The gatekeeper for these jobs is almost always not an engineer--it's a 40k/yr HR person with a psychology degree that does 3 things: count how many yoe you have

The gatekeeper for these jobs is almost always not an engineer--it's a 40k/yr HR person with a psychology degree that does 3 things: count how many yoe you have, control-f to see if the skills in your resume match the requisition, and check to make sure you went to a prestige university. And I don't even blame them, because the entry level positions are swamped with hundreds if not thousands of applications, most of which are abysmal. I've applied to dozens of positions so far, and although I can pass a code test easily, the real trouble is just getting them to offer it to me. And as for internships, they typically require that the applicant be pursuing a degree in computer science; not much help for someone 2 years out from graduation.