I don't know how the folks just starting out are finding jobs. Seems like no one wants to hire juniors anymore unless it's for pennies and they can work you to the bone.
For example I used to work for a F500 retail company prior to and during the pandemic. They had a surprisingly large development department and has tons of jobs available prior to 2020. I was able to get in via a cold application and a seamless interview experience. More recently, I’ve tried going back and they barely have any non lead roles, and I tend to get screened out of the few roles they do post. I even got referrals from some senior people at companies like who think I’d get a good fit only to get screened out because the recruiter/hiring manager doesn’t like that I can’t check off their alphabet soup checklist. Should have spent my career doing resume driven development.
Some people figure it out.
Contract, make an LLC for more contracting, call that LLC experience, interview as senior engineer.