I&#x27;d say a few things will move you up the pack extremely fast:<p>* Do open source. This doesn&#x27;t necessarily mean &quot;Contribute to some huge project&quot;- I mean, do ANYTHING, commit that to Github, and use that as part of your advertising process.<p>* Attend local meetups. Doesn&#x27;t matter how unrelated they are. Is it for designers? Who cares, go and meet people. People throw away resumes, they have a much harder time throwing away a handshake and a smile, especially if you tell them what you&#x27;ve been up to.<p>* Don&#x27;t be afraid to show passion for whatever it is you&#x27;re working on. It also will make you stand out greatly over the other applicants.<p>I know this is going to be hard advice to take, but learn to be self-sufficient in your development work. Don&#x27;t know how to get a site online? Learn how to deploy. Pick some technology that seems neat and learn it inside and out- I did this with Docker over the course of 2 weeks and immediately was able to put it to use when talking to employers.<p>Also, <i></i>follow up with those Engineers you talked to<i></i>. Be a squeaky wheel. Especially for the ones who are doing something interesting.