If you're not a scrub, go through non-scrub recruiters, and manage to get through a handful of high-vis projects relatively unscathed, word travels extremely quickly and from then on out you can pretty much coast mostly on reputation.

It's a small world out there sometimes.

I've gotten at least a phone interview from almost every place I've applied over the last half decade, even when I was an entry level programmer. I'm not sure what the deal is. I guess I've just been extraordinarily lucky.

How many years of experience did you have when you got senior title?

6 years. At my current company you have to demonstrate leadership abilities and also technical ability to get it. It isn't given to people for just existing for a certain amount of time in a specific career. At least not where I work, a lot of places do that which leads to incompetent seniors.