If contract work is an option for you, I have a few ideas that might be interesting for you. As an independent consultant, I'm continuously reading the market t

If contract work is an option for you, I have a few ideas that might be interesting for you. As an independent consultant, I'm continuously reading the market to get a feeling for current and future demand. This thread is filled with great advice on upgrading skillset and I +1 to all of that because having a viable skillset is a prerequisite for a lot of jobs. You can get some experience by contributing to open source, which is something you discuss in a potential interview - recruiters might not care about it but someone interviewing you might. On contract work, you'll need to select the recruiters you want to work with. Large recruiting firms have clients all over town and if they send out your resume, they send it to everyone. Essentially, this means if you give your resume to too many recruiters, you're hurting your job prospects. Many hiring managers will skip resumes that are multi-submitted because they don't want to deal with the hassle of which recruiter gets paid if they want to hire you. What has worked well for me, when I use a recruiter, is to go with individuals or small shops that don't have the reach of the larger firms. They're also more likely to pay attention to you because of a candidate shortage and thus easier to create a relationship because you're taking a bet on them as much as they are on you. Go after Jr. developer roles for whatever they want to pay you. The idea here is to get your foot in the door on any software development work possible. This corresponds to the business perspective of being a contractor, the market determines what you're able to do. When times were hard, my rate went down and I took less desirable work - but it was work. The benefit of any work over no work is (beyond bringing in > $0) that people would rather hire developers that are already working. With contracting, you can get a 3, 6, 12 month gig and get experience. When that's over, it's easier to get the next (better) gig at higher pay - just work your way up over time. Another idea is to scan CraigsList, attend user groups, or network locally to see if there are any companies or individuals looking for software help. Volunteer work is better than nothing too. Then submit a proposal that is dirt cheap enough to get the work - again this type of market is cost conscious. There are also very few developers, beyond college students, who are willing to do this type of work, especially in today's competitive market. It isn't much, but all of the sudden you have something current on your resume.