[TheGrkIntrprtr]

Thanks for this great reply. Yes, I think you're right - at least with the constraints I've set for myself, if I want to build software as a full time job in the public sector it seems like there's no way around getting the credential.

However, I'm guessing I might need to start at the bottom again. Probably wouldn't be able to just waltz into a full dev position with my data analyst experience I'm guessing. That'd mean accepting a huge decrease in salary.

Maybe learning enough outside of work to begin contributing to open source projects that interest me would be enough to scratch the itch.. or perhaps some freelancing/building software to sell on the side? Is it feasible to really get good at it if isn't my full time job though, I'm not sure..

One thing I was thinking of doing, if I decided against the degree, was really digging into some open source data engineering projects like dbt and airflow. Even just reading the source code and getting a good understanding of it if I can't contribute. My thinking was that even if no positions labelled as "data engineer" exist, it might do something to help me maneuver into a data analyst/science labelled position where modern data engineering is really what's needed.