[taylonr]

Are you tailoring your job application process to each company? If I'm at Amazon see a bunch of Java I might think "Ok, I can find 20 people with these Java skills." Instead of showing Amazon why YOU are indispensable for THEM.

Also, I'm guessing that Google, Twitter, Facebook & Amazon get several applicants a day. So having a contact on the inside might be more helpful.

A somewhat similar story was I tried to work at a consulting company here in town, and got turned down. Two years later I had worked with a couple of their consultants at another job, spoke at a user group meeting (where the leader was another of their consultants). When I left my job for a different one I had 2 people from the agency talk to me about applying with them.

I had already accepted the offer from another place, but in that time I was able to showcase my skills to the point they were at least interested in talking to me. Whereas 2 years prior they weren't.

The lesson? Network, if you're as good as you say you are, do some user group speaking or showcase your code to some people. Hit a couple local/regional conferences and start talking to people. As they get to know you, not only might they hire you, but they might also pitch your name to someone else.