I'm deciding whether to continue down the cloud engineering/DevOps/SRE path or change to business or data analytics. I’ve been working in IT for about six years, starting in help desk and systems administration and eventually moving into cloud migrations. I also have certifications in Azure, GCP, CCNA, and CompTIA, so most of my experience has been centered around infrastructure and cloud technologies. One friend thinks I should stay on this path because I’ve already invested so much time into it and could continue progressing toward cloud engineering, DevOps, or eventually SRE. The concern I have is interviews for SRE roles ask about almost anything including multiple cloud platforms, Terraform, Kubernetes, scripting languages, monitoring tools like Grafana and Prometheus, CI/CD, networking and feel like SAT tests.

Another friend suggested that I consider business or data analytics instead. His argument is that analytics may be less stressful, potentially offer a better work-life balance without on-call responsibilities, and that I might ultimately be happier in that type of role. He also thinks the interviews may be less intense and require a narrower range of knowledge compared with DevOps/SRE. I’ve used SQL and Power BI briefly in previous positions, so I’m not completely starting from zero, although I haven’t held a full-time analytics position. I realize I might have to take a pay cut initially, but I’m wondering whether that could be worthwhile if it leads to a career I enjoy more?

For those who have worked in cloud/DevOps/SRE and/or business/data analytics, how would you compare the stress, interview difficulty, learning curve, career growth, and work-life balance? Would you recommend building on my existing cloud background, or change careers into analytics? Which would make more sense at this point in my career?