In my experience, the easiest way to make these "leaps" is to do so within the company in which you're already working provided that a) you've been successful i

In my experience, the easiest way to make these "leaps" is to do so within the company in which you're already working provided that a) you've been successful in your role and b) your company is a flexible place that values its employees personal development. That's much easier than applying to a job "cold" at some other company. Talk to your manager and let them know about your ambitions. Maybe the next time there's a planning session for your team, you can take some small tasks, bug fixes, etc. or maybe you can pair program with (or just observe) one of your engineering colleagues. Great that you're working on your skills outside of work as will, and I suspect many on HN will suggest getting involved in open source projects, but that's really playing the long game IMO. Shortest path is to try to get a "new desk" in the place you already work.