[mbrodersen]

Well I disagree with that. The skills you learn in your spare time are 100% applicable to the job you are after as long as you make sure you solve “real” problems when learning it. Otherwise logically it would be impossible for anybody to get a first job since they (with no previous job) doesn’t have any skills :) I more than once have gotten a job based on skills I learned outside of work. I just made sure I could clearly demonstrate that I had the skills.

[kleiba]

I know what you mean but keep in mind that the kind of jobs you can score as a newbie are - for that very reason - also quite limited.

But just to be clear: no-one claimed that you cannot learn any new skills outside you work. The point was really more about the difficulty of demonstrating that you actually have said skills, and not just say you do.