Lack of experience, what to do?

Question

Career in IT

Good afternoon!
I faced a personal problem - job search and career development.
It so happened that 4 years ago I started "entering IT". I started freelancing (python): I developed simple services on a flask, tried myself in aiohttp and django.
At the first job, I did about the same - chat bots and web applications for the internal needs of the company.
I made my own engine for VK chatbots, got acquainted with redis, celery, docker, cuber Then
my salary was ~ $ 350
help or advice. I tried to google / solve everything myself or ask for help in telegram chats, etc.

Then I was offered to go to integrators. I supported one web application of a major Australian vendor in large companies... Salary rose by about $150
Still, I understood that it became too boring for me to click on the forms and configure this application, and to score on my almost 2-year-old I did not want experience as a python programmer. I stayed at the integrator company and started developing addons for this enterprise web application. Changed language from Python to Java.
Again, I didn't have a mentor. I did everything myself and tried to figure it out myself.
Now my salary is about $900 (with all bonuses) and I don't understand what to do next.
I can’t quit this job, because there is a lot involved in it, good conditions and understanding bosses + it’s problematic to find the same job related to this application in my city.

I can’t understand what kind of “bad” I have, I didn’t work in large companies like epam, where the same junas work as me and there is someone to ask a question and who will say what is wrong in my code.
After almost 1.5 years of experience as a Java developer, I'm not sure I'll pass the interview for a junior in the same epam.
My friends who started their IT journey much later than me have much more experience and cash because they had mentorship, code review and team work. I didn’t have all this, and I don’t know what to expect when I still decide to change my job.
What should I do? Leaving work - incomprehensible prospects and, most likely, everything will need to start from 0. Stay - continue to write code "as I think is right" and focus only on yourself.

Answer 1

What to do is a personal matter for everyone. It is not clear just what prevents you from opening a resume and passively waiting for responses? Or study the market and improve skills for vacancies of interest. Attend webinars and develop?

Answer 2

What's stopping you from doing social work? They came up with an excuse for the lack of a mentor and sit in one place. Maybe it's time to be a little more assertive, right?

Answer 3

There is hardly any other way, except to look at vacancies, pull up missing knowledge and try to go through social security.

Answer 4

firstly, you must not piss and quit your job, move and find a new one

Answer 5

Started freelancing (python)

A classic rake, starting a career with freelancing. Drop it and go to the office, to the big team.

Answer 6

The absence of a mentor does not mean that the desired job will not work.
Look for a team and side projects. To do this, it is not necessary to part with the existing work.
Just set yourself a goal and go for it. It can be slow, it can be fast, but go. And for this you need to act. A passively placed resume will not give much sense. Remember that now there is a boom in the market of remote IT in the layer of juniors.
PS And also a small life-hack - why not leave contacts in the profile when registering such questions on such resources? ;)