Between, web/software developer and SQL database developer, Which one is a better career path?
Very simple.First, SQL databases will be dead soon. But the dedicated “database developer” job will die much sooner. I know what some people might say. They are earning a good paycheck doing that. It was easy to get a job, etc. I am sure there are many not yet outsourced COBOL programmers enjoying it too. Their time will come.I never understood why normal “middle tier” C++ and Java programmers needed help with SQL. Or database design. Good object-oriented code takes care of persisting information into the database. There are plenty of almost-automatic frameworks to do that: namely ORMs for SQL databases.Second, you need to be a generalist capable of developing the entire Web or mobile application: from the UI all the way down to the database. Only then you’d rise above the “outsourced” “discount resource” level to earn more than $60K. And have real career potential - primarily to quit and found your own company. Or join somebody who founded one.Learning to be a generalist, like the Web app development in general, starts from the top: UI. Not from the database. And generally most of the important logic resides in the rich UI nowadays. Not to mention that’s what your customers see.The UI is always important. It’s a must for any system. Especially when someone is putting a lipstick on the pig (some crappy “legacy” application) - very common nowadays in corporate IT. They are usually scared shitless to change anything in the back-end. They’d rather re-skin the UI, which is a lot of work (your billed man-hours) to utilize the prehistoric back-end that wasn’t designed for the new slick app.