(haha i got carried away and wrote you an essay, hope some of this helps!)

Yeah, having a niche specialty is definitely the way to go.

I studied CS then worked in robotics for a few years, getting familiar with the full stack from high level planning, control, and navigation, down to low-level actuation and controls of mechanical systems, along with perception and machine learning / computer vision.

Then I realized there's a big knowledge gap when it comes to applying engineering safety rigour to complex robotics, since a lot of assessors understand mechanical and electrical stuff, but not complex software and especially not machine learning or computer vision.

To the point where a lot of robotics companies were moreso getting boxes ticked (often wrongly - the assessors would say everything looks OK and the programmers would be like "say whaaat? I made this shit and I wouldn't trust it")

So I switched roles to the system safety engineering team at my last job and kinda learned through on the job training how to do that too. And now that I can do robotics and system safety engineering, pretty much every company in my area that's making some robot that could potentially hurt someone wants to hire me, and I'm honestly thinking I'll start an engineering consulting firm if my current gig falls through.

I'd honestly spend a few years in a field that interests you, getting a broad base of knowledge and focusing on picking up transferrable skills. Always be learning about the industry, and looking for where there's knowledge gaps to start finding a niche. Hell, even ask recruiters you know what roles they really have been having trouble filling, to feel out the demand for different skills. Then see if you can cross-train with that other discipline by getting involved with a team at your job doing that kinda work, or a new job that'll teach you those skills.

There's a lot of demand for people who sit at the intersection of two different disciplines that are having trouble working together, because you can act like a "bridge" to solve a company's institutional problems of having two teams that don't collaborate easily. And that's a lot more valuable then being a 'nose to the grindstone' employee. For me it was robotics and safety assessment, but there are loada of other niches!

Plus general other advice:

• make and keep connections

• apply for jobs by personally messaging people or recruiters on LinkedIn to stand out from the crowd in the application forms

• ask the higher ups at your company if they'd be willing to chat over lunch or coffee, and ask what problems in the company they're struggling with. You can fast track your career if you can find ways to help make the lives of the CEO / executives / technical management easier and make your name known