Vantaggi
There are no pros in this position.
Svantaggi
LITERALLY EVERYTHING. SSA is extremely deceptive when recruiting for this position and is very misleading in terms of disclosing what the job function of the BA is during the hiring process. Unbeknown to recent hires, SSA overhires for this position knowing that there is a limited number of BA vacancies that is WELL BELOW the number of newly hired trainees. The turnover rate is extremely high and it is not unusual for only 4-5 trainees out of a class of 25 to make it to the end of training and EVEN FEWER successfully make it through the mentoring process. EVERYTHING you do in the training class is graded and can be used against you. What you're not told during the interview process is that this position requires EXTENSIVE coding on extremely out of date system and knowledge of the most minute technicalities in SSA policy. An accuracy rate of 85%+ is required right off the bat during the mentoring phase. Even the smallest errors as a result of confusion due the many technicalities in SSA policy result in your case being marked incorrect and thus bringing down your accuracy. Management will tell you to take your time to get it right when working on live cases yet hold it against you if you wanted do *exactly that* on the tests and run out of time. If you have a bad instructor management will shrug it off by saying "material is material." You're told that mentoring period lasts 4-8 months, when in reality there are people who spend 1-2+ years in the mentoring phase. There is virtually no career ladder progression in this position and those who do get promoted normally transfer to a field office first. To say that this position is "technical" is a PROFOUND understatement. If you enjoy micromanagement, coding on an arcane and archaic system, learning confusing (if not downright contradictory policies), all while wondering if the next test or live case will be the cause of your termination then this is the job for you.