[komon]

I personally just started applying to roles just beyond what I thought I'd be able to get easily. I generally keep LinkedIn and it job profile sites always in "actively looking" or "open to opportunities" because I like getting free notifications about what roles are opening out there.

If you aim your job search high and come up with some quick templates to speed up cover letters and the like, you can easily apply to all the most interesting, high paying jobs in your field pretty quickly, and then just keep up a steady stream of applications until you start getting contacted for interviews.

Don't be afraid to be scheduling multiple interviews with different companies, just be sure to give yourself adequate time to prepare for each. I've definitely flubbed a few by packing my schedule too tight.

I'm not sure where you're looking for jobs right now, I personally use a combination of LinkedIn, angel.co, stackoverflow jobs, and indeed. I prefer sites that let me filter on salary, but LinkedIn gets some bonus points for their easy apply feature and being able to filter by how many people already applied. Indeed gets me the most contacts from recruiters, but honestly the matches are lower quality since they tend to be based on me appearing in a search result based on my tertiary skills.

[komon]

Also, as clearly over-simplified, janky, and non-indicative as every programmer knows they are, I do every "skills test" those sites throw at me. I wouldn't trust them if I was hiring, but completing then usually gets you features in more search results and can get you advanced notification on new jobs that match your tested skills.

Also, paying for premium on LinkedIn is generally worth it for as long as you're searching.

It's a great opening line in your cover letter if you can say, "I saw that you were looking at my LinkedIn profile and when I saw that you had an opening I'd be a great fit for..."