Imagine you've just returned from holiday and your data professional world is turned upside down. There's not a single SQL Server left at work, or maybe there's no job to work with SQL Server. Now, what do you do?

I'm hoping that's not the case for me, as I'm actually writing this a couple weeks ahead of time. When this publishes, I'll have just returned from a holiday in Hong Kong, which I'm guessing is a completely different reality than the one I normally live and work in. I'm very excited as I've ever been, so I likely won't be refreshed and recharged after a quick, 6 day trip to the other side of the world. Hopefully I slept very little and saw quite a bit.

In any case, I thought about this recently as I chatted with a few fellow data professionals that had left the SQL Server world behind. They had moved on, some with regrets, some happy, but for all of these individuals, there was no more SQL Server. In today's SQL twilight zone, imagine that you can't work with SQL Server any longer, but you do need to keep working.

On which platform would you want to work?

Perhaps there's another platform you work on now, or would like to work on. Maybe you'd want to move away from data and do something else? I'm also curious if some of you would be disappointed or just take a move in stride.

For me, I am a little torn and I've have to think a bit more about what to do. I've worked on other platforms in the past, and would be comfortable changing if I had to. My first inclination is to say PostgreSQL, which I've always admired a bit. It felt immature back when we started SQLServerCentral, but I liked it better than MySQL. And much better than Oracle or DB/2, especially with the tooling.

My other choice would be CosmosDB. I think what Microsoft is doing here is fantastic, and while there is work to be done, this is a great way to store some new data. The only concern I would have is are there enough jobs for people that work with CosmosDB? Adoption is growing,  but is it enough to build a career on? I'm not sure. Perhaps, but I'd have to make that decision after more research.

Let us know today. What platform would you move to, or would you leave databases?