Those are good questions and part of my soul searching as well. I think I want to get into top tech companies (financially motivated), but I've been studying DS

Those are good questions and part of my soul searching as well. I think I want to get into top tech companies (financially motivated), but I've been studying DS&A a lot and definitely think it was a diminishing returns. I think my DS&A is pretty good but I'm still experiencing failure for FAANG interviews. I don't want to do more DS&A if I have to, but I want to get better so that I can move beyond just doing APIs and widgets. I am not that interested in management track. As I get older, I think technical skills aren't as valued anymore, except in top tech companies.