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It's been 2 months since I started working at an international big consulting company. I like my colleagues personally but it's like a joke since my first day. Analysts (people who has no idea about the tech. background) are planning the workflow and functions. In my case, none of my friends here even wrote even a single line of html. When I say Html, I doubt if they know what I mean. But they are deciding about really key decisions in a web system implementation project.

Is this always like this?

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closed as not constructive by gnat, Ozz, ChrisF♦ Mar 23 '12 at 11:40

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3 Answers

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In short, No its not always Like this.

In reality, Yes, you will find Sales/Marketing/RnD/Business Analyst type people making Tech decisions and you having to make the shortfall.

You may consider this a small red flag for prolonged employment there.

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No. It shouldn't be done by the less experienced.

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I'm not sure I understand your problem. Business analysts are there to translate business needs into something you can design from. They need to be very well versed in the business needs, and not necessarily very well versed in writing the code to translate these needs. Technical people are not always good at understanding business requirements; there is some evidence to suggest they are often quite clueless.

Your question is not altogether clear - I cannot figure out whether you are asking about requirements analysis or technical designs. But you need to understand that being technical does not necessarily mean you are most qualified to make key decisions about business software of any type.

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-1 for for 'Technical people are not always good at understanding business requirements'. 'Technical people' are all-too-often perfectly capable of understanding business requirements, but are too-readily stereotyped and pidgeon-holed. In many situations, techies are better placed to understand real business reqs, as opposed to people who are too heavily invested in how 'things have always been done'. – cjmUK Mar 23 '12 at 11:16
Please note I said "not always good" rather than "generally bad at". There is a difference. – temptar Mar 23 '12 at 11:57
there is some evidence to suggest they are often quite clueless.. Clueless people are clueless - they are no more likely to be technical-oriented than 'business'-oriented. The ill-communicating, anti-social nerd is anachronistic - IT has changed much over the last 20 years, but the perception has not. For every nerdy oddity we have met, a bet we can also name a 'pointy-haired boss' of Dilbert fame. – cjmUK Mar 23 '12 at 12:05
However, that is not the point. Being technically expert does not, by default, suggest that there is no need for business analysts or that the OP is much better than his colleagues at understanding requirements just because he is technical and they are not. You strike me as being very defensive about where technical skills stop and business skills pick up. The line isn't set in stone, but nor is it correct to assume that all technical people adequately versed in business requirements to make business calls. – temptar Mar 23 '12 at 12:13
I'm not suggesting that all technical people have the skills - if am refuting your suggestion that they usually don't. You are perpetuating a tired stereotype. BA's need to bridge the gap between the business and IT; being firmly planted on either side of the divide is no use. A non-business-aware techy is no better or worse a BA than a someone business-aware but not technically-aware. – cjmUK Mar 23 '12 at 13:18
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