I think this is one of those programmes where you need to be in the right place at the right time as far as your life/career is concerned. You can't be too advanced, nor not advanced enough. Unfortunately for you Japandwell you are in a position I have personally come to refer to as no-man's-land. Moving up will require a huge investment of time and money. But so much has already been invested that it would be difficult to drop it all and move onto something else. To worsen things, there doesn't appear to be any programmes aimed at guys in your position. It appears to me like it's DEP or ab-initio, with nothing in the middle. They either want the luxury of not having to invest in your training, or the ability to instil their own values and methods of working from the start.