Roadmap

The Analyst Engineering Roadmap

Five levels, one path. This roadmap maps the skills that take a technical analyst from writing clear requirements to specifying and testing AI systems, across business, technical, systems, payments, and AI work.

Find where you are now, then follow the articles, and the one guide, that move you to the level above. It is a free skill map first, a reading list you can work through at your own pace.

Wondering where the skills lead? See the five career paths they open: product, engineering, architecture, quality, and data, mapped step by step.

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1. 1

   Level 1

   Business Fundamentals

   Turn vague business needs into clear, testable requirements.

   Read

   • BRD vs FRD: Two Documents, Two Jobs
   • From Business Requirement to Functional Spec: Turning Intent Into Behavior
   • MoSCoW Prioritization: Must, Should, Could, Won't
   • The Requirements Traceability Matrix: From Requirement to Test, Proven
   • User Story vs Specification: When a Story Is Not Enough
   • Decision Tables: Every Combination, No Gaps

   Free at this level

   No purchase needed. Work through the articles above, and grab the free roadmap to keep the whole path in front of you.

2. 2

   Level 2

   Technical Analyst

   Query data, read APIs and logs, and verify systems yourself instead of forwarding questions to developers.

   Read

   • SQL for Analysts: Query the State, Find the Truth
   • JSON for Analysts: Read the Payload Fluently
   • Reading an API Contract: OpenAPI Without a Developer
   • The First Time I Read an OpenAPI Contract
   • Reading Production Logs: Trace One Transaction's Trail
   • Git for Analysts: Get Into the Codebase
   • Regex for Analysts: Find the Pattern in the Data
   • HTTP Status Codes Explained: What 200, 202, and 409 Really Mean

   Go deeper

   The full guide for this level: The Technical Skills Guide for BAs.

   View the guide
3. 3

   Level 3

   Systems Analyst

   See how systems connect and design integrations across them.

   Read

   • Integration Patterns Every Systems Analyst Should Know
   • Event-Driven Requirements: Specifying Systems That Talk in Events
   • System Context Diagrams: Draw the Boundary Before the Internals
   • Sequence Diagrams for Business Analysts: Draw the Flow, Find the Gaps
   • Batch vs Event-Driven: Why Timing Shapes Everything
   • Synchronous vs Asynchronous: The Choice That Defines a System
   • State Machines for Payments: Every Status, Every Transition

   Go deeper

   The full guide for this level: API Testing and QA Mastery for BAs.

   View the guide
4. 4

   Level 4

   Enterprise / Payments Analyst

   Work confidently in regulated payments: ISO 20022, message flows, reconciliation, and production support.

   Read

   • ISO 20022 Architecture: The Data Model Behind Modern Payments
   • PAIN vs pacs in ISO 20022: The Difference Every Payments Analyst Should Know
   • How to Write pacs.008 Test Cases for an ISO 20022 Migration
   • Payment Message Flows: pain, pacs, and camt End to End
   • Reconciliation Design: Proving Two Systems Agree
   • Reason Code Mapping: From Error to Customer Message
   • The Production Support Skills Nobody Teaches Analysts
   • How a Technical BA Investigates a Failed Payment

   Go deeper

   The full guide for this level: Break Into Banking.

   View the guide
5. 5

   Level 5

   AI Analyst

   Specify, test, and evaluate AI and LLM systems the way you would any other system.

   Read

   • Acceptance Criteria for AI Systems: Testing the Non-Deterministic
   • Why Acceptance Criteria Failed on an AI Project

   Go deeper

   The full guide for this level: AI at Work: MCP, RAG and AI Agents.

   View the guide

Want to see every guide in one place? Browse the full guides, or start free with the articles.

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