[jakimfett]

Short answer: I don't know what will work for you.

Less short answer: Find people in the software space that appeals to you, and build a reputation of the sorts of competence that they will seek.

Even less short answer: Publish (your own software portfolio) or perish. Network (with people who you want to work with) or change your career path towards one that you can network within. Read books about connecting with others in your field, have conversations with people who know more than you. Establish yourself as a job-seeker, with job-seeking as your day job until you find one. Adapt. Adapt. Adapt.

Nobody can find the magic path for you, you must take one step at a time and learn from every failure. There is no honor here, only temporary respite, for the days of remaining at a stable tech company through a decade or two of a career are over, and those who do not adapt will not weather this storm or the ones yet to come.

If you can, find a different career path.

I cannot emphasize this enough.

Make software your hobby, and learn to herd yaks, work wood, or bend metal.