I'm a big fan of the book "The Tech Resume Inside Out"[0], it may be helpful to you.

The best thing I learned from the book was that for some positions, interviewers weigh your experience more heavily than your side projects.

This, like all advice on this topic, highly depends on the company, the individuals interviewing, and your side projects.

I typically think of it this way.

When you are fresh out of college you've had little to no professional experience - the most you've had is probably an internship. For an employer to hire you, they'll probably evaluate your internships, school work, and personal projects. It's evidence of your knowledge and how well you'll fit into a role.

After your first job - it's much different. Employers care much more about your experience, because you've worked within scenarios that you'll work in at their company. With fresh graduates, it would be unfair to evaluate them on years of working experience - because they won't have any - which is how personal projects come into play.

An employer will want to hear more about your experience at X company, because you've worked on things that have users, scale, and issues that come with all of that and more - which personal projects sometimes do not have.

That being said, personal projects can matter more if: 1) You are changing tech entirely, so you have a project to act as evidence of your newly gained knowledge, 2) Your personal project is running somewhere and has users, and/or 3) you work on open source projects. There's probably many more reasons that I'm missing.

I'm typing all this out because for me I weighed personal projects much too heavily. My first company had extremely outdated code and custom frameworks everywhere - I was afraid that my experience didn't mean anything. I kept on trying to find time to work on projects, and which led me to never try interviewing - because my projects were never done. Reading the book I suggested helped me to break out of this belief - and led me to find a new position.

Aside from all that I've said - the other things you suggested are good: taking interviews as practice and going through interview exercises.

Pramp[1], and other resources people have recommended here, are really good to practice with. That being said - the best practice is to be in an actual interview. I highly recommend finding companies that you aren't that interested in and interviewing there.

You may find that you are much less nervous! Going into an interview not caring about the outcome and maybe even expecting to fail really calms the nerves. Additionally, if you pass the interview and find that you actually like the company - then more power to you. Accept the offer and cut your practice short.

My final piece of advice - I know it is tempting to take time off to practice - but the best time to find a job is when you are employed. It's less nerve wracking knowing that you still have a way to make money if you fail the interview you are in.

As I mentioned previously, this always depends. For example, if you're living with your parents rent-free and your expenses are really low - then it is up to you. For many other people, it could lead to situations where you are running out of funds, and now you have to take the first offer you get.

[0]: https://thetechresume.com/

[1]: https://www.pramp.com