Hi all

I've joined this thread as I have found myself in a career crisis. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

For 2.5 years i have been a web developer, primarily working with Microsoft's asp and now asp.net with SQL server as a database. i just scored a job as a fairly beginner to intermediate asp.net developer at a consulting firm. (i graduated in 2005). After working with some very hardcore asp.net developers, i can't see myself progressing to be so technical like them! It seems that developers progress into enterprise architects or solution designers.

I understand the IT market is hot right now and I have always enjoyed working with data/analysis side of projects so i'm wondering if i should take this opportunity to make a move to try Data warehouse/Business Intelligence work in the Microsoft space.

I'm interested in the work they do but what are the career opportunities like there? Do people generally move from web development to data analyst work? Could it be more enjoyable? Is this going backward?

As i greedily also want to travel, i thought if i stick to to asp.net (there seems to be a big demand for it) and it is something i have existing skills in, it would be easier to find temp/contract and fund myself if i work abroad. How employable would i be being someone with an asp.net background who has just moved into DW/BI work?

Please save my soul and share me your thoughts.

Data warehousing, Business Intelligence, Data Mining etc are considered highly specialized skills. If you are serious about moving into that area, I would not bank on interest and basic skills as the ticket there. If you really want to be successful in data mining, you should probably consider a degree in CIS or a degree in Data mining - Colorado State University has an online degree, I believe.

Sticking with ASP.Net is your best bet if you don't have the time or resources to invest in going back to school. With asp.net, you can grow your skills and profile with each project you work on while still earning a pretty good salary.

The Datawarehousing/Bus Intell would serve you better in the longrun and it will be more interesting and fun. You could also look at "data mining" if you do have a math bent but not a hearts-on-fire feeling for geeky tech devel. The actual storing of data is ... straightforward but interpretation of the data is where you can make a killing as a skilled analyst. You could always go play around with R on some large datasets, brush up on your presentation tech skills and some data visualization apps. Some ETL and EDL code is always necessary so you can stay current in some of the simpler aspects of .NET without having to immerse yourself in the deepest (and ugly) aspects of .NET dev.

UML is handy whether you stick with .NET devel or become skilled at DW/BI.

C++ya,
xkey

This is just a sad thread.

Be relax and think yourself what u want to do and what not. I believe that a person him/her self is the best judge.