It's a numbers game frankly. Right out of college I scoured the web for data analysis and credit/banking related jobs because I had a bachelor's degree in econo

It's a numbers game frankly. Right out of college I scoured the web for data analysis and credit/banking related jobs because I had a bachelor's degree in economics with lots of supplementary statistics and math. I put out 84 customized application packets (cover letter and resume) in a monthbefore receiving my first offer.The offer was good so I went to work as a Credit Risk Analyst using SAS. A could years later (last fall) we moved to Southern California and I did the same thing. This time it only took, I think, 30-40 customized application packages to find a job. It pays well, but not well enough for the area ($65000), and the work is super dull, but it's a job while I work on developing my Android development and Rails development skill sets in my free time. Hopefully in the next year I'll be able to make the jump to development and out of banking. But yeah, it's a LOT of hard work scouring for interesting job posts with requirements which don't read like they're looking for Superman, with reasonable pay then digging up the direct email address of the recruiter, customizing the app packet, emailing it to them, following up, getting the interview, aching the interview, and getting the offer. It's probably partly why so many stay in suboptimal jobs for so long.