What is your strategy for getting your first coding job?

I didn't have much of a strategy when it happened for me.

I was at university. I went to a career fair during my third year, and applied to a summer internship program along with several of my friends. My application was accepted, and at the end of the internship the company offered me a job when I graduated, which I promptly accepted.

So I guess my most important takeaway from that experience is that it can be very beneficial to maximize your interactions during the interview process with the folks you want to work with: it makes you feel more "real" to them, which can improve your chances over someone equally qualified but otherwise "anonymous."

In my case, my "interview" basically lasted for two months, giving me and my potential colleagues plenty of opportunities to evaluate our ability to work together and my ability to do the job.

But in the case of a more typical interview scenario, you'd probably have to use different tactics. A good one might be to take a genuine interest in everyone you meet during the process, and email them individually afterwards to say thanks and ask more personal questions about their experience working on the team and for the company.

So I created an uber-like project with React and consuming REST APIs from a backend that I created in Nodejs.