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Anyways, sorry bit of a rant - I land somewhere in the middle. I would say take formal classes and resources when you can. If you have access to a free course a semester, that's incredible in my opinion. If I were in your shoes, I would follow a roadmap and see if there are courses that check off a box in that roadmap. So for example, you know you need to learn CS fundamentals - see if you can take a DSA class or something. Or take a class on databases. Or an OOP or databases class. I would take those classes if I had the opportunity just because I didn't when I was in college. No one course will check every box for sure.
One other thing. I highly recommend the Data Engineering zoomcamp. You can do it asynchronously or with the current cohort. I did that during finishing grad school, and I would credit it for me getting into the field. It doesn't cover a lot of fundamentals (for example, you need to learn SQL on your own and/or be able to do DSA for certain jobs). But like, in terms of learning the current tech and making a portfolio project that will help you get your foot in the door for interviews, it's amazing. All this to say there are a ton of free resources and the short answer is that I'd recommend those overall, but don't count out formal resources.