.net dev with 9 year exp should move to devops profile or continue dev

Consider your long-term career goals and interests. If you enjoy automation, CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and system reliability, transitioning to DevOps can open up exciting opportunities. However, if you're passionate about coding, architecture, and building applications, Software, Training, continuing in development, possibly moving toward solution architecture or tech lead roles, could be more fulfilling. You can also gradually explore DevOps while leveraging your .NET skills in hybrid roles.
 

With 9 years of .NET experience, shifting to DevOps can be a smart move if you're interested in automation, cloud, and CI/CD practices. DevOps roles are in high demand and offer long-term career growth. You won’t "forget" .NET skills—they’ll actually complement your DevOps work, especially in build automation and deployments. If you enjoy coding and architecture, staying in .NET is also viable, especially with cloud-native development rising. Choose DevOps if you seek versatility and broader tech exposure; continue with .NET if you're passionate about software development. Either path has a future—decide based on your interest in tools, scripting, and infrastructure.

I know its not easy to switch from .NET to Java or vice versa and many of us (including me) don't want to learn new things. But if you like your company and want to become a valuable part of your company and grow in it, learning new things is always a good thing. I believe every developer should also know DevOps. If you want to become an Solutions Architect, you need to know more than just coding. You need to know DevOps and even Java and other applications/products. If you do not like your job and your company then you can look for something new. You can always contine to learn and do your own side projects in .NET so you're not out of touch.

Being a good developer is not about what tech stack you are skilled on.. but how do you solve various problems. If you look at large companies today, they use all kind of tech stacks, multiple clouds, and multiple databases, as they fit. This trend is growing. We are not stick to one tech stack and one cloud anymore.

Make learning new things a habit regardless what technology and what company you work for. Learning new things will give you a different perspective. Cheers!

Yes, You should go with DevOps path. You have extensive development experience which will really help you out in this path. Development experience is really valuable for a DevOps Engineer