[zallarak]

Hey there, for what its worth: Try and start building a portfolio if you're having trouble finding a job. You're 22 years old - don't worry if it involved bi*chwork; the best thing you can do is ditch any sense of entitlement, and I'm not saying you have any! I worked in customer service for almost a year before saving enough money to train as a programmer.. it wasn't easy but with the right attitude it was a blast. You are in no hole - you are 22 years old with a passion to make your skill awesome! Hope this helps and work hard - feel free to contact me off list. Just remember, nothing comes easy, we all have issues attaining our perceived goals.

Best of luck to you.

[wyclif]

This will sound obvious, but since someone else commented about your portfolio: open a Github account if you haven't already. Push all your work there. Put the link to your Github on your resume and on your blog. Put your resume online, use Zerply or one of the other services. Link to that from your blog as well.

The above works best in conjunction with the other advice here: get into the open source software world. Hang out on IRC while you're working. Read the documentation. Blog what you're learning. Make the most of free resources. Go to meetups related to technologies you're learning if you can.