[op03]

"go back to academia" doesn't mean you have to go back there and collect certificates, take classes and pass exams.

Find a prof working on something interesting to you and offer to help. Better still submit a patch to whatever source code they have put out in the public domain. Its a great way to get your leg in the door.

Lots of the labs in the country have techies on staff. It leaves the subject matter experts free from wasting endless amounts of time filling their heads with unnecessary garbage about software. DONT goto CS depts. Target multidisciplinary groups so when the Chemist is done with you, work with the Neuroscientist and then the Social Scientist and then the Astrophysicists etc. The longer you are loitering around one lab the more work will fall into your lap. After wasting my time at bluechips for few years, I moved to a univ lab, which morphed into working at the univ startup accelerator as various lab projects matured into startups.

[dijksterhuis]

This is on point.

My PhD friend is doing data science for a startup which grew out of a biology lab.

The team is basically her, the engineers and one dude keeping the business side running.

They now have their own office with plants.

University, not necessarily studying there, is great place to find these sorts of groups.

All the better if you are the lab tech who “makes computers do magic”.

[one2know]

Academia can be more political and exploitative than the private sector. It is a bad choice for people "following their passion"