[Swizec]

Getting hired is easy, the tough part is working on your own stuff. For me the cycle is usually like this:

1. Make a cool pet project

2. Show it to The Internet

3. Get a little exposure, feel awesome, decide this project is going somewhere and you'll work on it for months on end because it's just that awesome

4. Freelancing offers[1] start raining in

5. Realize you actually don't have any money, are a student and don't have a lot of time next to classes

6. Accept one or two freelancing gigs

7. Pet project dies a miserable death

8. Rinse and repeat a few months later

[1] I freelance for startups, always for startups. Usually I'm the guy they go to for "Hey, so uhm, I hacked this prototype together in two weeks now there is more than 1 user. Everything is breaking. Halp."

[jsolson]

Eh, you're doing better than I am. In general I don't make it past step one.

[readme]

It helps if you pick a pet project that uses the technology of people that are likely to hire you.

If some decent looking startup publishes a new API, jump on that. If your app is any good, they'll be excited to try it and help you promote it.

This is how I was extended an offer for good freelance work recently.

[jsolson]

Actually, I was lamenting the working-on-my-own-stuff part, not the getting hired part :)

I tend to build what I think is a cool pet project, then completely fail to put it in front of anyone other than friends who happen to be in the room while I'm tinkering with it. Usually by the time I've managed to build anything substantial, I no longer think it will be interesting to anyone.

[FreshCode]

This almost feels like the 5 Stages of Grief: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model