What makes a candidate stand out ... the ability to read papers and being knowledgeable about the topic. Lets take Super Res as a random example. Say you implement a project .. could even be a personal project. That might pique my interest if I was hiring for that role. What would make you a strong hire is if you had read the related papers on super res, knew the pros and cons of various approaches, etc. Now you would get a coding interview but IMO it is far less intensive than say a Google interview. Good luck!