From what I have seen in the recent market in california, if you are a coder you should be ok, if you are not then you need to network a lot. People tend to see

From what I have seen in the recent market in california, if you are a coder you should be ok, if you are not then you need to network a lot. People tend to see big name companies and think they are a lot more worthy than people who have been working on their own startups. I don't agree, but it is what I have run into. It may be different in SF than LA but getting through that first HR person hurdle tends to be tough. If you are a coder they have no understanding of what you are doing most of the time so they just forward it up the chain more readily.