It makes me almost feel sad for the people that followed the "why bother doing a CS degree, you can learn to code without one" trend that probably peaked and is

It makes me almost feel sad for the people that followed the "why bother doing a CS degree, you can learn to code without one" trend that probably peaked and is now maybe beginning to die a slow death as the market is flooded with people who can write code. If they ever want to transition into DS they're going to have to skill up and do the equivalent of undergrad CS math curriculum (discrete, calculus, linear algebra, math stats, etc.), which let's be honest, you cannot pick this up in any meaningful way in a "few months" of after hours/weekend study like you can when learning to program or learning some new "framework"; either that or just remain another dime-a-dozen code-cutter. It's sad because if you just did the 4 years of computer science and all the math and the stats that go with it you'd be so close to pivoting right now if you wanted to.