I&#x27;m wrestling with the idea of a big change in my career. Can you help me separate fantasy from reality?<p>I am a 35yo engineer and work in consulting in Boston doing high-end finite element work. I have a PhD from a top program in the US. My background is in FEM programming (lots of linear algebra) and I have a minor in math (PDE&#x27;s, stats&#x2F;reliability, and numerical methods). I write a lot of Python code for post-processing simulation results and handling large amounts of text data (numpy&#x2F;pandas&#x2F;matplotlib&#x2F;etc). My happiest days are spent programming, and I care very little for the engineering aspects of my work. My current job is stable and I make about $100k, decent but not enough to buy a house here or to get ahead.<p>For years, I have wanted to make a jump to some mix of software and Python data science work. Data science is more interesting to me than the junior software engineer track, although I know I need to level up to program professionally. The sunk cost in my PhD hurts, but I am tired of looking at my friends who do this type of work remotely and feeling sorry for myself. I want to do interesting work with smart people. I want to eventually move somewhere with a low cost of living near national parks, have time to play with my kids, etc. I do not believe this goal is realistic doing billable hour-based engineering consulting.<p>I am ready to pull the trigger. My wife is encouraging me to do it. I am on a self-directed study plan to fill in knowledge gaps with the tools I already use and others. I am starting to attend Python &#x2F; data science meetups in Boston. I know a hard road lies before me but I am nothing but excited.<p>I would welcome any insight on the following:<p>- Am I being realistic? Is it too late at mid-30s?
- How soon can I expect to replace my current income?
- What is your advice for leveling up from a research hacker to data scientist?
- How do you recommend identifying remote opportunities?
Ask HN: Mechanical engineer to software engineer / data scientist?