I've been in software development professionally since I was 20. I'm 42 now and feel like I have no specialties. I've done many projects for all kinds of things, but never the things that truly interest me. I'm jealous of you writing software for spacecrafts and now I'm thinking maybe I should get some certs...
Certs are whatever, demonstrated knowledge through projects is king. Go learn embedded C/C++ and start making gizmos and you'll be prime space industry meat.
It's the same for me. It's a much different experience now. Especially since I hang out on the "Following" tab instead of the "For you" tab. It's a whole different ball game. Everything on AI, space, and programming up-to-date.
Jes, kvankam mi ankau povis paroli Esperanto antaue legi la libro (or rather, listened; audiobook), so when that line happened I recognised it even faster than Martin did.