I’m seeing the following job question and don’t know how to answer it:
How many years of software development experience do you have?
These are for Business Analyst jobs and not programming jobs. Does this refer to Excel, Access, SQL? I’m not a programmer but I have a long background developing spreadsheets and data related material. It does not specify any software at all.
My title at work is business analyst. The main part of my job involves delivering SAP projects to the business which implement new processes or update existing ones. This often involves program changes / new programs, and whilst I do not write them myself, I am involved in managing their delivery. Is this perhaps what is meant?
I’m a software developer. I wouldn’t consider creating and maintaining Excel spreadsheets, Access databases and SQL to be software development at all. I would bet that software development experience would be considered a mild plus, certainly not a must have, for a business analyst job.
Many BAs are developers who let technology pass them by. So it’s a sensible question. But zero is a reasonable answer if zero is the truth.
I would NOT count creating and maintaining spreadsheets or html as development.
Depending on the company whose question I’m answering and what the job entails, I might consider Access or SQL work to be development. But that would also depend on how complex the stuff I did was.
If that’s the only question on the application that comes close to letting you include your years of relevant experience, then put it in & explain the deails face to face.
A lot of applications are waaay to generic for the job being filled. And by and large, the HR people who prepare those applications (I call 'em people-feature checklists) are clueless about what experieince is actually relevant. Don’t let a too-literal interpretation of some dummies unthought-through question filter you out of a shot at an interview.