tl;dr - network more, your best chances will come that way, but it will take time to build your network.<p>I&#x27;m not a typical example -- my experience here is over 20 years ago, I had no formal training in CS&#x2F;engineering, and I was looking for work in an area that no one had open positions for (what people called a webmaster position in &#x27;95, but this was &#x27;92). I worked as a temp for a year until I got lucky with contacts &#x2F; networking and found a company that needed my skills. I did very well for myself once I was able to demonstrate my expertise -- and I believe that&#x27;s as true today as it was 25 years ago.