Non-programming jobs that require programming knowledge

I'm currently in the military but need to plan for the future. I program as a hobby but I don't want to program professionally when I get out; I don't think I would have fun programming for someone else.

However, I wouldn't mind having a job that either required programming knowledge, e.g. some sort of management position, or let me make small programs to help improve/automate things.

What are some jobs that aren't normally considered as a programming job but where it's still good to have the knowledge?

From stackoverflow crystalattice

• Statistician. Mathematician. Cosmologist. Physicist. Civil, Mechanical, Aeronautical Engineers.

  Just a few off the top of my head.

  HalfBrian : Haha, I read that as Cosmetologist.
  From rpj

• I was an actuary back in the nineties and I had to code a bit in APL and Fortran. It's probably different now.

  Jacob : Most of the actuarial science students at our University have compulsory courses in C# and SAS.
  From wcm
• 1. Thank you for your service!
  2. any engineering job
  From Steven A. Lowe

• Software Tester -- you will need to understand how software works and may have to write some test automation but you get the fun of trying to break the software.

  Scott Alan Miller : I think that most testers would be expected to have a level of development experience and to do an amount of programming that might disqualify them from this particular category.

  RickL : Most of our QA have not had any development experience.

  rpj : I agree with S.A. Miller; from my experience, most QA positions require a fair amount of development work, either writing tools and test harnesses or simply being able to read and grok someone else's (possibly horrid) code.

  Brian G : The amount of development usually isn't that significant in my opinion, there may be some dev work but scripting mostly ( in my experience )

  tloach : Depends where you work. My current QA department uses a combination of developers for automation and non-developers for manual testing (you know, making sure the people who have to use our product won't lynch us for how it works)
  From Jeff Stong
• • Technical Writer
  • Usability Specialist/Analyst (making prototypes now and then)
  From Swati

• I would say that Project Manager and any number of Analyst (such as a Business Analyst etc) positions would also be on the list of jobs that may use some programming knowledge.

  From TehOne

• System administration uses some amount of programming for automation and an understanding is critical but being a developer is not required. SAGE claims that admins should be able to mentor developers but this is crazy and is not the case.

  Database Administration would be similar but to a lesser extent.

  I think that being a development manager without having worked as a full time developer is a recipe for problems such as a lack of respect from the developers.

  From Scott Alan Miller

• Some sort of software development management position may seem like a logical fit, but be careful that you don't over-value your knowledge. If you haven't written software "for real", meaning working on a large application as part of a team with fluctuating requirements, compressed schedules, ongoing maintenance, and consequences for failure, then you wouldn't really know much about a developer's job.

  I've worked for a manager who thought that writing Excel macros for business coursework in college meant he understood what it was to be a programmer. I worked for another who played around with Visual Basic on weekends and so he thought he should be the UI interface designer. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

  rpj : Definitely agreed here: I've worked for shops where the top-level managers of development teams had no more programming experience than your average high school student. It *does not* make for a good environment, in any way, shape or form.

  Metro Smurf : +1 for keeping the "I've written a VB macro" crowd, especially a manager, out of the development process :-)
  From Kristopher Johnson

• Many software and technical services companies employ technical sales engineers. These individuals assist the salespeople with defining the customer's needs and preparing demonstrations of specific technical solutions.

  From polara

• i work in a bank and every body uses Excel all the time and the ones who knows how make Excel macros are welcomed in every departaments

  TrickyNixon : Nothing could possibly go wrong!
  From Telcontar

• Economics modeling.

  From pearcewg

• Product Manager. They always have to understand the customer and the business domain, but it's even better if they know something about programming.

  From rice

• Financial Analyst

  Or working for yourself in some capacity. Take what you know well plus programming and see if you can make a go of it.

  From Brian G

• 3d moddeling /technical director

  From alex

• Psychological research nowadays uses a lot of computerized interviews, which someone has to program. It's not that difficult, but it's difficult enough that many grants need a programmer for it.

  Web-based assessments and data collection are just now starting to become accepted and used in psych research, so there's opportunity there. There's also a lot of need for data management once data is collected, and automated data integrity checking, that sort of thing.

  From Brian Carper

• As a professional programmer who's always looking to expand his acumen, I've focused on two possible expansions of my career: actuary/risk manager and financial engineer/quantitative analyst. The latter requires more of a grasp of programming concepts than most programming jobs. The former can greatly benefit from programming knowledge.

  In general, though, I would say that there are very few careers that could not benefit from some programming knowledge, even if it's just to hack together some tools to cut the repetition out of your own job.

  From Jekke