TLDR; 1.5 YoE as a FE dev using Angular. ~1 YoE unemployed. 5 months in an operations role. Trying to get back into entry-level SWE but haven't been getting any interviews. What should I be doing now?

I have 1.5 YoE as a frontend dev with Angular experience and left because of RTO. Job market was hot when I was thinking of leaving and crashed right when I left :( . I originally wanted to travel for a bit after being couped up inside because of Covid quarantines but then geopolitical tensions rose and family did not want me to get stuck outside the country. Spent ~1 year of unemployed and did crypto security stuff the entire time but decided that the industry was too risky so wanted to get back into "web2". I had some decent findings but not enough to sustain myself. Eventually interviewed for a Junior SRE role and got it! The manager lied about my responsibilities and all I have done is operations work for the past 5 months! I can rant on and on about this current role but that's the gist of it. Now I am stuck trying to get back into SWE.

I have been applying to entry level SWE positions for the past 3 months. I know that beggars can't be choosers but I don't apply to the midwest as I would like to stay near a major city and I can't drive. I have been slowly chipping away at Neetcode but I think I am still far from being ready to interview. Not sure if I should even be preparing for interviews if I can't get any response from companies. I still try to learn and code everyday but its tough doing outside of work sometimes.

Should I try to add another project to my resume? Should I spam more applications? I really need out of operations.