My first filter on recruiting now is: &quot;Has this person built anything I can see?&quot;<p>A website, an app, a repo on Github.  If the answer to that question is &#x27;No&#x27; then my assumption is either a) this person isn&#x27;t interested in the work, or b) they don&#x27;t know how to code in the real world and I&#x27;ll be paying them to learn.<p>I&#x27;m constantly amazed at the number of people applying for dev positions who claim years of experience and have absolutely nothing tangible to point out.<p>I run a small operation so I can&#x27;t comment on big firms.<p>TLDR: Build something recruiters can see, and preferably use.  It&#x27;ll put you instantly in the top 10% of applicants.