Almost all companies hire “non-top talent” now, but usually without admitting it to themselves. Any company with geographic limitations, and any company not wil

Almost all companies hire “non-top talent” now, but usually without admitting it to themselves. Any company with geographic limitations, and any company not willing to pay absolutely top dollar plus equity, is probably not hiring the absolute best. Probably rightly, they’re seeking the best value - that is, maximal results for the work environment and compensation they can offer. So: 1. Don’t stress over not being the best. 2. Focus on demonstrating (through actions much more than words) the things that you’d like a prospective employer to realize. If that’s a willingness to learn, spend a month or two of weekends learning 3 or 4 new technologies and demonstrating that knowledge with a blog post or small app that solves a problem you found. At that point, your explanation to prospective employers is (a) you were interested in things so you learned the basics about them, and (b) some examples of you synthesizing that knowledge (maybe even attached to your resume). Best case, following your interests means that you’re applying to companies using the technologies/concepts/libraries you tinkered with.