There's some good stories of amateur becoming professors and more. E.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pitts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pit

There's some good stories of amateur becoming professors and more. E.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pitts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pitts Mind you I'd imagine it to be much easier if you just do that damned masters you've been planning to and go the PhD route.