Not only this, but the premise that working on your job will impress recruiters is just wrong.

There's a pretty simple flow chart for getting hired at a bay area company:

1. Go to MIT, Stanford, Cal, an Ivy, or CalTech and make sure you have linked in.

2. If 1 isn't possible then make a friend who works where you want to work and get a referral.

3. Cram leetcode

That's basically it.

Don't give up doing side projects and things you actually enjoy because that's how you learn.

I think you're also overly harsh on recruiters (they're not 'bottom-feeders'), they're friendly and can help you out - but they're just looking in a very narrow subset. Basically the graduates from those schools and people already employed at FAANGs.