[noir_lord]

I'm in a somewhat similar boat in that I've too much developer experience to be a junior programmer but not as much experience in modern stacks (I've about 5 years on modern web dev but two of that was mostly Drupal) before that it was all line-of-business internal stuff for business.

I solved that problem by bootstrapping a startup with consulting/development for other startups that are viable but weak technically, this gives me a lot of variety in side work while also funding my main startup.

In addition I'm currently in the process of setting up another 'startup' as a non-profit (which I'm funding out of pocket until I have a complete product at which point I'll create a charity, assign all IP to it and open the source, I wanted to pay it forward), that one is going to be a complete health management system for patients with chronic or long term medical issues (this one came about as a result of my having chronic issues essentially I'm building the thing I looked for when I got ill and didn't exist) - which complies with all the standards and legislation applicable to local and national government systems, effectively I'm building the system that should already exist for end users.

[RefactorCareer]

I have a bootstrapped project already, but as you probably can infer in my postings, I'm not good at sales. I'm toying around with finding a business partner and maybe get more out of it. Side projects will probably always be a part of what I do, but I really want to find something to replace the 9-6 I have now.

[sdoering]

I had a web-version of my application (as a web/data analyst) in German[1] that nearly every time at least created a response.This differentiated me enough, to get around the HR-filter, that was mentioned in another reply to you.

I do not know the style you were using, but doing things differently, showcasing things you are able to do and just going the extra mile to show you really want that job oftentimes helps. At least here in Germany.

OK; the wording is somewhat cordial, but that is just to showcase my personality. I strongly believe, that being rejected for this just is a great selector for places, I would not want to work.

[1]: http://cv.schriftrolle.de/.old/tuicruises/ This is about 1,25 years old and I did get the job (but am not working there anymore, having found quite a better place to be).

[noir_lord]

My business partner is a graphic designer and is strong on day to day business stuff which is a huge help as frankly if its not code I'd forget my head.

That might be a good way to go.