you have no know people already in the industry unfortunately at this point. And that's for ANY position. even if you're fine with settling on just being a prompt monkey for some agent you still need to know someone.

if you don't have anyone then start going on github and codeberg and contributing to FOSS projects. You need to get your name out there and this is an easy way to build connections.

Be an asshole on linkedin. I'm not kidding. it sucks, I hate linkedin, but years ago I got so many clients by just replying to tech bros bullshit posts and telling them how wrong they were and why they were wrong. CTOs and managers at start ups and what have you doom scroll linkedin all the time so seeing someone telling some silicon valley wannabe middle manager how much they suck is actually quite refreshing. Get your name out there. think outside the box.