[thomzi12]

You're right, Google has been very supportive -- very thankful for that! That said, if you work at a technology company, you CAN build a portfolio and self-advocate for projects with engineering teams your data science team already works with.

I think it's worth seeing how far you can get with this approach before interviewing for engineering roles at other companies.

One notable caveat with my approach: pursuing a portfolio approach took me a whole year to switch from DS to engineering. As you point out, grinding leetcode may only require half that time.