Can you code ? All the systems analysts that I have met that didn't come from a coding background where, erm, less useful than they could have been.

In fact I can't remember the last time I met some one describing themselves as a systems analyst. But then I don't work with big companies very often.

I occasionally get described (when someone else is selling my services) as an Analyst Programmer and sometimes as a Programmer Architect. I think what they are trying to say when they add that to my CV for me is that I'm a programmer who when designing systems can think of the bigger picture and the fine detail without losing the plot.

But I wouldn't have a clue when it comes to the stuff that "proper" analysts are supposed to know, which seems to largely consist of spending years drawing complex drawings that no one ever looks at again.