How to hands-on learn Data Science

I'm a software developer wanting to learn data science and hopefully get a job in the field in a year's time. From my research I'm not far from having the needed skills, but I still need some study so I can verify this, fill the gaps and gain confidence for interviews.

With development I realized I learned very quickly by working on projects instead of reading full books or taking classes, so I started looking for something like a list of DS projects that, if I managed to solve them on my own, I would know I was ready to apply for jobs as a junior scientist. Can someone point me to something like this, if such thing even exists? Are my expectations realistic? Is there any advice you think I need?

Thank you!