[cactus2093]

It sounds like you are already confident in programming and maybe just have a few gaps in your knowledge. You can fill those with online classes or just as you read and learn things over time. In my opinion, going back to formal school for years would probably be a waste of time when there are so many programming jobs that don’t care about a degree.

Doesn’t the public sector contract out a huge amount of their technology anyway? There are tech companies that do things like help cities optimize bus routes, or sell Saas or data products that governments use (e.g. palantir).

Surely you can find a private sector programming job where you’ll have a much bigger impact on solving public sector problems than working for the public sector. Maybe even start your own company down the road.

And I have to think that since you do have a college degree just not in CS, once you get a few years programming experience under your belt you could even get hired for a public sector programming job, although I don’t have any experience with that and don’t know for sure.