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The easy trap in a job search is thinking you just need more interviews. If the right people don't understand what you're good at, more applications get the same result. Opportunities come from being understood, not just qualified.
The moment a job posts, hundreds of people hit the same door. If the hiring manager already knows your name from a post, a talk, or a project, you're not in that line. The time to become visible is before someone needs a developer like you.
When the job search stalls, developers build a side project and vanish for three months. Build it, but post the decisions and the bugs along the way. Those are the stories that get you hired.
Developers are upset about the job market, but hiring managers are drowning in hundreds of AI-written resumes and would rather interview someone they already know. Become known before the job opens.
Developers prep for the next job with more certs, more side projects, more LeetCode. If the real problem is that the right people don't know what you can do, more skill doesn't fix it. Ask who needs to know what you already know.
If an interview comes down to how many LeetCode problems you ground through beforehand, it's testing the wrong thing. I want to see how you tackle a problem, and the questions you ask are the answer.
Dozens of developers in three weeks told me they're considering leaving the industry, not for a new calling but because they think there's no room left. The resume game is broken. Go around it.