This is roughly how a job search for me would go if I were to do it right now: I would probably go directly to the companies I'm interested in once I've done a

This is roughly how a job search for me would go if I were to do it right now: I would probably go directly to the companies I'm interested in once I've done a ton of research into the companies and their trajectories/teams. There'd probably only be a handful of companies that I'd be interested in joining. Luckily I'm in the Bay Area so there's a lot of great ones that wouldn't require me to move. I could get my foot in the door at most companies just based on my resume (nothing insane - a consistent trajectory with good performance at a string of top companies/startups helps). But after that, I'd be royally screwed by the interview process if I didn't prepare thoroughly for the algorithms puzzles for a solid month or two. LeetCode (online coding practice) and Cracking The Code Interview (book) are popular review material for exactly this so I'd review those after work and on the weekends. Even after preparation there's still an unnecessarily big element of luck built into the standard tech interview process. With luck and preparation hopefully a couple of the companies from my shortlist work out and that would be that.