For what reasons did/would you migrate from data analytics/science to data engineering?

Hey everyone, I’m currently a credit risk intern at one of the biggest private banks in Latin America. Most of what I do is SQL or Python building ETL/ELT pipelines (mostly low/no code) on AWS with services like Athena, S3, Glue, SageMaker, and QuickSight.

If I get promoted, I’ll become a credit analyst, which is fine. There’s also a path here for data analysts to move into data science, which pays better and involves predictive analytics and advanced modeling.

That used to be my plan, but lately I’ve realized I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m autistic and I struggle with the constant presentations, storytelling, and meetings that come with more “business-facing” roles. I’m very introverted and prefer structured, predictable work and I’ve noticed the parts I enjoy most are the engineering ones: building pipelines, automating processes, making data flow efficiently.

I don’t have a software engineering background (I’m a physicist), but I’ve always done well with computational work and Python. I haven’t worked with Spark, IaC, or devops yet, but I like that kind of technical challenge.

I’m not looking for advice per se, just wanted to share my thoughts and see if anyone here has had a similar experience, moving from a data or analytics-heavy background into something more engineering-focused.