Need experience for job
Need job for experience
:(

No, you just need to contribute to open-source and git gud

Welcome to my world :| I have a passion for sysadmin but have to bend over backwards without any proof :p getting ready to go back to school as we speak, to relearn everything I know *sighs*

A good github profile is what you need.

Create personal projects

I know that feeling.. Prove them wrong. Do small personal projects also read clean code if you have the time. Once you make it in an interview sell them you are a proficient self learner and that you read the book and try to apply it's content.

I get the feeling that most tech jobs around here are handled by recruiters, and they don't give a shit about you if you don't have enough experience.

I sent a general application to a company to ask if they'd be willing to take me on as a trainee.
I received a reply from a recruiter from an agency which apparently handles hiring for the company I contacted.
He just said no, and that was it.

To recruiters it doesn't matter if you do a lot of programming in your spare time, contribute to open source and so on.
The only thing that matters is how many years you've been sitting behind a desk at an actual workplace, because that's an easy metric to judge people by.

@JTBringe,
How'd you break this cycle then?

the paradox...

@imdnxt I have no idea...
I had no experience whatsoever in development this time last year.
A buddy of mine had been working as a web dev for a couple of years, and I sort of knew his previous boss.

I contacted the boss, who I knew had moved on to a better company, and told him I wanted to break into development. A few meetings later, I'd gotten myself a trainee position.
I barely knew some basic HTML, nothing else, and I'd been very up front about this so they knew.

I started in August last year and loved it. Learnt loads really fast.
In November the boss quit because he felt he didn't fit the role the company wanted, and a member of the board took over as boss.
A month later we were informed that the company was struggling financially.
I almost lost my job, and another guy was terminated.
By the end of February, I received an email telling me I was being fired for financial reasons, so by August this year I'll be without a job.
Been looking for a new one ever since.

Well at least now you understand 'Deadlocks'

@maker you beat me to it.

If you have the funds, be patient.

Make sure your first job has good mentorship opportunities and level up enough to make sure this doesn't happen the second time around.

Meet developers in your area on hackatons, conferences and stuff like that. Ask smart questions, let them to know you by name. Write comments on their blog posts. Good luck.

Make something, if you make a clever something you might not need a job.