My tech role is a bit different than yours, but maybe some of this will be relevant.
The saying “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” is half wrong - it’s both. At least in software development, most projects fail in one way or another - over budget, past deadline, or turn out not quite as good as anyone involved wanted them to be. Everyone working in tech has problems - not enough people, not enough time, don’t have the skills for one piece of it, trouble scaling, trouble with deployment, downtime, performance, security, customer service, etc. These problems cost money, may lose customers/clients, and may damage a company’s reputation. Everyone needs help - someone that can solve their biggest problem.
The easiest way that I’ve found to get tech jobs is to talk to people about their problems and find someone with a problem that you could solve, or at least help out with. A lot of places are willing to take a chance if you can confidently convince them that you can help when they’re worried about a disaster or just overstressed. Possibly as a contractor for that one job that they just can’t handle on their own, or temp to help them meet a looming deadline. And if you actually do carry through, do a good job, and get along well with the people there, then you’re in a good spot. You may end up with a full-time offer or regular ongoing contract work. (Although be careful - if the company finds itself desperate quite often, you’ll have stress.)
That’s been my way into every tech job I’ve had. Once in, of course, you do have to be able to deliver. But getting in involves, as others have said, networking to find the people with the problems that you can solve. HR are not the ones with the problem, and they probably don’t even understand it. It’s the tech workers and managers that are suffering or worrying and hoping you might be the one to save them that can get you past the screening barriers.
