I mentioned sometime ago that LaunchCode is a great way to get into programming / software development world for a grown-up whose background is not computer science or information science.
But that’s not the only way. More recently I noticed some friends made the transition from research position at Washington University to industry. Again there is more than one way. One friend took a lot of statistical courses from coursera, combined with the background in statistics, R and computer at Wash. U., that particular friend is a senior data scientist on healthcare. A couple more friends made transition earlier, from research technician to statistical analysts after getting a MS degree (all at Wash U.), then transition to industry.
So there is really no single approach to Rome. 🙂
There is one thing in common though: one has to learn, either via nontraditional degree programs, such as online sources coursera, or launch code, or a degree program. So in other words there is no free lunch, or no pain no gain 🙂