Hi Chenna,
There is no quick and easy answer to your question as there are a number of deciding or guiding factors to take into account when choosing your path. The most important one of those is not where the technology is or is not going, but where is your passion?
In my experience, Database people are different to Data Warehousing people, SAP Data Warehousing (BW) people are different to other data warehousing people, BI (reporting/visualization/analytics) people are different again, as are data scientists and so on and so on.
Although many do well going across the disciplines, those that do best (IMHO) are the people who identify where there passion is and pursue it. So my advice to you is identify where your passion is and you will do well, the specific technologies are less relevant.
That said……..In My Humble Opinion…….I would break the 3 technologies (and disciplines) out from each other.
BO, Business Objects* > BI People > this is a presentation tool, what I would consider or term as a true “BI” toolset. This toolset has an outstanding future, one that is agnostic and will work on BW as a source, Hana as a source, and countless other platforms and database technologies as a source. Building excellence in this discipline (and technology) arguably provides you with the most opportunity, as in all reality, exposure to the other technologies ultimately comes down to “which connection do I use?”. Again in my humble opinion.
BW, Business Warehouse, SAP’s legacy EDW > Data Warehouse People> I don’t want to under sell this, but BW is a Data Warehouse for SAP’s ERP. SAP is a big company, it has a lot of customers, many of whom use BW and have invested massive amounts of capital and IP in BW, not to mention inter-dependencies with many of the SAP tools (BPC, APO, F&R) so let’s face it, BW it is not going anywhere any time soon. I personally am in awe of a number of people who have their passion in BW, they know it well and can work magic with it. But! IMHO (I get so sick of saying that) and in complete contrast to what SAP will tell you, BW is for SAP ERP etc and is not commercially viable (in TCO terms) in any other context, so that limits your scope.
SAP HANA > Database People (for now) > This is absolutely an exciting area of blinding change at this time. It is usable as an underlying database platform for BW, but it is also usable for other applications in its own right (understatement). Again, I don’t want to under sell this as clearly there is a specific set of skills to excel in Hana, its configuration, querying, data architecture and so on, but ultimately it is a database. From a BW perspective it is comparable to any other database and from a Business Objects perspective it is comparable to any other database, and like other databases, its use/application is more than as a repository for BI. If databases float your boat, it is one of the better database technologies to be building a career on (at the moment).
So, a novel of a reply, saturated with disclaimers as an attempt to avoid flaming arguments and to stay on topic. But in short, I revert back to my opening comments. Both options you give are viable and would present you with a challenging and rewarding career and all three technologies/toolsets will be around for the foreseeable future. It all comes down to you?
Be honest with yourself, What floats your boat?
I hope in all of this I have been able to provide some value.
Kind regards
Corey
Business Objects* - I refer to the end user or presentation tools, Webi, Crystal, Visi, BODS etc, not the server technology and configuration. That is an entirely different area of expertise.
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