Start or become a key contributor to at least one open-source project. For one, this gives you experience and a good base for answering interview questions. T

Start or become a key contributor to at least one open-source project. For one, this gives you experience and a good base for answering interview questions. Two, this makes you more "Googleable" (I have my current job because my employer found me, through a site that wouldn't have existed if not for my open-source project!). College is important, not just for tuition. For example, I was able to teach myself HTML and aspects of Unix about 10 years ago while I was a student, primarily because I had a student Unix account with 'net access (still not that common off-campus). This turned out to be at least as important for landing the job "meant for my degree" (computer engineering), even though I'd taken no courses for the extra skills I'd acquired.