Sure, yeah, that's basically where I was coming from. I'm not 100% set on moving yet, just testing the waters. I have some personal connections at large companies that I intend to use to get referrals into the hiring pipeline when I do actually move, because that's apparently the only way to reliably get interviews at the huge places. For now, it was a lot of applying to jobs online with targeted resumes/cover letters at smaller to mid-sized startups in SF/bay area. There really just are a huge amount in the 20-50 person size range.

I found that once I actually got an interview or two, it was like a bit of a waterfall. I applied to companies X, Y, Z. When I got an interview at X, I emailed Y and Z and said I'm interviewing elsewhere and if all goes well plan to be in SF, and would love to interview with you. I think this is confirmation bias at play or whatever, because that really seemed to help get additional interviews.