Example Career: Computer Systems Analysts

Career Description

Analyze science, engineering, business, and other data processing problems to implement and improve computer systems. Analyze user requirements, procedures, and problems to automate or improve existing systems and review computer system capabilities, workflow, and scheduling limitations. May analyze or recommend commercially available software.

What Job Titles Computer Systems Analysts Might Have

• Business Systems Analyst
• Computer Systems Analyst
• Programmer Analyst
• Systems Analyst

What Computer Systems Analysts Do

• Expand or modify system to serve new purposes or improve work flow.
• Test, maintain, and monitor computer programs and systems, including coordinating the installation of computer programs and systems.
• Develop, document and revise system design procedures, test procedures, and quality standards.
• Provide staff and users with assistance solving computer related problems, such as malfunctions and program problems.
• Review and analyze computer printouts and performance indicators to locate code problems, and correct errors by correcting codes.
• Consult with management to ensure agreement on system principles.
• Confer with clients regarding the nature of the information processing or computation needs a computer program is to address.
• Read manuals, periodicals, and technical reports to learn how to develop programs that meet staff and user requirements.
• Coordinate and link the computer systems within an organization to increase compatibility and so information can be shared.
• Determine computer software or hardware needed to set up or alter system.
• Supervise computer programmers or other systems analysts or serve as project leaders for particular systems projects.
• Assess the usefulness of pre-developed application packages and adapt them to a user environment.
• Analyze information processing or computation needs and plan and design computer systems, using techniques such as structured analysis, data modeling and information engineering.
• Define the goals of the system and devise flow charts and diagrams describing logical operational steps of programs.
• Train staff and users to work with computer systems and programs.
• Recommend new equipment or software packages.
• Use object-oriented programming languages, as well as client and server applications development processes and multimedia and Internet technology.
• Prepare cost-benefit and return-on-investment analyses to aid in decisions on system implementation.
• Use the computer in the analysis and solution of business problems, such as development of integrated production and inventory control and cost analysis systems.
• Specify inputs accessed by the system and plan the distribution and use of the results.
• Interview or survey workers, observe job performance or perform the job to determine what information is processed and how it is processed.

What Computer Systems Analysts Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Computer Systems Analysts Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

What Computer Systems Analysts Need to Learn

• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.