I always enjoyed my analyst role. The idea of trying to find answers in a mess of data and information sounds incredible challenging to me, it is probably (I guess) like an adventure game or something like that (I’m not a expert gamer so I don’t really know the name of those games ).
I’ve been an Analyst for more than 14 years and I’ve never got bored, actually the thing is getting even better. However for some reason some people believe that if you want to growth as a professional you have to climb up into the organization, which means, changing your role, which is in my opinion absurd…let me give you my reasons.
Whether if you are an Analyst, a Coder, or any other profile, you require some particular skills, mental model, and even values that are probably completely different that the ones you need to perform another role. Which means that you can be an awesome Analyst that enjoy his job with passion and when you get the “so important” promotion as a manager becoming a weak (and sad) Manager.
So, in my opinion the normal way of climbing up as (for instance) an Analyst should be becoming everyday a more experienced and qualified professional (you can call it Jr, Semi Sr, Sr, Super Mega Sr. and so on). I have a lot of reasons why:
1- You MUST enjoy your job.
2- A brilliant analyst must be paid for his performance. So if the person generates value to the company, the company must pay for it, you don’t need to call the person “Manager” or “VP” for that.
3- A brilliant analyst is not necessarily a brilliant Manager and the brilliant Manager is as necessary as the analyst.
4- All the companies need brilliant and passionate people on each position.
5- Since the company is a system (a group of things interacting together with a common objective) every single person in the organization is responsible for accomplishing the objectives, ergo, every position is crucial.
Think about it…