Question

What advice would you have for someone who wants to start in the BI (Business Intelligence) domain?

I where and what I should start with: Books, Blogs, WebCasts… What I should pay attention to and what I should stay away from.

Are the Microsoft technologies worth while ?

Answer 1

The MS technology stack is quite good and is by far the most accessible (try to get hold of a copy of Cognos Reportnet for self-learning). Where you will run into trouble (and this is the main barrier to entry for gaining a B.I. skillset) is to actually get experience working with real data. It’s quite hard to come up with a realistic toy scenario for this sort of thing.

This means that you have to overcome the chicken-and-egg problem that this poses. One option would be to try to get a job as a B.I. developer somewhere like a government department or other place that has trouble recruiting due to salary constraints. Clear evidence of technical skills and a demonstrated interest in the business might get your foot in the door.

This will be a bit harder in a recession. However there is still an ongoing skill shortage of good B.I. people. The reason is (IMO) not the lack of technical skills (the technology isn’t rocket science). Instead, I think it is the aforementioned chicken-and-egg problem and the fact that the B.I. domain involves customer intimacy to do it well. It lends itself to working in an analyst/programmer mode with direct customer contact (one of the reasons I do this type of work). If you like working in this mode it might be a good line for you to get into.

Edit: Someone who’s just had a job offer in this space asked whether he should take the job.