u/von_kids

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some perspective because I'm still trying to process my first year in the workforce.

I graduated in January 2025 and started my first graduate role as an IT Business Analyst at a consulting firm working with public institutions.

The first couple of months went well. Although most of my work involved documentation, I assumed that was normal for a junior BA and expected I'd gradually move into more hands-on analysis and IT-related work as I gained experience.

Things became much more difficult after that.

I often felt like I was expected to produce work at the same level and in the same style as colleagues who had years of experience, despite receiving relatively little coaching on how to get there. A few other BAs also mentioned experiencing something similar, so I don't think I was the only one who found the learning curve challenging.

I genuinely tried to improve. I regularly worked extra hours, completed training courses in my own time, asked questions, and put a lot of effort into developing my skills. Despite that, I felt that my managers became increasingly frustrated with my performance.

Over time, I started doubting myself. My confidence dropped significantly, my motivation disappeared, and I eventually reached the point where I felt burned out. I didn't take sick leave, but I remember spending entire workdays with constant chest pain and feeling tense all the time. I became convinced that everyone thought I wasn't good enough.

I was placed on a Performance Improvement Plan, which was particularly difficult because one of the Delivery Managers I worked with for around 80% of my time was generally satisfied with my work. His feedback was that I mainly needed more coaching and experience as a BA (which he couldn't do since he's a Developer / Delivery Manager). Unfortunately, I don't believe his perspective was given much weight compared with feedback from other senior managers who worked with me the first 6 months of my tenure in the job.

I've recently accepted a new Business Analyst role at an insurance company, and I'm genuinely excited about the opportunity. However, I've realised that this experience has affected me more than I expected.

I used to be a very open, optimistic person who assumed people wanted to help each other. Now I find myself second-guessing everything I do, expecting criticism, and struggling to trust managers or believe positive feedback.

I'm trying to understand what I can learn from this experience without letting it define me.

Has anyone else gone through something similar early in their career? How did you rebuild your confidence and stop carrying the anxiety from one job into the next? Looking back, were there things you realised you could have done differently, or was it more about finding an environment that supported your growth?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar.

Hi everyone,

I could really use some advice from seniors and experiences BAs.

I recently accepted a position as an IT Business Analyst at an insurance company, where I'll be working on fraud, KYC, and AML digitisation and automation initiatives.

I'm genuinely excited about the opportunity.

For some background, I graduated from university about a year ago (Jan 2025) and started working at an IT consulting firm on a project for a public-sector organisation as a Junior BA. Unfortunately, it's been a difficult first experience. The company went through an acquisition, onboarding and learning opportunities were limited, and I've often felt like I've had to figure things out on my own. On top of that, I found the public-sector environment to be very slow, process-heavy, and extremely bureaucratic.

One of the concerns I raised during my interviews was that I wanted to work in a more agile environment. The insurance company reassured me that, while they still have governance and regulations to follow, projects generally move faster and teams are able to make progress more efficiently (my new director has worked in public institutions before so he knew what I was referring to).

That said, I still feel like a complete beginner. My current role hasn't given me the foundation I hoped for, and over the past year my motivation has taken a hit. I don't want that experience to define me, though. I'm motivated to learn, improve, and do well in this new role. I want to make that boss proud because apparently he rejected other more experienced BAs for me as he enjoyed our discussion and the ideas I was putting on the table (I worked as an AML/KYC agent at a bank during university).

I have about three weeks before I start, and I've been using the time to read books on IT automation, digitisation, and business analysis to build my knowledge before day one.

For those of you with experience as Business Analysts, particularly in insurance, fraud, KYC, AML, or automation: what habits, skills, or resources would you recommend to help me become someone my team can genuinely rely on? I'd love to hear what made the biggest difference in your own career, especially early on.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi everyone,

I could really use some advice from seniors and experiences BAs.

I recently accepted a position as an IT Business Analyst at an insurance company, where I'll be working on fraud, KYC, and AML digitisation and automation initiatives.

I'm genuinely excited about the opportunity.

For some background, I graduated from university about a year ago (Jan 2025) and started working at an IT consulting firm on a project for a public-sector organisation as a Junior BA. Unfortunately, it's been a difficult first experience. The company went through an acquisition, onboarding and learning opportunities were limited, and I've often felt like I've had to figure things out on my own. On top of that, I found the public-sector environment to be very slow, process-heavy, and extremely bureaucratic.

One of the concerns I raised during my interviews was that I wanted to work in a more agile environment. The insurance company reassured me that, while they still have governance and regulations to follow, projects generally move faster and teams are able to make progress more efficiently (my new director has worked in public institutions before so he knew what I was referring to).

That said, I still feel like a complete beginner. My current role hasn't given me the foundation I hoped for, and over the past year my motivation has taken a hit. I don't want that experience to define me, though. I'm motivated to learn, improve, and do well in this new role. I want to make that boss proud because apparently he rejected other more experienced BAs for me as he enjoyed our discussion and the ideas I was putting on the table (I worked as an AML/KYC agent at a bank during university).

I have about three weeks before I start, and I've been using the time to read books on IT automation, digitisation, and business analysis to build my knowledge before day one.

For those of you with experience as Business Analysts, particularly in insurance, fraud, KYC, AML, or automation: what habits, skills, or resources would you recommend to help me become someone my team can genuinely rely on? I'd love to hear what made the biggest difference in your own career, especially early on.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi all,

I’m 25F (French) and my partner is Thai (31M).

We met in England at university and now I’m 6 months pregnant. It’s my first child.

We decided a few months ago we would move to Bangkok post graduation (for me, he graduated 2 years ago).

I’m now in Bangkok and we moved together in an apartment. He works and I stay at home (we agreed that I would stay home at least the first 2 years).

Long story short: I’m terrified to give birth here because although I take Thai lessons I’m not proficient yet and I’m scared of not being able to understand everything they tell me during labour. I know they speak good English in Bangkok and I’m fluent but the communication barrier makes me afraid.

On top of it my parents will not be able to attend. His parents will be there however.

Has any recent foreigner given birth and if yes how was the experience? My sister in law is Thai and she had a good experience but she was older when she gave birth. I believe this can have a great impact.

Thanks a lot!

So tired of the fruits and vegetable selection at Auchan, Leclerc, Proxy and Delhaize.

I know there’s La provençale somewhere but I never tried.

Do you know a place where the product offering is good in terms of fruits and vegetables especially?

For instance abricots that taste like proper sweet apricots with a good texture.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I hope you’re well.

For the context I come from a very working class background and I spent the past 5 years getting an education in Business Intelligence / Analysis.

I got a job last year early 2025 (junior) and managed to build 30k of savings. My salary is 3400 net and I manage to set aside 1600eur a month on average (high living costs).

I will receive a 17k inheritance.

I was thinking of finally investing notably with that incoming 17k + savings and set aside 8k of emergency savings (so let that in my current account), setting aside whatever I manage to normally put in my savings account as investments (ETFs).

Is this a good strategy according to you? I never took the time to learn much about investing but I would hope to reach 100k or so by 27-28 in my investment account.

Thanks for any insights!

Hi everyone,

Are there people interested for a rave group to attend the scene in Luxembourg, Belgium or Germany together?

From schranz to psytrance to Afro house I’m open.