All but one [1] of my jobs have come from cold applying or being approach by recruiters.
That includes stints at Google, Bloomberg and Goldman; and offers from Facebook and some hedge funds etc.
Connections can definitely help. No use contesting that. But they are not necessary.
(Of course, perhaps in the counterfactual world where I had lots of connections, I would be a billionaire by now?)
[1] The exception was my first job, where I had chatted to people in the hiring company at the International Conference on Functional Programming. Not much of an inside connection either---everyone can show up and attend a conference. They usually don't even check whether you have a ticket.
