Skills-based hiring is finally getting some traction. About time.
In IT, especially in the BA space, I’ve seen domain experts step into analyst roles and absolutely nail it. They’ve been living the business for years. They know where the pain points are, how things actually work, and they’ve already got solid relationships with the people who make things happen.
In BA land, that’s gold. You can teach someone how to write a user story. You can’t teach the head of operations to return someone’s calls. These people walk in with trust, credibility and context, three things most BAs spend their first six months trying to build.
The catch
Those same strengths don’t always carry over when they try to move roles. Outside their home turf, without formal training or frameworks, they risk being seen as “domain bound”. Not because they’re not capable, but because their skill set isn’t neatly packaged for the open market. The irony is they’ve been translating business needs into outcomes for years, just not in a way that recruiters easily recognise.
And it’s not just BAs. I’ve seen leaders handed project management responsibilities on IT initiatives. Sometimes it works. Other times it’s chaos. Either way, it highlights a truth: leadership and delivery are different things. Give people the support, training and a few friendly templates, and they’ll land on their feet. Throw them in the deep end with a budget and no context, and I hope someone’s updating the risk register.
Degrees, certifications and what actually delivers
I’m not anti-university. Far from it. There’s value in the degree, and in the critical thinking, the planning, and the art of pulling something together at 3am. Those skills show up in real jobs, and for many people university opens doors that would otherwise stay bolted shut.
But I’ve also worked with self-taught developers who were absolute machines. No formal qualifications, just a love of solving problems, breaking things and occasionally rebuilding them better. The moment they tried to go legit, they were blocked by hiring filters that said “Bachelor’s degree required”.
Even in contracting, you’ll see roles demanding $4,000 certifications that don’t add $4 worth of real capability. It’s become a badge-collecting game in some circles.
I’m all for hiring based on skills. But if we’re serious about it, let’s do it properly. Give people the right support, the right exposure, and the tools to grow beyond their current patch. Recognise talent, even when it doesn’t come with the “right” paperwork. Because at the end of the day, that’s what actually delivers projects: not the badge, not the title, just the skill.
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