I don't know how much this will help...it is a bit free form (need some coffee). After 30 years as a dev/QA/tech lead, I went back to school to get a MSc in data science/ML/AI. I was sick of development work and needed to do something different (the last job was with a crummy startup etc). I thought I'd teach myself ML stuff, but realized a piece of paper as an official credential would probably be necessary to impress HR departments.
And going back to school (aka a vacation) sounded great - I would get exposed to all the basics in a compressed format vs. wasting time fumbling about teaching myself. Sort of like why I went to film school 20 years ago... which is another story again similar to yours.
One track of the MSc program was for people doing a conversion course, so I got out of a few classes thanks to all my previous experience (you might be able to do that). In the process of doing original research for my thesis, I realized at this point in my life I liked doing ML research - I'd been sliding into "research" over the past few years of jobs, so it all made sense. And academia is a different environment than industry, so something new to deal with. So I've been hanging around the uni doing research type work, TA jobs, etc. for the past few years.
So what might you learn about yourself by going back to school - versus getting even more stuck in the rut/groove you are in? I was 30 years old only a decade ago (I am actually 50...) Time has a way of speeding up the older you get. Do you want to be doing the same thing a decade from now? Or be in management?
My advice is, based on what you said, and whatever unconscious biases I might have, is to go back to school. You are certainly young enough to take a detour for a few years (like I did with film school) and having a CS degree along with your data analyst experience will make you pretty valuable. It sounds like you really like programming, so I wouldn't try to suppress that (like I did with writing screenplays - IT is much more time/cost-effective and profitable unfortunately and it is so very similar to writing actually).
Weigh the personal costs against the probable long term benefits of learning something you really like and which is more valuable career wise than sticking to data analysis - are they really that costly? Fundamentally, programming is a craft. There are plonkers who do it only for the money, but they are not ... I get the impression you want to be a craftsman, so you should be willing to suffer for your art :) It is the only thing that will keep you motivated when you are on a solo death march.
And if you really do need credentials to get a dev job in the public sector, then you need the degree. Perhaps it is as simple as that.
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.
And going back to school (aka a vacation) sounded great - I would get exposed to all the basics in a compressed format vs. wasting time fumbling about teaching myself. Sort of like why I went to film school 20 years ago... which is another story again similar to yours.
One track of the MSc program was for people doing a conversion course, so I got out of a few classes thanks to all my previous experience (you might be able to do that). In the process of doing original research for my thesis, I realized at this point in my life I liked doing ML research - I'd been sliding into "research" over the past few years of jobs, so it all made sense. And academia is a different environment than industry, so something new to deal with. So I've been hanging around the uni doing research type work, TA jobs, etc. for the past few years.
So what might you learn about yourself by going back to school - versus getting even more stuck in the rut/groove you are in? I was 30 years old only a decade ago (I am actually 50...) Time has a way of speeding up the older you get. Do you want to be doing the same thing a decade from now? Or be in management?
My advice is, based on what you said, and whatever unconscious biases I might have, is to go back to school. You are certainly young enough to take a detour for a few years (like I did with film school) and having a CS degree along with your data analyst experience will make you pretty valuable. It sounds like you really like programming, so I wouldn't try to suppress that (like I did with writing screenplays - IT is much more time/cost-effective and profitable unfortunately and it is so very similar to writing actually).
Weigh the personal costs against the probable long term benefits of learning something you really like and which is more valuable career wise than sticking to data analysis - are they really that costly? Fundamentally, programming is a craft. There are plonkers who do it only for the money, but they are not ... I get the impression you want to be a craftsman, so you should be willing to suffer for your art :) It is the only thing that will keep you motivated when you are on a solo death march.
And if you really do need credentials to get a dev job in the public sector, then you need the degree. Perhaps it is as simple as that.