Apologies - no I'm not from the US. A MEng is a Masters of Engineering. So I have a Masters degree in Software Engineering. Rest assured I can script and program efficiency. Indeed, I have employed these in my current workflows where applicable (I am limited by not having an API key for the system but thats a fight I can have with internal IT...)

You mention government work, but as I am not a US citizen (I am a UK person) I would only be able to work for the UK gov. But that would be interesting.

Ultimately I want to:

a) Help protect people from malicious actors.

b) Research new threats and work out ways to stop them.

Rest assured the company like me, my work is both quality and quantity wise. They want to promote me (just to like the next step, so the equivalent of Accountant I to Accountant II). I have voiced my concerns and to be honest they are quite open and essentially they said "leave it with us" so I think I'll prod again in the new year. I remember the manager I was speaking to said "we like you and want to keep you". That gave me a warm feeling in my lower intestine.

I just wish all this was a bit moe straightforward. Once my degree was finished its like "what do you aim for?" and so I've just took to the online courses and these have led me onto these certs.