I've worked in a big company that had explicit "junior data engineer" roles, but even those would expect some programming experience - either through a bootcamp

I've worked in a big company that had explicit "junior data engineer" roles, but even those would expect some programming experience - either through a bootcamp, degree or related role like data analysis. But basically yeah, as a UK data engineer, I'd say what you've said is pretty much right on- programming language + SQL will get you hired much more than "I've used this ETL tool"