[ared38]

I'm sure you're extremely smart and dedicated -- I've only dreamed of putting in that much work -- but have you considered your mindset might be holding you back? Would you hire someone who had never worked in low-level game programming and didn't have a bachelors but told you "I can do everything you can do"?

If you're serious about getting a PhD-level job without a PhD, getting someone to recommend and vouch for you is even more important than usual. Since you're up to date with papers, why not email researchers you admire with questions that demonstrate you deeply understand their work? Many will be too busy, but some will probably be impressed by your determination. Once you have a relationship, see if you can assist with their research, even if initially it's just grunt work. It will take time, but integrating yourself into the academic "web of trust" and maybe getting your name on some papers is the only plausible way you can expect a company that doesn't know you to take you seriously.

[kthejoker2]

Data science is not a PhD level job. PhDs may be well suited for it, certainly, but 80% of data science can be done by peoplenwth bachelor's degree in stats / math-heavy science.

There's always a domain specificity that sometimes comes from grad school, but data is data and industries are filled with SMEs who understand the domain.

Source: I hire data scientists for Fortune 500 companies.