[donatj]

I still have nightmares about going back to the getting my foot in the door stage. I was fresh out of college, and over the next six months I sent hundreds of applications and did tens of interviews.

This was 2006 so the landscape was a little different. I had less direct competition here, but outsourcing was in full swing. I had actually been advised by my high school's consoler not to go into programming because "all the jobs are going to India".

One interview that had gone particularly well was a couple miles from where I now live. Everyone I spoke to seemed very enthusiastic and understood I was right out of college. They never called. Every single time I drive by I tell my wife that I am still waiting for them to call me back. I googled them a few years back and they had gone out of business.

The private college I attended had a department dedicated to job placement, and they would check in with me every couple weeks after I graduated. They were sold as "working directly with employers to place students" but they never had anything like that for me. Honestly, their pushing was a big piece of why I didn't give up. I didn't want to lie to them and I didn't want to let them down.

[hansumfarang]

Crazy, I got hired at the same time directly out of high school from my first job application. Just a casual interview with the startup founder (yes I had a code to show/a portfolio) and that was it. The only job placement help I got was the school counselor threatening that I'd be the "smartest guy in [my] gang" (in all fairness to her, I had been a smart guy in a gang).

People and their life histories are incredibly different!