Auntie Rosnah Kampung Knowledge Chief

I made the jump at 36 from a marketing role into a data analyst position, no CS degree, self-taught SQL and Python over about 14 months while still working. The honest reality is the first door is the hardest, I sent out maybe 80 applications and got ghosted by most because I had no track record. What broke it open was building actual projects with real data and doing a contract role first to get the line on my resume, then the full-time offer came. It's realistic but not the fairytale the bootcamps sell, budget for a year of grinding and probably a pay cut initially before you climb back up.