From Tester to Business Analyst – My Journey and Takeaways

A career in IT isn’t just a choice between the “technical” and the “business” world.
It’s a space where competencies overlap, and growth depends on conscious decisions. What matters most at work? Motivation and readiness to learn.

“Everything is possible. The impossible just takes more time.” — Dan Brown

For over a decade I’ve been working in the IT industry, continuously developing my skills. The greatest value and inspiration I draw from collaborating with teams while delivering projects and creating technology products.

How did it start?

My path began in Project Management. At first I focused on schedules, audits and status updates.
But over time I kept wondering: what is it like to be one of the people who have a real impact on building software?

Experience showed me that testing practice helped me find the answer.
To me, the role of a tester opened a completely new world. I met developers, business analysts, network architects, DevOps specialists, UI/UX experts and Scrum Masters. I saw what the work of a development team looks like behind the scenes.

For me, every new functionality started with studying the specifications — functional and technical — and sketching decision-coverage scenarios. In the background I prepared questions that I clarified with the team, then created test plans and test data for them.

I tested, among other things, databases, ERP systems for automotive and manufacturing industries and microservices — both manually and automatically. I handled bug management and at the same time analyzed e.g. configuration files for jobs running data-processing algorithms. Overtime, thanks to the knowledge of requirements and the product, I became the person who gave the green light for releases — meaning the solution was ready, refined and met business expectations.

What did the role of a tester teach me?

• How systems and technological solutions work,
• How to read functional and technical specifications,
• How to create test scenarios that cover acceptance criteria,
• How to design test-data concepts,
• Effective communication and addressing topics clearly,
• Understanding the impact of changes during implementation,
• Change management, including impact on regressions,
• And the classic line: “it doesn’t work for me after the deployment” ;)

I also understood that you can’t test everything 100%, but it’s worth having a strategy and priorities — and it’s worth talking to people. Designing, for example, an API test isn’t obvious; without my developer or DevOps colleagues I often wouldn’t have taken the next step.

Each sprint brought variety, and I gained knowledge and started to understand the client’s needs as well as the development team’s needs from different perspectives.
Gradually, as I became more established in dev teams, I began to wonder: “What is it like to influence the creation of requirements?”.

Code or analysis

Along the way, I was also intrigued by the code itself. I took basic programming courses in C++ and Java and tried coding but quickly realized that even if I could be “good enough,” others were better than me in that area. And I wanted more than “good enough.” I wanted to use my potential where it could truly stand out.

The transition mechanics — from Tester to Business Analyst

So far in my IT career, I changed departments twice: from Project Management to Testing, and after a few years — from Testing to Business Analysis.

These decisions were never accidental. Each time they required at least a year-long process (from decision to the actual move), starting with defining a goal, priorities, and activities within my individual development plan.

Example: when I was already an experienced tester, I expressed my desire to grow toward business analysis. After getting the “greenlight” from my Manager and Department Head, I set a career development path — partly already as an analyst.

I began to dive into the requirements of engineering and business process modelling, observed the activities of analysts I worked with, and reviewed analytical work products. The next step — and the turning point — was a project where I could take on two roles at once, covering a full scope of responsibilities:

1. Business Analyst: meetings with Product Owners, pre-refinement and refinement sessions, writing user stories, specifications and documentation, backlog     management, contact with the client and the team.
2. Tester: creating test scenarios and test data, building environments, executing tests, reporting defects, re-testing, presenting functionality during sprint review.

The two roles did not overlap on the same functionalities. As an analyst, I didn’t execute tests for features I had specified; and as a tester I was assigned comprehensive user stories to test that I had not specified. This approach can be used to avoid potential error duplication.

Only this project and the broad understanding of the product led me to eventually change the department and take on the full Business Analyst role. That required approval from the Head of the Analysts Department, finding a project where I could work purely as a BA, and preparing a new contract.

What attracts me in the role of a Business Analyst?

I handled bug management and at the same time analyzed e.g. configuration files for jobs running data-processing algorithms.

the client’s business goals, you can influence the shape of solutions. It’s a chance to learn requirement-elicitation methods, documentation standards, deepen domain knowledge, and learn process modeling — skills that open many doors.

It’s also an opportunity to build relationships with business stakeholders, end — users, and people who use the product daily. You meet those who face real problems and want to solve them through technology. This work matters because you identify Clients’ needs and recommend solutions that bring value.

You’re an Analyst — what next?

The potential for development is huge. The IT industry needs people who can combine competencies, so hybrid paths are possible: Analyst/Developer, Analyst/Project Manager, Analyst/UX, Analyst/Tester, Analyst/Manager, Analyst/Product Manager.

You can become a specialist, e.g. in business process analysis (like a financial processes analyst), product analysis, Agile, BI, IT analysis (solutions, technologies, constraints).
Alternatively, you can choose a leadership direction (project leader, program leader, leader of analysis best practices in a company, business architect, strategic business analyst).

“You analyze everything too much” — flaw or strength?

In my personal life I often heard that I “overanalyze.” But what if analytical thinking is simply a way of organizing chaos? By analyzing, you arrange details into a coherent flow, identify needs, draw conclusions and define what must change. That’s not overthinking — it’s a competence.

When I understood that, professionally, analysis makes me feel aligned with who I am, I felt satisfaction — and my testing and project experience became a solid foundation and an integral part of me.

If, among other things, you use ideas and decisions backed by facts to solve problems, if you quickly absorb information from a new domain, break data into first principles, point out dependencies, if your chosen solutions meet goals, if you define relationships between the whole system and its parts and their mutual impact — it means you have a unique advantage: analytical thinking.

How to consciously build an analyst’s development?

Development in business analysis is based on pillars of knowledge, best practices, and relationships.

Knowledge can be gained through books, industry publications, and standards such as BABOK or PMBOK, which set out best practices.

The next pillar consists of training and certifications: postgraduate studies, courses, and recognized credentials like IIBA, PMI, or IREB CPRE, which confirm qualifications. Certification can be a way to learn fundamentals, while more advanced ones often organize knowledge you already have. Reviewing certification programs can help identify trends and directions to focus on.

Another development area is networking — attending conferences, industry events, and participating in communities that enable experience exchange and relationship building.

A valuable development step is a business analyst / future business analyst gap analysis — defining where you are today (AS IS), where you want to be tomorrow (TO BE), and creating a change strategy that will help you reach that goal.

It’s worth drawing knowledge and inspiration from fields related to Business Analysis, such as Quality Management, Business Process Management and Optimization, Strategic Architecture, UX/UI, Data Analysis/Business Intelligence, Change Management, Technologies and Integrations, Compliance and Regulations.

Benefits of Business Analysis

Business analysis, based on understanding the root cause of a problem (in a company or at a client’s), defining the expected goal/result, and then presenting the most optimal way to achieve it — enables better decision-making and dedicated solution design, improves business understanding, and streamlines existing processes.

Through analysis we reduce the risk of mistakes — both when creating concepts, planning, gathering requirements, and during design or implementation. As an analyst, you see the real impact of your work on the product, gain satisfaction from delivering business value, identify new opportunities that can translate into new market chances.

Summary

Changing roles in IT is a process that requires conscious planning, openness to learning, courage in decision-making, and practice.

Planning a change? Start now — the perfect moment will never come. Define what motivates you (growth, certification, financial factors, others), analyze your competencies (e.g., using the IIBA competency model), and plan your next steps to develop them in your chosen direction. Practice through projects, non-profit organizations, and portfolio building.

‍