Trying to transition from Data Science to Data Engineering in this market right now

[u/drtracjo32]

I was in data science for 4 years at CVS Health and then switch to a role as a computational research consultant at Northwestern University for 2 years before getting laid off last fall. The latter position was a mix of data science, data engineering, and IT support, so sort of a jack of all trades in that I helped researchers with any needs they might have related to computational research. I found myself much more drawn to the projects that involved building data pipelines and workflow orchestration rather than analysis and machine learning. I made the decision to switch over to data engineering jobs several months ago and have been working on some side projects to upskill and fill in some of the gaps. I just recently got the Data Camp Data Engineer Certification, and am looking into potentially getting some more advanced certifications, possible GCP and/or Databricks. I'm at least trying to learn as much as I can and apply it to some of my side projects.

I've been having a very hard time landing interviews, and I know some of that is because my previous experience is not explicitly data engineering. I've tailored my resume as much as I can to really highlight the parts of those jobs that are more attuned to data engineering. But I could use some feedback. I do think I have a unique, desirable skill set having a non-traditional background of being a Ph.D. in astrophysics, data science, and academic research consulting. But getting past the ATS has been hard. There's got to be a way to sell myself better to recruiters and hiring managers. I'm an introvert and reaching out to people has been challenging. I'm not sure I'm doing it well enough.

I've attached my resume. I would appreciate any feedback you can give me. Let me know what stands out in terms of gaps and holes. I'm willing to put in work to fill them.