Business Analyst Review

I act as a business analyst and support with activities within a project, such as stakeholder research and analysis, requirements elicitation, gap analysis, change management etc. I work with various teams to ensure the project stays on scope and achieves its deliverables, and have a mentor who I can shadow to develop new skills.

I am developing my facilitation skills, so I am able to host meetings effectively and ensure everyone is engaged. Alongside this, I'm developing my analysis skills during gap analysis and requirements engineering, to find the most appropriate solution for the business. I work within a team, so I am also learning how to collaborate effectively on a project.

The programme through Assist KD is engaging, and offers different ways to engage with the materials, such as e-learning or podcasts, which I really enjoy. Early careers at Sage have outsourced their training material/ sessions, so there can be repetition within the mandatory training, which makes it a lot less engaging, but can sometimes introduce a different perspective.

The programme through Assist is really well structured for apprentices, and gives you an oversight of all the foundational skills and concepts within the role, before diving into specific detail around each topic, which helps to contextualise the work. It's the responsibility of team managers and apprentices to find work that relates to specific topics you are learning about throughout your course, and organise your workload so it is relevant to your learning.

Early careers have monthly all hands meetings that are mandatory, but do not support you with your specific course or learning. Within my role I have a mentor, who I can shadow to gain experience, and who helps to ensure the work I'm doing is relevant to the qualification. So you tend to be supported more by your direct team then anywhere else in the business.

My mentor is extremely prompt in their responses, and we have bi-monthly workshops where we can talk to other apprentices and learn from each others experience. The provider has also set up additional support such as a learning and wellbeing mentor, who help me develop practical skills that I can use both in and outside of my work life.

The qualification I receive through my training provider helps me to perform better in my role because it contextualises the work I am doing, and gives me different techniques and ways of working that may not have been used within the organisation before. I can also check any work I am doing on projects with my mentor to make sure the techniques are applied appropriately

I get involved with a lot of networking events and Colleague success network activities. I have helped to make policy changes, host events, plan new activities and introduce a new support group. There's also opportunities to do foundation days and volunteer for charities, which is great fun and you can support causes close to you.

No

The people make Sage. Colleagues are lovely, and there's an inclusive and friendly culture, where you are free to be yourself. However, the communication throughout the business is not the strongest, and since starting at Sage, I have seen a number of my colleagues made redundant, and I wouldn't want my friends to experience the lack of security and constant ambiguity within job roles.

Try to be certain of the job role you are applying for, and the career you are wanting to peruse before applying. If you are driven, organised, independent and can manage your time, Sage would be a good place for you to work. Be sure to find out what your job role entails and work with your course mentor to make sure the work within your role is relevant to the qualification you are studying, and ensure there is security around that.