)
Use Case Modeling by Kurt Bittner and Ian Spence (Paperback - Aug 20, 2002)
Managing Software Requirements: A Use Case Approach, Second Edition by Dean Leffingwell and Don Widrig (Hardcover - May
Good luck!
- PT
On 6/21/07, Karen <ekarenski-techwrl -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote: In a previous job, my technical writing turned into a business/data analyst job. <snip> I'd really like to get back into a business analyst role since I'm also a data junkie and have programming experience.
<snip> A lot of the jobs want experience with "use case modeling" and "UML methodology". Also, experience in use case diagrams, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, and class diagrams. I'm finding different samples on the web; however, I was wondering if someone on the list (perhaps a business major) has any recommendations on a book or web site that will help get me up to speed?
--
PT
pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com
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