I was hired via the pure luck route. A recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn, and I went through the interview process blind. I guess I did well enough - one thi

I was hired via the pure luck route. A recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn, and I went through the interview process blind. I guess I did well enough - one thing that helped was the certainty that no way would I take this job, regardless of the interview. I was only doing the interview due to family pressure, so I felt no personal pressure (I had my dream job, at 25% the pay rate, lined up and was ready to move across the country for it). I'm in my late 30s, have a CS degree, started a company that was acquihired, have pretty diverse experience in my career. That, plus a storefront-only consulting site I built to have a 'presence' seemed to get my foot in the door. Once there, the advantage I think I had was 1) not nervous, and 2) able to think about the problems presented, rather than just trying to solve them directly. By that, I mean that I showed the interviewers how I was able to think - and I asked for help / collaboration when I was stuck.