[dudul]

First of all, data scientists are in very high demand today. Probably one of the hottest market. I'm no fortune teller but I don't see any reason for that to change.

Second, I find that it's really really hard to learn data science just with online courses. And even if you could learn as an autodidact, it would be very difficult to get the legitimacy and be taken seriously without a degree.

You could, without a degree, join a company that does data science, try to get a foot in the door to work with their team, learn in the trench and get a real position as data scientist.