It seems that software engineers have the highest pay and demand. Are there any other jobs with similar pay and demand that don’t involve programming? I’m getting bored of programming in C++, Java, C#, etc. I like to use SQL and Python, strategize and find solutions to a problem, and work with data to make a story out of numbers. Any job suggestions?
Jobs dealing with databases and data mining may be of interest to you, but you should expect programming there as well.
Consider that people exchange money for some “thing,” and if you’re making the “thing” you maybe get an earlier cut of the money than if you’re talking about the “thing.” I always get nervous when I take a step back from actual salable product.
I do understand where you are coming from - coding in the sense of a “code monkey” is not a particularly rewarding career, even if it does pay the bills, and what would really be nice is a job that pays well that takes advantage of a more advanced understanding of CS.
The good news is that jobs like that do exist, and while you do have to program, there comes a point where understanding code matters more than being the one who writes it, so you really cut down on how much you actually write. The bad news is that that is generally the kind of job that is given to people with enough experience to understand the nitty-gritty aspects of code along with the principles, and so they have a solid education (at least a CS degree, maybe an MS too) and years of experience.
What you want is given to people who can actually be useful. Being unwilling to learn the tedious aspects of being a “grunt” coder is not a good sign that you’ll ever get there. To know how to make useful progress in CS without doing much coding, first you have to understand how the code actually works, which is not so easily done.
I found that coding wasn’t for me. Putting in some time doing coding did help when I transitioned to doing business analysis. Can you talk to people easily? Can you write clearly? If you can do those things AND speak tech geek there are lots of opportunities for you. If you’re really a stickler for detail and can dog things to make them happen, project management is a possibility. With your love of strategy, you could maybe head towards being a technical solutions architect. Or a product owner. Or do technology sales. Eventually you could end up like I have as a manager in a tech company where it’s critical management understand what the coders do day in day out.
Read about some of these career options at http://www.pmi.org/ and https://www.scrumalliance.org/
I’m in project Management and it’s the worst career choice for some people including me. So it depends on the people. But I put up with it because I have less than 2 months till retirement. But wouldn’t have done otherwise.
I was probably born to be a project manager… although I don’t love every day of it, it is a varied career and pays pretty well. Having coding background helps, it gives you a sniff test for whether what the developers are saying makes sense.