I have a BS with about 5 years of experience in the industry, mostly in the process dev space with one company. I've been casually browsing open positions and think I might bite if something looks perfect, but I am also super nervous about having to start over with a clean slate.

I've worked very hard to get to the scientist level and build what I hope is a good reputation for my work within my organization, but I don't have much in terms of external things I can point to like papers or talks. The pandemic derailed an oral presentation that I was supposed to give at a conference and most of my tech dev work has been unique but proprietary, so I can't really discuss in much detail externally during an interview or in my resume.

My biggest fear is that I'll have to hustle hard for a long time to get interesting or higher-level work again in a new role. Am I psyching myself out? Anything I can look out for, avoid, or do to prevent this? Thanks for any input.