I started off as a software engineer for 2 years but began to explore the business side of things. I moved into designing/building systems for business analysis

I started off as a software engineer for 2 years but began to explore the business side of things. I moved into designing/building systems for business analysis (i.e. data warehousing, reporting, analytics, etc.), did strategy consulting for insurance and financial services as well as studied for my MBA. I'm now in charge of leading the analytics initiatives for our credit card business. I'm still in touch with my programming side through my side projects but the experience I gained through my software development years have been extremely helpful both in dealing with business & technical audiences as well as in solving problems logically. The main point is that the programming skills you've learned can be useful in another setting. Starting off as a programmer doesn't mean that you will have to do it for the rest of your life. You have many different choices and it's up to you to shape your career the way you want it.