[confusalyst]

This is exactly as I suspected, so thank you for confirming this.

"The systems analyst who can code is a better systems analyst because he can test/evaluate his ideas." This is something I have found from my personal experience and I'm glad I had that background. It truly has helped. Anyone reading this can count this as solid advice.

Moving into programmer/analyst territory is something I've considered only briefly and I'll look at it in greater detail. By brushing up on my dormant programming skills I guess the worst that'll happen is I'll become better at my current job. Never a bad thing.

[d_mcgraw]

I'm a programmer/analyst at a startup. It is a fun job. I'm always jumping between tasks and have a million things going on all at once. For me, the job is ~70% programming, ~25% analysis, ~5% other. That will certainly very depending on the company and responsibilities, but thats probably a good model of the work from what I've seen. If thats your cup of tea (sure is mine) then I would say this would be a great way to go. There are downfalls though; if you go the startup route that is. More then likely you will be making less then corporate and the hours may be more erratic to, but that depends on corporate culture. I would say give it a shot if your curious.