- scan indeed for jobs that appeal to you

- look at keywords they mention

- figure out if you know what those keywords are (what it means, why you would do that, why it's better than prior solutions, some real world examples)

- after a few weeks of this, you'll have a list of companies and words that you're interested in

- go on linkedin (or HN) and look for people working either at those companies and/or using those words

- ask them for a 15 minute chat to hear how they are approaching the problems you're interested in (not for a job, but to hear how they talk about it)

- use what you learned from the previous step to write some blog posts / articles / tutorials / tiny projects that let you see how much you know and then can later show people when you apply to those jobs

- reach out to the groups / companies you want to work and say that you're interested in that area and if you could have a chat about the work they are doing.

- remember that a) everyone is always hiring even if they don't have a job post, b) most job posts never make it public, c) shoot your shot

This advice is amazing. You get it, much more than I do. This really helps. Thanks!

Thank you for this helpful comment!

How to go about the 15 minute conversation part without trying to be too sycophant?

If you rearrange the way you see things it's simple to not be sycophantic at all. If you're interested in contributing to their work you will be of value to the team you are trying to join. Don't think about it as them doing you a favor. It's a positive sum game and by reaching out you're potentially making everyone richer.

You don't :)

Seriously though, the pitch is: "I want to get a job in what you're doing, and you have that job; I'd love to learn more."

I'd add: make it super clear that you are not going to asking them for a job or a referral or selling them anything during the conversation. That will increase the likelihood they'll take the call.

If you can get a warm intro to them, all the better.

I'd also suggest expecting people to say no, and not taking it personally. If you ask enough people, you will find some that are happy to spend time with you, but it won't be everyone. If you do achieve your goals, some of those people who say "No" might be future co-workers.

So just ask, accept whatever you get, and keep asking more people.

All job interviews are some combination of:

1. Coding - ie leetCode

2. Techno-trivia - knowing the basics of whatever technology they are using

3. System design

4. Behavioral

5. Getting the interview

Start with networking, thought leadership and open communication about your passions. Especially if you’ve got 6 months, just give it time and you’ll be surprised at the number of people that come to you if you just put yourself out there.

I purposefully avoided “thought leadership”. When everyone is a thought leader - no one is. And 99% of thought leadership you find is vapid especially on LinkedIn.

And these days if you are just a commodity enterprise dev, it’s almost impossible to stand out from the noise.

Those were my Plan B jobs last year and the year before and it is a shit show out there right now and it’s worse than I have seen since 1996. Including in 2000 and 2008.

Luckily, in my more targeted niche, I was able to find a job quickly both times. But I would have been up the creek if it weren’t for my last three or four years of experience.

You’re right, “thought leadership” is a loaded term. Maybe “proof of passion” would be a better one. If you write about topics you’re working on, no matter how niche and no matter which forum (it doesn’t have to be a blog, it could be anywhere with your contact details attached), then eventually people will find you. I don’t blog, but I’ve had people email me because of obscure GitHub repos they found that helped them debugging a problem.

It’s ultimately a numbers game. The more you put yourself out there, the more likely something specific will resonate with someone at some point. The best opportunities often come from the smallest connections.

This is a solid take. I played the numbers game with dating. It’s the same here

> My plan is to prepare myself well in the next 5-6 months and then possibly start actively interviewing for jobs.

It appears you are unhappy with your current situation. Be prepared to answer the question "why?".

Also, be prepared to talk about some projects you put on your resume. Get them excited about what you did. Show that you had initiative. If someone asks "why did you choose this method to do this thing?", you will obviously not answer that your boss told you so. But that's not enough. People are smart and figure out if that was the case. Spoiler alert: most often this is the case, interviewers take that as the base case, you need to convince them it was no so.

If you talk about a project that you listed on your resume, and show lots of enthusiasm, the interviewer might want to hear more. And you get to spend more time on your turf, rather than coping with some topics that the interviewer is many times more familiar with than you.

But finally, ask yourself again, why do you want to leave? Are you unhappy with the money, wih your boss, with your coworkers, with the projects, with the credit you get for your accomplishments? Is there a toxic culture in that place where people are happy to throw each other under the bus (and you got the treatment too?). Here's the thing: these things happen in other places too. I changed jobs 6 times in my career. Sometimes the new place was great, sometimes it turned out to be awful. Since you've been working 5-6 years in this company, you know what's good and what's bad. But if you move, you don't know much about the new place, and it might turn out to be quite a lot worse than the current one. This is always the case. The risk is there, so you need to be compensated for that. The problem is that the other company also takes a risk with you; just like you don't know them, they don't really know you (even after 10 rounds of interviews). That's the reason most interviews do not end up with an offer: the company takes a risk and would like to pay you less to account for that, you take a risk and would like to be paid more, also to account for that. However, in a lateral move inside your current company, both these risks are mitigated. You already know the company, they already know you. You have a pretty good idea if you are moving to a better team, and they can get a good idea if you are a good fit for them too.

Good luck.