Keep in mind I've been where I'm at for about as long as you've been away -- the ground has surely changed since either of us saw it last.
With that said, just apply/get in the mechanics of it. You have a lot of runway, and I think the 'being employable' dance people go through with Leetcode/etc is over the top.
I don't buy this performative dance thing -- ridiculously unlikely problems, take home work, etc. I've never had to go beyond a few conversations where ability and fit is assessed.
Personally I've done well having very little projects to show and no formal education for this work, largely by filtering who I apply for -- aided largely by my network.
As an SRE/Operations person, the most 'code' I can show anyone would be Ansible roles/playbooks I've written, but it hasn't been a challenge.
At a certain point I think the biggest concern is, 'are there foundations we can work with?'
With that said, just apply/get in the mechanics of it. You have a lot of runway, and I think the 'being employable' dance people go through with Leetcode/etc is over the top.
I don't buy this performative dance thing -- ridiculously unlikely problems, take home work, etc. I've never had to go beyond a few conversations where ability and fit is assessed.
Personally I've done well having very little projects to show and no formal education for this work, largely by filtering who I apply for -- aided largely by my network.
As an SRE/Operations person, the most 'code' I can show anyone would be Ansible roles/playbooks I've written, but it hasn't been a challenge.
At a certain point I think the biggest concern is, 'are there foundations we can work with?'