What type of shops are the best bet for entry levels w/no experience? I reside in the silicon valley, amongst the giants like Apple, Google, but I'm guessing those are not the most likely entry route?

apply to app academy if you're in SV?

entry level java jobs are super hard to find, at least in the midwest. Entry level web jobs, otoh, are a lot more frequent

Also, if you're in SV, it's probably best to spend more time actually talking to people IRL.

Meetups and such? I don't have many contacts in the industry or gateways in. Networking is invaluable. I'd like to open up some doors.

Any kind of social thing should be better than nothing, right? I'm in NYC and maybe like 20% of the people I met through unrelated social stuff did things that have to do with software development professionally, including software project managers, sales people working for technology companies and obviously all tech workers regardless of industry. This has to be even more true in the bay area.

Go into a coffee shop. Throw a ball in any direction. Marvel that you just hit someone involved in the software world

Getting a job has really changed since when I started

Yes definitely.

Ativan do you have any interest in coding at all that's not financial ?

Certainly! Anything at this point. In fact I don't even have any specific inclination to financial tbh, other than looking at financial analyst roles, but that's a different matter all together.

I think he means other than getting a non-poker job, maybe

Yeah I also read that as, "do you have any interest in coding at all except as a way to make money?"

Oh my bad. So to answer the question in that light, I'd say yes and no. Yes in the sense that I enjoy virtually anything involving logic. I play loads of chess, Sodokus, etc (none for moneys lol). However the bigger picture focus is getting a new career going, and in that sense the finances are of some importance.

This is wrong on so many levels. Build in iPhone app, walk into a coffee shop, and send survey to each person staring at their iThings.

Then go talk to the coffee shop girl. She probably hasn't had any human interaction for 6 months.

Because there's a lot of those jobs and if the goal is to "just get your foot into the door" that's the best bet. Java isn't horrible any more (the ecosystem most likely will be...yikes learning all the enterprise stuff). But since Java isn't horrible any more you can make it a career goal to actually write excellent code and embrace the new functional toys etc.

I love java and seem to be in the minority on here

Java is a fine language for your first job but my impression is that Java employers are on average a little more traditional in terms of credentials they look for than Python/Ruby employers, which makes it a bad choice if you're trying to short-circuit around this to find a job with minimal training. Also, for smart, self-starter types, I think Java simply takes longer to become productive in than languages like Ruby/Python/JavaScript.

Also, for those who don't have great credentials for software engineering type of jobs per se, Python/Ruby/JavaScript/etc are more often used in jobs that aren't seen as software engineering, but require programming skills. Think data analysis, business process automation, front-end development, prototyping, etc. Java is much more firmly in the software engineering camp.

I got my first programming job with no degree and about 3 years experience. I just knew what I was doing and aced the interview. A little over a year later my experience there was enough to land me an interview as an application systems engineer at wells fargo and I did well at that interview. Most tech jobs, the degree, experience, etc is nice to get an actual interview, but getting the job, they just want someone who knows how to code.

"3 years experience" doing what? And how did you learn if not through formal education?

And in what year/place did it happen?

I can finally contribute on this thread:

I got an entry level job at S&P (Mcgraw hill).
My resume consisted mainly of:
- A 2 month contract developing for a videogame startup. (beautified to consulting media developer)
- A personal project for a popular ecommerce site using their API to create an unofficial plugin. (Beutified in so many ways)
- Technical assistant for a poker player. (beautified to IT Consultant)
- 1 year typical teen jobby job

The contract thingy was achieved with even less of a resume by making a nice unpaid demo of the kind of thing they wanted. It was hard putting that much effort into random interviews, but it was worth it, and if you put that much effort you pretty much have the job.

Not sure how traditional my experience was, but there you have it.

Edit: One thing that I learned is that specialization is key even this early in the career, I applied to random jobs, like for traffic companies, that I have no connection or particular interest in. To them I was just one among dozens of other developers. But I also applied to jobs that fit my interests more closely, like economy, and you have an edge there, making small projects in that area, reading articles about topics of interest from authorities.

I think when it comes to breaking into the industry, its a numbers game. You just have to keep trying until you find someone that is willing to give you a shot.

I was recently hired as a developer. I worked in finance mostly as an analyst in my 20s, hated it and instead of looking for another job after a contract ended in May last year began to learn programming. I had a little experience in high school, a couple courses in college and a bit of fiddling around with MOOCs so I wasn't a complete beginner - but fairly close.

I did two Nanodegrees with Udacity in the first 4 months, built a small small project (grown and maintained since) then did some contract web-dev work for a friend's company while paying the bills doing code review for Udacity. In the fall I started going to Python/web-development meetups to try and network. Met one guy which led to an interview that went absolutely horribly. But a few weeks later at another meetup I got to talking to the CTO of my current company, he invited me to interview and that went very well. It was completely non-technical (unlike my first one) as they were looking for a junior and saw the projects I'd built as evidence that I was learning quickly and knew at least enough not to be totally useless.

I started 3 weeks ago and despite being fairly overwhelmed I've managed to get a few PRs in and am getting more and more comfortable with the code base (it's a mid-sized Django app so it's not like I'm doing anything terribly difficult).

I feel extremely lucky to have landed something so quickly.

I'm not really entry level anymore, but I started programming at age 16 freelance. My first corporate job wasnt until I was 22, and it was entry level but below my abilities. For entry level its really knowing how to do alot, being a good learner, and learning the systems your brought on to work on. You may think you know alot, but getting that first entry level job should teach you alot. Just make sure its a good company and good management, dont be afraid to leave for something better. My first job was a company with 250ish employees and a 12 person tech team, 2 years later I was hired on at Wells Fargo, so that entry level job experience opens alot of doors for you.