[CarbonCycles]

Lots of good advice given. I echo what many have said about Data Science..it's an overloaded phrase that means anything and everything to everyone. It's important to understand the context in which that the person is applying it.

I did a mid-career change from working decades applying advanced control theory to Data Science. The transition was very natural in that many of the curriculum and principles taught overlapped naturally with Data Science (what it was called at that time). To me, I stress the SCIENCE part of data science that involves designing experiments, developing theory, writing the code/drivers needed to drive the hardware, building the hardware, etc. Unfortunately, my definition has become the outlier. Side note...I have noticed that DS is becoming interchanged more and more as a very advanced BI/BA role, which further dilutes the conversations. Basically, what I'm getting at is that it's never too late to change...just gotta keep asking questions and failing (in a good way).

I'm glad you realized this earlier rather than later. Based on your ideal job description, I think you would make an ideal back-end developer...possibly full-stack?

Good luck!