IT Industry Personal Development Reflection Report - Semester 1

This report presents a student's comprehensive personal development reflection, focusing on a career as a business analyst in the IT industry. The introduction highlights the competitive job market and the importance of soft and technical skills. The main body includes a critical self-analysis using a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Industry research examines job advertisements from Citibank, Rolls Royce, and Airbus to understand required skills. The report then provides evidence of existing competencies and a development action plan using the SMART framework to address weaknesses in time management and data analysis. The student's communication skills, database knowledge, and analytical skills are highlighted, along with an action plan for improvement. The report concludes with a summary of the student's career goals and aspirations.

Personal
Development
Reflection

Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY............................................................................................................................3
Critical analysis of self.........................................................................................................3
Industry research 500..........................................................................................................5
Evidence of existing competencies and development action plan....................................8
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................12
APPENDIX.............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The current competitive job market for fresh graduates is very intense due to the
existence of cutthroat competition which has resulted in a situation where even for one decent
and lucrative job position, there are potentially thousands of applicants. The nature of jobs
have also changed accordingly as the focus on technical skills is much more stronger than
before and recruiters are also much more focused on hiring candidates with a strong grasp
over soft skills such as communication skills and even reading and writing skills in a major
way (Vanani & Jalali, 2017). This report will highlight my personal career aspirations with
special emphasis laid on the industry and the job role which I want to pursue in my life going
further in my career. My main career goal is to become a business analysts in the broad
domain of Information technology which is every ambitious aspiration to have as being a
business analyst is not an easy task as it is a complex job role and the field of IT is subject to
constant skill and technology changes which makes it tough to gain a strong chance at getting
the job in desired role. This report will highlight all major skills needed to achieve this goal
of mine.
MAIN BODY
Critical analysis of self
Business analyst is a very complex job role as professionals belonging at such job
descriptions are involved at each and every level of the business organization right from the
outset of key strategic decision making metrics to the final implementation and regulation of
company operations to analyze complex business problems to develop holistic solutions. In
order to succeed in my future career aspiration as a business analyst, I will need various skills
to amass to have a shot at making it big in the industry of information technology which is
known to be a tricky landscape to navigate in terms of getting a job role which is lucrative
and rewarding in nature (Blann, 2018). These skills which are necessary to exceed in this job
role are listed herein.
 Analytical and critical thinking – This skill is a must have for all potential business
analyst aspirants as there are multiple client requirements which have to fully thought
out and sorted by the analyst wherein critical thinking helps save or ruin the day. A
business analysis’s most important job is to study complex problems and devise smart

solutions which is something that can also be facilitated through proper analytical
skills.
 Communication and interpersonal skills – These skills are also very much needed
in order to become a business analyst due to the rapid need for communication
between both the client and stakeholders at various phases such as project initiation
and planning including the final solution delivery.
 Decision making skills – Since a business analyst is involved in each and every stage
of the business, they have key decisions to make regarding the type of project they
undertake, the way the problem is structured and analyzed and the final solution
which is to be proposed and implemented (Shalamova, 2019). Having proper decision
making skills can help me to become a dependable business analysts.
In order to better match my current existing competencies and identifying my
potential strengths and weaknesses in the form of a comprehensive overview, I have listed a
personal SWOT analysis below which is a model of strategic management which is used to
analyze a particular aspect of self or the external environment in a round to gain a perspective
about the potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which will help in further
action plan formation for my career.
Strengths
 I possess great analytical and critical
thinking skills
 I am proficient in interpersonal
communication skills
 I have experience in database
management
Weaknesses
 I struggle to manage my work on
time
 I am not proficient enough in data
analysis
 I don’t play well with others
Opportunities
 There is a growing demand in the
field of business analytics regarding
big data applications that I can
benefit from by learning it
 Learning about block chain
implementation and working method
Threats
 Many projects contain various
implicit requirements which can
cause trouble for the analyst in
executing the project
 This field is full of rapid
technological changes which makes

can open new and promising doors
for me
the job complicated and difficult.
The field also suffers from the
problem of silent or uncooperative
stakeholders
Industry research 500
In order to fulfill my future aspirations of working as a business analyst in the field of
information technology, it is very necessary to analyze the current happenings in the industry
and the major requirements which top companies are asking for their candidates to possess.
For the purpose of conducting extensive research in this regard, three separate job
advertisements have been identified which relate to the chosen job field and career role which
in this case is business analyst in the field of IT (Chen & Liang, 2022). These advertisements
are all belonging to various processes and industries in the IT sector and have been
mentioned herein.

Figure 1 Job advertisement of IT business analyst at Citibank
Figure 2 Job advertisement of IT business analyst at Rolls Royce

Figure 3 Job advertisement of IT business analyst at Airbus
The above identified advertisements are about the same profile which is of IT
business analyst but all are of separate field and contain unique responsibilities which reflects
a broader market trend which is explained herein.
 Citibank job role relates to banking sector operations and requires candidates to
perform intense financial analysis on multiple variables consisting of large data sets
and solving banking industry specific problems. This highlights the growing technical
skill requirements in the field of business analysis (Lubwama, 2020).
 The Rolls Royce job advertisement is related to the submarine requirement of the
British army and deals with the arms and military logistics needs which is a cutting
edge technological job wherein business analysts handle advanced technologies. This
job reflects the trend of growing need for data analysis in the IT industry
 The advertisement for Business analyst for Airbus is in the Aerospace sector wherein
the role requires the possession of SC security clearance and there are many
communication and project related functions that need to be performed for very
important stakeholders such as the defense department. This reflects the need for
intense communication skills among the interested candidates (Lubwama, 2020).

All three of these proposed advertisements contain different but highly complex skill
requirements which I must possess if I have to develop a shot at getting these job roles and
these skills are highlighted herein.
Technical skills
Job role Needed skills
Airbus Information system analysis and evaluation
Rolls Royce Stakeholder analysis and identification
Citibank Knowledge of databases and data handling
Soft skills
Job role Needed skills
Airbus Time management and teamwork
Rolls Royce Critical thinking and analytical skills
Citibank Excellent communication skills
The above conducted analysis of the various job advertisements that were analyzed
regarding the role of business analyst in the field of information technology reveal the
amount of technical and soft skill diversity that is present in the job market and upon
comparing these findings with the self-analysis which was done earlier through a personal
SWOT analysis, a comprehensive picture gets revealed about my level of current
competencies (Keay, 2022). I do possess the needed soft skills but my lack of time
management and technical proficiency of high level technologies used in business analysis
and in diverse fields of insurance, army and aerospace is holding me back from potentially
achieving my dreams. My identified strengths which will help me move forward towards my
career goal will be highlighted in detail in the next section of the report along with the action
plan needed to mitigate my identified weaknesses.
Evidence of existing competencies and development action plan
The job advertisement analysis that was undertaken in the previous section of the
report was very helpful in the identification of all the major technical and soft skills that were
being demanded by leading market companies in the field of IT business analytics. This

information was then compared with the personal SWOT analysis and three key
competencies have been identified which can help me achieve the role of business analyst in
the future. These include a combination of both technical and soft skills which consists of
communication skills, database knowledge and critical thinking and analytical thinking which
I do possess thanks to my learning and extra-curricular activities. These skills have been
listed herein along with evidences applied using the STAR statement model.
 Communication skills – While being generally shy from being extremely expressive
in public, I possess great interpersonal communication skills in a professional
environment and can address a lot of people in an efficient manner to get across
important information quickly. Once, during my college festival, I was in charge of
anchoring and chairing the entire proceedings and I also helped plan and
communicate all the details to all the students of the college with the help of
volunteers. The event was a success and displayed my communication and project
management skills.
 Database knowledge – Although I still struggle a little bit with complex and variable
heavy data analysis, I do possess adequate knowledge of database management. Once,
during my internship as a Business Analyst Intern, I got to work and practice on
important databases such as MySQL and Oracle which I got proficient at and helped
my company organize and sort data with minimal errors.
 Critical thinking and analytical skills – Over the course of my academic learning
and multiple internships, I have displayed many instances of applying my intellectual
capability to analyser and solve tough problems. During one of my internships, I
mapped the internal working process of the company and suggested potential
improvements such as filtering the sales software to get rid of dead and cold leads
which the company followed and became more productive (Vaage & Sundal, 2021).
Apart from these competencies, there were also some obvious weaknesses in my
current skill-set portfolio which include my weak time management skills and my poor
knowledge and lack of practical exposure towards advanced analytical technologies and data
analysis methods. These weaknesses will be worked towards with the help of an action plan
which will be formulated using objectives and activities developed with the help of the
SMART framework which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevance, Timely

which is a special framework with helps the objectives formulated to be subjected to proper
timelines and be in my reach for quick achievement. The action plan has been formulated
below.
Weaknesses Current
proficiency
Target
proficiency
Activities to
be taken
Evaluation
criteria
Time period
Time
management
Weak Satisfactory Working on
special
exercise and
undertaking
business
analytics
courses
Recording
the time
taken to
executing
key tasks
relating to
business
analytics
2 months
Data analysis Weak Excellent Joining extra
classes and
special
courses
provided by
specialist
experts of
business
analytics
Taking
exams and
proficiency
measuring
practical’s
4 months
Teamwork Poor Weak Enrolment in
teamwork
exercises
Measuring
team
contribution
and
efficiency
2 months
Personal development reflection summary
I am quite confident in thinking that I do want to become a business analyst in the
future and apply for a lucrative and enriching job in the domain of information technology
because of many reasons such as the field booming with great future growth rate expectations

along with the promises of great financial remuneration in the future. When it comes to
specific field to enter, I would love to work in the field of finance such as in the insurance
sector due to my love for numeracy crunching and I would also like to work in unique and
high profile industries such as aerospace and military logistics due to the added prestige
added to such jobs. The personnel competencies that will help in getting closer towards
achieving this goal is my excellent communication skills, my hold over database management
with speciality in MySQL and Oracle and my critical thinking capacity. However there are
also certain factors which are holding my dream back such as my poor time management, my
penchant for not working well with others and my poor practical skills regarding data
analytics which will be mitigated soon to make me goal easier to achieve.
CONCLUSION
The above report went into detail regarding the various process that one must
undertake to properly chart their career growth in the future. This report focused on the job
role of business analyst in the field of information technology and included personal analysis
to highlight competencies, gathered job advertisements for research and then compared the
two to identify the strengths and weaknesses which affect one’s ability to pursue a career in
business analytics. The report highlighted these competencies and was concluded with a
detailed action plan to mitigate the identified weaknesses with objectives which were
formulated using the SMART framework.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lubwama, R. (2020). Must-Have Technical Skills. In The Inside Track to Excelling As a
Business Analyst (pp. 27-40). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Lubwama, R. (2020). Interpersonal Skills. In The Inside Track to Excelling As a Business
Analyst (pp. 79-110). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Vanani, I. R., & Jalali, S. M. J. (2017). Analytical evaluation of emerging scientific trends in
business intelligence through the utilisation of burst detection algorithm. International Journal
of Bibliometrics in Business and Management, 1(1), 70-79.
Blann, A. (2018). Data handling and analysis. Oxford University Press.
Shalamova, N., Rice-Bailey, T., & Wikoff, K. (2019). Evolving skill sets and job pathways of
technical communicators. Communication Design Quarterly Review, 6(3), 14-24.
Chen, J., & Liang, H. (2022). Analyst attention and earning management. In Economic and
Business Management (pp. 25-33). CRC Press.

Vaage, B. H., & Sundal, K. M. (2021). Conclusion: Towards an analyst-centric intelligence
process. In Intelligence Analysis in the Digital Age (pp. 163-170). Routledge.
Keay, S. (2022). Different Kinds of Analyst. In The Crime Analyst's Companion (pp. 13-20).
Springer, Cham.
APPENDIX

Figure 4 Job advertisement of IT business analyst at Citibank
Figure 5 Job advertisement of IT business analyst at Rolls Royce

Figure 6 Job advertisement of IT business analyst at Airbus