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From the post

> Previously from a unicorn startup

I think he graduated (says 2 years experience), picked the right company, and that put him on this kind of trajectory. It could be a different story if the last start up he was at was not a "unicorn".

OP mentioned working previously at a "unicorn" and having referrals. Keep in mind that those signals are much easier to detect (and thus justify decisions based upon).

Without these, one faces a number of challenges:

- You need to get your resume looked at somehow

- It's well-known that when it comes to programming and system design, "Real recognize real"

- You need a wide variety of skills beyond programming and system design: social skills (sometimes moreso than anything else), sometimes classic CS search/sorting/optimization techniques

- They might realize they need someone with different specializations

- You might remind the interviewer of someone they dislike

Get really good at doing Graph/DP problems on a whiteboard. That’s it.

I know new grads who have gotten 200k TC offers with negotiation. That’s all it takes (and sadly I don’t have that..)