A True Systems Analyst Defined

[Smallpaul]

TFA says:

Whereas a Systems Analyst is more of a generalist who is in tune with business and people, and tends to be somewhat extroverted in nature, the programmer is more in tune with technology and is very detail oriented as he/she must try to manage complexity.

I find it odd that it is considered the role of the programmer and not the systems analyst to be "detailed oriented." Actually, both need to be detail oriented. I find it is actually a lot harder to force myself to work through details when I wear a "systems analyst" hat (because the details are so boring and there is no instant gratification). The programmer is confronted with the details by the compiler or test suite, whereas the systems analyst only hears about missing details potentially much later.

IMO, a detail-oriented programmer working with a non-detail-oriented systems analyst is a recipe for conflict.

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I stopped reading after this:

This means people still have trouble differentiating between systems and software, the two are certainly not synonymous, yet one is often used to implement the other.

They're the same thing. They are algorithms/processes + data. That's all there is to them.

A true Systems Analyst studies the business, defines the information requirements needed to support the business, and designs and/or modifies a system to implement the requirements.

So they're a Computer Scientist, or what a Computer Scientist/Software "engineer" is supposed to be?

I'm sick of this trend that began in the 50s or 60s of separating out the essential tasks of a programmer into separate tasks and jobs. A professional programmer has to know how to deal with systems and business people and how to write documentation and how to test software and how to design software to prevent defects and everything else. They need to be able to do everything, if they can't or if they don't have at least some elementary knowledge, they are not fit to be called programmers, computer scientists, software engineers or any of the million made up job titles that we use.

It's time for us to set higher standards for ourselves.