I've recently had a string of 'positive but not quite enough' interviews which has been quite discouraging.
Bit of background about me, I finished a CS related master's degree. Have worked (just over a year) as a software engineer with very very specific languages in a legacy codebase, rendering it quite irrelevant for most jobs. The only thing I can mention about is my dissertation, some python automation/scripting I have done as part of my job.
I'm finding it difficult to learn at a reasonable pace outside of work due to lack of time outside my job. If I optimise hard every day I can put in 2 hours per day + 12 at the weekend into learning. I'm interested in entry level backend engineer/ml engineer roles. What are the key skills I need to show/develop, given I'm quite proficient in Python?
It's a challenging situation you're in. As a hiring manager, I often find people who've done a lot of outside learning don't stand up to interviews because they often haven't really internalized the material.
What could maybe make it easier is to actually DO something with this knowledge. That could mean building a small service (or even library) that scratches some itch you have and hosting it somewhere cheap. That will be a lot closer to the type of learning you get on the job. As a potential employers, I can load it up and click on it and actually see what you can do. This gives you something very concrete to discuss with interviewers.
Best of luck to you!