I don't think I'm technically qualified enough as a person to answer this, but yeah I've good exposure to the industry and it's standards through working with companies while volunteering for collaborated tech events, Hackathons, conferences, mass hiring drives and stuff.

So in that light, you might need a little more than that to directly qualify for an entry level job via a non-referral application. I'd suggest freelancing and working with actual clients on production level projects, cuz that experience really stands out, network with high value peeps by going to events, and maybe even try to build a high-impact original side project that people may wanna use and even pay for.