Does domain really matter while switching to a BA role?

• Is domain knowledge an essential prerequisite for switching to a BA role?
• How many domains do I have to study before attending an interview?
• Which domain has the highest demand in the market?

If these are some of the questions in your mind, then you’re in the right place.

This is another huge concern among aspiring BAs, especially when they are in their preparation phase. There are so many different domains and industries looking for a business analyst that you’ll end up thinking:

• I can’t have all the domain knowledge
• But I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity

I first heard the term “domain” during my BA training. People speaking about this being so important, that I started learning about all possible ones out of fear — banking, insurance, finance, healthcare, IT and whatnot.

After some point, it made me so frustrated that I stopped everything and thought of dealing with this in a better way.

I will be talking about how I tackled this problem of domain knowledge and ended up cracking a finance domain interview, as a telecom engineer.

At the end of this article, you’ll understand that you don’t have to stop your preparation or job applications, just because you don’t have expertise in that domain.

Domain knowledge is very important

You might be wondering why I’m contradicting what I said above. I do not deny the importance of domain knowledge but I would like to keep it as an added advantage.

How does domain knowledge play a crucial part in a BA role?

1. It will help you to answer any domain-related interview questions. For example, I was once asked about how I would improve the mobile banking application which I used.
2. It will help you to understand how a particular business works in terms of internal processes.
3. As a BA, it will help you during the elicitation process, by asking clients relevant questions to completely understand their business problem.
4. It will help you to grab not only the in-scope requirements but also the out of scope needs that might come at a later stage.
5. You will feel more confident in interpreting those requirements for your dev team and understanding the technical challenges (for technical BAs).
6. You will understand your end customers in and out as well as the criticality of delivering something valuable to them.

Domain knowledge is not the only important thing

Now that’s the point I want to emphasize. I agree with all the above reasons for having that domain knowledge, but you don’t have to be an expert in all of it.

Just think about the end goal of a business analyst: it is to solve a business problem with an innovative and customer-friendly solution or to grab an unforeseen market opportunity to grow a business' revenue.

Now the problem and the opportunity can come from banking or insurance or e-commerce or any possible domain on earth.

Will a business analyst look good saying I can’t solve this problem as I don’t belong to this domain?

Companies give titles to business analysts to confine them into a certain domain, but the inner expertise of a BA cannot be confined. A BA should be flexible enough to solve any problem with an analytical approach.

There are a lot of people who have worked in a certain domain for more than 5 years and now they think they’ll not be able to move somewhere else. But ideally they should move after a certain period to get that zest for other areas where they can explore the opportunities and the business processes.

This is how you can address the issue:

• Mindset shift

You have to accept the fact that it’s impractical to just read and remember all possible domains. Either you pick one and digest it completely and get restricted to that or you expand your skillsets and be confident enough to look for different flavours.

• Basic knowledge

First thing first, have a basic knowledge of different types of business. For example, you should understand how a bank works or a banking app works, how insurance companies generate revenue, how an E-commerce company thinks about its customers by showing offers and promotions, etc.

• Practical learning

Don’t indulge in getting theoretical knowledge about all of this. Focus on how you can look at the process practically and understand its different scenarios. I used to have a lot of conversations with people on LinkedIn, with my friends, to understand how their companies operate. I never googled or downloaded any domain document to study.

• Be honest

If you are not so sure about the domain in an interview, just speak with honesty that you don’t have the expertise but since you never restricted yourself to a particular area as a BA, you’ll catch up on things quickly, being a great learner.

In reality, companies actually look for someone who at least has a basic understanding of their business. If you don’t even know the difference between credit and debit cards, how can you expect to work in the banking field?

I also failed in more than 3 banking interviews, but I consider all of those as a learning course to prepare me for a better one. I then finally grabbed a banking offer with a more than 100% salary hike.

Just remember, having expertise in all domains is not possible for a BA, but the zeal to learn new things and implement it should be 200%.

Quickly summarizing the action items:

1. Accept that you cannot be an expert in all domains.
2. Try to be clear on fundamentals.
3. The best way to get those fundamentals clear is by practically looking at a domain or by talking with someone experienced in that domain.
4. Don’t worry about the interviewer asking questions about the domain. Just remember that you are a BA who can solve any problem with your innovative mindset.

If you want to discuss more in-depth doubts about the importance of domain knowledge for a BA, let’s connect and sort that out for you.

Follow Bhavini Sapra for more such insights on BA lifestyles and how you can get to live one.

High five!