You're getting down-voted but this is true. If you want to make more than $150k base and anything TC wise over $180k and you aren't some kind of prodigy the leetcode grind is sort of the best way there... especially in big cities.
You still need to get an interview in the first place though.
People on Blind are more than happy to give out referrals to people they don’t know.
Referrals don’t mean much if more than a small fraction of candidates have one