A lot of "boring BigCo" (think banks, insurance companies, etc as opposed to AppAmaGooBookSoft) are essentially indifferent to technical ability, because it is

A lot of "boring BigCo" (think banks, insurance companies, etc as opposed to AppAmaGooBookSoft) are essentially indifferent to technical ability, because it is not the primary determinant of success at working in their organization. This also describes the overwhelming majority of government technical work. That said, I might counsel either a) getting good at interviewing or b) getting good at avoiding interviewing by pre-qualifying yourself to hiring managers. My rationale for this is pretty simple: the best jobs in software (project selection, monetary rewards, stability of company, desirable working conditions, coworkers who can find their way out of a paper bag, etc) typically lie after an interviewing process. Given that this is true, and that you'll spend +/- 1,000 hours working for every hour you spend interviewing, optimizing for your interviewing experience doesn't sound like it is in your long-term interests.