I've worked in NYC and done something similar to you in LA, so I guess I can stitch the two together and call it relevant experience...?

I moved to LA after being unemployed for 8 months. I just kinda recognized that I was in an enabling environment living at home and that I needed a kick in the ass to move forward. I had friends in LA to help me and a fair amount of money saved. I got a job in like...4 months? And it was a shit job.

So why do you want to move to NYC? How much wiggle room do you have? Do you know anyone that would tolerate you for a few months? Know the answers to all those questions. OH and like gambling, have a definite exit plan. Set a definite limit on the amount of money you are willing to waste before you leave, because holding on at the end month-to-month and racking up debt is pretty easy because of sunk cost fallacy and all that.

But, as said by many here, having a job first is preferable. Make sure you have a good reason. I don't really know if my reason was "good," but it worked out.

As for the "mid-senior" level experience...there is definitely a market for developers in that range. But you have to be willing to commit to events that are higher effort and maybe a few steps away from a job. Meetups are good. Hackathons are good. Otherwise, anything that mentions 'job', 'hiring', or 'career' brings the casual pipe-dreamers out of the woodwork and it's hard to stand out cause you're just a number.

Again, this is all in my experience.