My $0.02: When I applied for my first fulltime job the company in question was offering both a contract and fulltime option. I was asked, probably in addition

My $0.02: When I applied for my first fulltime job the company in question was offering both a contract and fulltime option. I was asked, probably in addition to my history of freelancing, why I was gunning for the fulltime option. I responded by saying that I appreciated the steadiness of work (with freelance you are often looking for the next opportunity), and to help contribute to the success of a particular organisation in the long term. They seemed satisfied by this response. I think they were coming from the point of view that you could make more money by freelancing / contracting, so were just curious as to why I wanted to "downgrade" (not their words, this is just my speculation). Based on that experience (admittedly I was 23 at the time), you may find prospective employers more open to entertaining your application than you might think due to them having a different perception of your history. I think given Covid you could make a pretty good case for wanting to shift to a more stable career path. I also wouldn't belittle your own experience thus far as not being a "career". There are many advantages of chopping and changing between different business contexts that you now have, that someone who only ever worked in 2-3 companies would not have. You say you have no network. I would suggest reflecting a bit more on this, as I'm certain you would at least have some amicable contacts / temporary colleagues that you've made along the way, even if you wouldn't necessarily think of them as your "network" right now. Do you have a LinkedIn profile? If not, consider making one and connecting with some of the people you've worked with in the past. Popping up a GitHub profile with a simple project that demonstrates what you think your skills are (e.g. perhaps it's a business web application that has a well-written set of unit tests, or applies a particular design pattern in a clear and logical way) could be a good compliment to your CV that employers can use to verify your expertise. If you find yourself relating more to the student crowd, then this is the sort of tack that graduates would take to prove their ability.