How picky are you able to be with these jobs you get via contacts?
One ex-colleague I know is able to get a new job within a matter of days by poking around his network. These are SWE jobs at NYC hedge funds of varying caliber.
The caveat is that he can't be picky. He might have to work with unsexy tech, or in a boring project shuffling around XML feed files, etc. Hedge funds being hedge funds, they still pay at least above average.
That said, he's the only SWE I know of who can land jobs through his network without being tortured by the leetcode gauntlet. Everyone else, myself included, might at best skip a phone screen but still ultimately be subjected to leetcode.
One ex-colleague I know is able to get a new job within a matter of days by poking around his network. These are SWE jobs at NYC hedge funds of varying caliber.
The caveat is that he can't be picky. He might have to work with unsexy tech, or in a boring project shuffling around XML feed files, etc. Hedge funds being hedge funds, they still pay at least above average.
That said, he's the only SWE I know of who can land jobs through his network without being tortured by the leetcode gauntlet. Everyone else, myself included, might at best skip a phone screen but still ultimately be subjected to leetcode.