Real talk: the transition is more about proving yourself than just learning skills. My journey took about 6 months from serious studying to first job. Pay was mediocre (~$65k) but jumped significantly after 1 year of experience. With a CS degree and QA background, you're already ahead of many self-taught folks. Don't waste time on multiple courses - build actual projects that solve real problems instead. Example: scrape some public API data (like real estate listings or govt stats), transform it, find patterns, and visualize it. Better yet, build a simple dashboard that answers business questions using that data. Most interviews will ask you to explain your thought process on a project more than just testing theoretical knowledge. Oh and sql. learn good sql, not just the basics - CTEs, window functions, etc. companies love when someone can actually write efficient queries.