I faced the same problem breaking into the job market right after the early 2000's .COM bust. I didn't get any calls back for full-time opportunities. Even en

I faced the same problem breaking into the job market right after the early 2000's .COM bust. I didn't get any calls back for full-time opportunities. Even entry level ones. What I did find was available were freelance gigs. I found these on job boards and started to build out my experience with individual projects. I also went to networking events and ended up getting a few jobs this way as well. I also did some free work for non-profits to round out my experience. I did this freelance work while I was in school and for about a year and a half after I graduated. It took hundreds and hundreds of hours and hundreds of inquiries to get my first few jobs. It's a numbers game, but you still need to be competent and confident. After my first few freelance gigs I was "experienced" and was able to fill up my resume with the projects I worked on. I did good work so my clients introduced me to their friends, customers and clients and I got more work. One of my clients extended a full time offer to me, so that was my first FT job out of school. Putting on my hiring manager hat for a moment, I really don't want to hire someone with no experience unless they are exceptional. Contributing to an open-source project would count as experience, but I would prefer experience in a business setting. Personally, I don't care as much about a degree. To land your first freelance gig, I 2nd the advice about contributing to an open-source project, setting up a website portfolio and having business cards printed. You're trying to show your competency.