Honestly, the first step is: have a job at a well regarded company.<p>There is no stronger signal that you&#x27;re a good developer than already having a job at a company that has stringent hiring standards.<p>I get multiple serious recruiter contacts a week.  Mostly via Linkedin, but also via direct email for the enterprising recruiters.  All from companies most people would kill to work for.  I even get linked-in email from linkedin recruiters.<p>I ignore most of them.  They know it&#x27;s part of the game.  One day in the future I may need them, and there&#x27;s no point in pissing them off - they&#x27;re only doing what they can.  You gotta have a huge funnel to hire even 1 person (it&#x27;s probably 1000:1 for contacts&#x2F;hire)