Referrals from people you know, or responding to messages from recruiters on LinkedIn / other sites. I almost never hear back from cold applying to a job

I am actively doing that, but even those things does not help. Recruiters who text me on LinkedIn just promoting something, but really hiring. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot of people who does Software Engineering, so it is hard to find a good referral

> Referrals from people you know

This. It's not what you know but who you know.

The National Society of Professional Engineers has a career site that might help.

https://www.nspe.org/career-growth/career-center

the best way to find a job as a software engineer 2026 is to create one.

That is also not the easiest one.

cold outreach to a founder or executive with what you can offer.

find people doing things you find interesting.

what do you have to lose besides getting ignored?

That requires a lot of time, and majority of founders even don't respond. I have tried doing it 3-4 times, then I noticed that there is no answer, then I stopped