I’d recommend buying an Odin kit and just trying it. Doesn’t take THAT much to get into genetic engineering.

The tough part is mostly the finesse in the simple things, like trying this in bakers yeast rather than lab yeast, or the genetic design.

Cost is quite high for mistakes, but LLMs are honestly quite good to help you out with the basics. You MUST at least try to read the papers though - it’s not like coding where you can mostly let it do its thing.

If you can find a nearby community college offering a molecular biology class that includes a practical lab then I'd say a couple quarters of time and tuition.

DIY that will depend on your level of ability. You can do this stuff in your kitchen but learning it from a textbook will be daunting for many (most?) people.