Getting into the HFT scene

Hi everyone, I'm a 22 year old high school dropout, I've known software engineering has been my passion since 16, and I have worked for about 3 years in the field after dropping out. I'm a quick learner, I know lots about low-level development, and have spent the past 2 weeks grinding leetcode. I'm currently able to solve about half the medium problems I encounter, within 15 minutes, the other half I still have to learn. My goal is to get into a software engineering role at an HFT firm in/near Amsterdam (been looking a lot at Optiver recently as I have a connection working there). I was wondering if anyone has any advice, as currently I feel pretty lost on what my next steps should be. Should I just continue my leetcode grind until I can solve all mediums reasonably fast? Should I build some showcase projects highlighting my systems/performance knowledge? I feel like my resume is way too underwhelming to get through screening, so that is also a concern of mine. Any tips are appreciated! Edit: The connection I mentioned studied at 42 amsterdam, so did I for a year, after talking with the staff though, we agreed it made sense for me to start working instead, since I was looking for more challenging projects than the program could provide at the time. Edit 2: I'm aware it's not easy to get into hft firms. I'm just asking for advice though, not for people to tell me to give up. I strongly believe I have the ability to learn the skills I need but don't have yet. If you're just here to comment that I won't get in I'd rather you don't comment, thanks. And an extra thanks to people giving actual advice