That sounds tough. To be honest, I don't know how a plan of taking the job you want while studying to be competent at it on the side would be possible for anyon

That sounds tough. To be honest, I don't know how a plan of taking the job you want while studying to be competent at it on the side would be possible for anyone. I'm also confused why you don't just transfer to another school with the credits you have. You wouldn't be starting from zero, right? Given that compilers are a very academic niche (people get PhDs in this), I don't at all see why university would be a waste of time. The good news is that there are lots of open source languages out there that could use help (most?). Nothing stopping you from getting there on your own, it just seems that guidance from professors on such a deep subject would help a lot.