This article is aimed at people currently thinking about choosing a career, or others who are considering moving from a career they have spent a lot of years in.

There are different roles related to software development, and not all require many years of training in programming. Some roles lend themselves very well to people coming from previous business, health or other careers.

Business Analysts are always in high demand, especially when one is getting a lot of experience from an industry that a company is creating software for. IIBA certification or similar helps the transition to the role.

Software Testing and other QA talent are also in high demand, and these too can benefit from experience as a user in different verticals. Backing your industry experience with training and certification such as ISTQB is a good idea.

Another software-related role which benefits from experience in diverse verticals is that of Product Owner. This role involves taking responsibility for a product’s road map by translating user stories into requirements for the development team. A background in project management helps, as does a foundation level in software. Training and certification such as CSPO helps too.

If you are mathematically minded, or are good at turning numbers into information visually, then moving to a Data or Business Intelligence role is possible. The role involves identifying data which is already available within organisations, generate other data which may be required to form a more complete picture, and then organise and turn this data into meaningful information that can aid decision-making. The use of software to depict this information visually in dashboards is essential here.

It goes without saying that, besides the above roles, practically any role involving software development is in high demand. Java, C#, JavaScript and PHP development skills are in high demand as are people skilled in Ruby, Python, C++ and others.

Besides choosing the language or platform, choosing whether you prefer working on the back-end, front-end, or both (full-stack) is also an important decision. 

As with any other decision in life, often the first step is the most difficult. You can rest assured however that this first step will. Not be a first step into the unknown, but is surely going to bring about job security, good renumeration, and work satisfaction in the years to come.