Sysadmin

I was unemployed or slightly self-employed for about six years. It made it almost impossible to find a job. No tech company would call me with such a huge gap in employment. I was trying to get manual labor jobs and no one would call there either. There was a FAANG on my resume, so they knew I would split at the first opportunity to get back into tech. It was horrible.

Everything changed after I took a menial labor temp gig upgrading iPhones for staff at a hospital. I hated the work. But after four months doing that, I was employable again. I did a phone interview for a Linux sysadmin job at a fintech company and was supposed to do the in-person interview soon after. An IT company (Managed Service Provider) offered me a job before I could interview again and I just jumped on it. Over time, I came to like the work. More than what I did on the tent-pole product at the FAANG. I still work IT because it's more rewarding to me and it's easy and I have an independent source of income so I can afford to make less.

Get a temp gig. They're easier to get because their disposable. It'll help make the gap in employment fade into the background of your resume. I'm pretty sure you'll have more opportunities after. All of this was through LinkedIn.