Job seekers, what's working / not working?

I’ve had luck getting higher rate of interviews for remote jobs by applying first. To that end I built a site which shows job postings as they are posted - https://tangerinefeed.net

“Nepotism” worked pretty well for me. A year out of work, only to be turned around when I lucked out and a family member referred me to a company they had just started at. This was around 2022-2023 though, things may have changed significantly since then.

Remote is dead, except for the lucky, so it’s best not to waste time and effort on those roles was my experience. I had a much higher callback rate for jobs that were on-site. Even my current job started hybrid, before it was snuffed out.

The general vibe appears to be this is the direction society is moving towards in general. Condolences to those who aren’t schmoozers and don’t have a network to crutch on.

I am employed (which, fair or unfair, seems to always look better to recruiters) but opportunistic. So far I have interviewed 3 times in the past year, every single one being a referral. It's definitely advantageous to have experience/a real network these days, as it must be a relief to all involved to not have to wade through a mountain of AI-generated resumes. I genuinely didn't know what to tell my intern last year when she asked me for advice on how to get a job. Telling her jobs were free when I graduated in 2012 is not useful, but because that was the case I don't know what to tell somebody without a network.

I am thinking about freelancing or github bounty style work What do you guys think about that

I want a market like doordash or uber for dev. I see a backlog, i implement i get paid instantly, i move on to the next.

I can gain reputation to have more context or more access to repos to take on more batches.

This would make my life easier.

Minimum $20 per task