[kevinburke]

> Internal recruiters have hinted that my Software QA Engineer background + no CS degree implies I have no technical skill.

They're really trying to mitigate risk that they pass you along to engineers and the engineers say "why am I looking at this person with no formal qualifications" and then the recruiter feels like they've wasted the time of the engineering team. It's stupid but insidious.

If you can I would suggest trying to bypass the recruiters and contact the engineers/hiring manager directly; ask them out for coffee and ask for advice on starting a career in data science, or show them your portfolio via email there.